Automotive Ads and Brochures

benjaminh

1960 Pontiac Catalina 9-Passenger Safari Wagon.

sda

My youngest sister had one of these when she was attending college. It was an amusing little car. Had quite the thirst for oil, a Japanese Vega. Dad spent a lot of money having it repaired only to have my sister slide into a tall curb and take out the oil pan and steering. He WAS NOT pleased.

fintail

That's a stupendously rare car now.

sda

fintail said:

That's a stupendously rare car now.

Absolutely. Hers was dark blue with a white stripe, same black and white interior. The tach is to the far left, where a vent might be. Rust was already showing in the lower fenders and rockers when it was 6 years old. We lived in an area similar to yours where cars rarely rust.

ab348

The upholstery work is shockingly bad.

fintail

Even out here where old cars live forever, that kind of material was gone by the late 80s. I assume the interior would decompose in a hermetically sealed bubble.

texases

I was always surprised how an opposed-four engine could be so thrashy.

sda

I have 3 of these binders that include 1972, 73,74 issues. The binders have dried out and are fragile. Fun to browse thru. Brings back my early teen age years.

sda

kyfdx

Kind of a weak comparison for Saab vs. the Volvo.

For a full page ad, you'd think it should blow it away..

texases

kyfdx said:

Kind of a weak comparison for Saab vs. the Volvo.

For a full page ad, you'd think it should blow it away..

That was my reaction - the Volvo was bigger, more powerful, and could turn in a tighter space...

sda

sda

Nice car, but electrical issues very common.

fintail

Japanese engine, British everything else - sounds fun. The 5 door is a real unicorn now.

Michaell

sda said:

Nice car, but electrical issues very common.

FWIW, $19,000 then is just over $43,000 now. $23,900 now $54,600.

ab348

I thought they were a good looking car for the times. I remember being confused for a time as to who made them and where.

sda

sda

sda

sda

I don't recall what forum the 86 Toronado was mentioned. Look what I found browsing thru some older magazines.

sda

I had a black GLX just like this. The VR6 is a sweet engine.

sda

I still miss my 92 Miata. It was my weekend fun car.

fintail

When I was a student , a roommate had a Jetta III, then still a late model under warranty car. Just a normal 4 cyl model. It had a definite Germanic feel, but also had tons of quirks, and I remember taking him to the dealer at least a couple times. Getting thin on the ground now.

kyfdx

sda said:

I had a black GLX just like this. The VR6 is a sweet engine.

I test drove a couple of these. Saab Turbo levels of torque steer. They were a hoot!

sda

This would have been a fun ride. 0-60 in 6.7 sec, about $11k in 1986.

kyfdx

That’s cool. I never realized the HP level on those.

texases

Almost double the HP of my GTI - I bet there was 'some' torque steer...

sda

1974, Dad got this for me when he worked in Wimbledon.

fintail

Those early Range Rovers are quite collectible now.

ab348

texases said:

Almost double the HP of my GTI - I bet there was 'some' torque steer...

I wonder how many lanes you needed to hit 60...

tjc78

My Dad had an 86 Shelby Charger, was a fun car for the times.

sda

These were fun cars and practical too.

texases

That was exactly as my GTI was equipped, black with the red interior. Most fun car I've ever had, and mine was extremely reliable through 12 years of Anchorage winters.

sda

I like what Pontiac did giving a historical overview when introducing the new 77 downsized Bonneville.

sda

This was a neat little car. Decently quick agile and refined. The twin stick was a hoot and worked well. A friend had one which I got to drive.

ab348

I had a Mark II 1990 GTI. Perfect car for me at the time and I was astounded when I moved apartments how I could get so much into it when I flipped up the rear seat cushion and folded down the backrest. It became cavernous.

sda

I bought one identical to this Fox. It was $8165 with ac. It was a solid decent driving car.

sda

I had a 90 Passat GL, black. It was a roomy car, drove well, nicely equipped. Around 50k it started getting expensive electrical issues.

fintail

This was recently posted in a fintail group, never seen this ad before:



Those tires appear to be remarkably close to mine.

benjaminh

Two pages from the 1959 Thunderbird brochure. This personal luxury car was a huge hit that year. Innovative unibody construction and an available Lincoln 430 V-8 made this car roomy and powerful. My favorite Thunderbirds are the 61-63s, and even more the 64-66s, but really I like all of them. Below is a photo of a 1959 Thunderbird. Very low! Only 52.5 inches high, compared to c. 55-58 inches high for even low cars today. It was also 204 inches long and 77 inches wide. Substantial car there. I think the 2021 TLX is going to be too big for me, but at 194.6 inches long and 75 inches wide it's not as big as a 58-60 T-bird. But the 2021 TLX is 56.4 inches tall, which makes it the one place where it's bigger than a Thunderbird of this generation.

benjaminh

A pretty good 25-minute documentary on all generations of the Thunderbird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNad-_X_jYY

benjaminh

1960 Thunderbird foldout and specifications. High rez, and can be enlarged by opening the images in a new tab. On my mac air you do that with the control button.

"DASHING AS A SPORTS CAR... COMFORTABLE AS A LIMOUSINE!"

benjaminh

1961

ab348

The '61-'63 T-Bird is my favorite of them all (2-seater excepted) though I gather that the design was/is somewhat polarizing. To me it exemplifies the space age and optimism of the early '60s. But none of them particularly makes me want to own one. From '58 onward until the '80s the Thunderbird was always a big, heavy, wallowing barge.

benjaminh

I agree that the styling of the 1961 Thunderbird is close to being car art for the era, but
no doubt handling was so-so at best. In size it's similar to your 68 Cutlass.

61 T-bird: length 205, width 75.9

68 Cutlass: length 202, width 76.2

benjaminh

1961

Michaell

What I always found interesting is that the protagonist in the movie The Skulls got the '62 T-Bird when he joined, while others were getting current model Ferraris and Porsches.

fintail

Ford was on-point with Thunderbird interiors then - even more impressive in person. Those cars aren't too expensive these days, either - I imagine they have interesting handling, and I think I recall reading they eat front end parts.

ab348

The Thunderbird is about 800 lbs heavier than my Cutlass though.

uplanderguy

One of my very favorite Studebakers ads; I'm a big fan of the '63 and '64 product lines, and this is the last advertisement Studebaker had for their Avanti. In college, at the library, I sliced it out of National Geographic (pretty sure), Dec. '63, and put it on my dorm wall.