Automotive Ads and Brochures

omarman

Second gen Bronco began development under the name "Shorthorn."
An excerpt from The Bronco At 50: A History Of Ford’s Trail Pony:

According to George Peterson, onetime product design engineer at Ford, there was a relatively large budget devoted to the project. He described four concepts: Shorthorn (a two-door fullsize on a 105-inch wheelbase), Longhorn (a four-door fullsize on a standard 1/2-ton wheelbase with an extended rear overhang), Midhorn (a Longhorn without the extended tail), and the Widehorn (an extended-width version of the Longhorn). According to Peterson, the only running prototype was the Shorthorn, which was built in 1973 from a shortened ’72 F-100 truck... By the time it was introduced for ’78, only the two-door Shorthorn idea was produced with the Bronco nameplate. The development of a four-door SUV was deemed too risky at the time.

omarman

My cousin bought a new 1979 Bronco but not with the Free Wheeling package.

sda

I am so tired of advertising showing how comfortable a vehicle is by ‘dad’ driving and everyone else (full occupancy) peacefully sleeping. Just saw a Highlander commercial, and thought how unoriginal and boring.

omarman

I saw the new "built bigger better" Expedition commercial recently and then found it on youtube. No sleeping kids or Subaru dogs here just big daddy Expedition-ing his way through the desert. BIG that's BETTER BECAUSE we BUILT it that way. I like it even though I have no need for the size or towing capacity. Somebody needs that truck!

The Good-Bad-Ugly sound alike background music was good but Ford should have sprung for this version by The Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

tjc78

sda said:

I am so tired of advertising showing how comfortable a vehicle is by ‘dad’ driving and everyone else (full occupancy) peacefully sleeping. Just saw a Highlander commercial, and thought how unoriginal and boring.

I hate to say it... but in our family that is the reality. Almost every road trip, kids catching some Z's in the back and wife either reading something on her phone or sleeping too.

At least I get to pick the music.

ab348

Best unintentionally funny ad of the year so far is for the 2019 Ford Ranger.

Voice-over:
"Other species avoid pain and struggle."

(cut to this shot of front end of a new Ranger)



"We actually seek it out."

Not promising for the driving/ownership experience it unintentionally promises. Editing is important.

omarman

Funny but I'm not so sure that the Strange Creature humor about the Ranger is unintentional.

fintail

Highlander is effectively a Camry SUV, so it works.

In my area, the odd hyperbolic "aggressively sophisticated" slogan is used to describe that glorified minivan.

sda said:

I am so tired of advertising showing how comfortable a vehicle is by ‘dad’ driving and everyone else (full occupancy) peacefully sleeping. Just saw a Highlander commercial, and thought how unoriginal and boring.

fintail

Reminds me of a (local?) GM spot, maybe for Pontiac, that aired here during the early 'oughts, using the song "Might as Well Be Walking On the Sun". I always piped up "Because you're gonna get burned".

ab348 said:

Best unintentionally funny ad of the year so far is for the 2019 Ford Ranger.

Voice-over:
"Other species avoid pain and struggle."


Not promising for the driving/ownership experience it unintentionally promises. Editing is important.

berri

Highlander is effectively a Camry ...and the Honda Pilot and new Passport come from the Odyssey minivan. One sit behind the wheel and the intruding wheel well bares that out.

ab348

I always thought these were a bit pudgy-looking, but since Chrysler was almost out of money at the time I guess they can be forgiven.

Mr_Shiftright

Very "Facel Vega" don't you think?

ab348

It does have a certain resemblance. The style that followed it looked more modern but was not a well-made vehicle (assuming that any Chryslers from that era actually were).

texases

Kind of an odd ad, text-wise. How many buyers in 1979 would remember the '55 300? They must have been going after a 50+ audience.

2manyfumes

No bragging on the horsepower numbers on the '79.

fintail

Moses Lake WA, November 21 1975:

ab348

Not much on Don Swanson's used lot seems very appealing to me. Maybe the El Camino but that is not my favorite generation for them.

kyfdx

Their prices don't make me want to jump in there, either.

fintail

Inflation and malaise banging on the door, what a time.

omarman

I like the '74 GMC camper special 3/4 ton with 4x4 and dealer asking price $5295. What are dealers asking now for a 2 y/o GMC 1500 or 2500 regular cab 4x4?

fintail

The Blazer could be fun, depending on how it is equipped. El Camino might be the other choice, yeah. Not sure if 74 was a good year for any brand.

2manyfumes

I'd take the Javelin.

ab348

Here's an ad you probably won't see everyday, from 1952:

fintail

That's pretty interesting. I have to imagine the running costs of a road-going locomotive like an armored 770K in dreary austere postwar Blighty would have made it a real white elephant. I suspect the car is in a military museum now. One of those things that changes hands with no fanfare, but is well into 7 figures anyway.

Reminds me of something I read about a 540K roadster with similar provenance, I think the car had a special steering wheel or seating position to account for the driver's large size. It was sold at auction in ~1955 for maybe $2500 - the price of a decent normal new car then. Not the worst investment, if one can stand the negative association.

ab348

They apparently decided to auction it off. No mention in the ad above that the bulletproof windshield was full of bullet holes/craters.

https://youtu.be/Q7A6BBccBz0

There were a few of these floating around after WWII and this different one has an interesting history too:

https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/mcr/article/view/17835/22142

No idea where the one that was in Britain in 1952 ended up.

fintail

I suspect the survival rate for those was very high - nobody was going to throw away a souvenir like that. Quite the auction price there, and that damp dreary street scene at the beginning is just what I would expect.

PF_Flyer

£1,050 in 1956 would be £25,993.23 today. I wager that the same car would bring a bit more today

Michaell

Anyone seen the new VW commercial, with Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence" as the theme music?

omarman

The music is okay but why does the new electric Microbus face look so familiar?

ab348

I saw it, and was not impressed. Not sure why they think people who avoid them b/c of the diesel scandal will suddenly make a 180. Besides, what car designer uses pen and paper these days?

fintail

Curtis!

PF_Flyer

In preparation for, and to give you a heads up on the upcoming comment box changes, I've posted a guide to the new comment box. I've covered everything, where you can find it, how to use it, and what it does. Any questions you might have can be posted here in this thread. Shouldn't be too big of an adjustment. It is simply a settings change on the comment box, NOT a change in the forums software. How you navigate, sign in, and all the rest remains the same. This will get us past the issues some users have had with the links for attaching images and the like. Check it out. Wanted to try and make sure that everyone, especially you folks that make a lot of posts, will be prepared and not surprised when we implement this.

Coming Attractions - Changes to the Comment Box

PF_Flyer

Just an update... the new comment box is going to live on Friday morning. As I said, this will only change what happens INSIDE the comment box. Just trying to keep you all from being surprised

PF_Flyer

The new editor will be turned on tomorrow. No need to have you hold on to anything It's just a setting... and if someone left a penny in place of a circuit breaker and we see sparks, it can be switched off. If you DO have questions or see anything squirrely, use the Forums Feedback and Suggestions discussion so we don't have to dig to find them. Thanks

PF_Flyer

Progress on the image upload and icons front. Functionality appears to be restored. You MAY have to refresh the page or clear your cache. I had unresponsive icons on my ipad until I refreshed and not things are going along just fine.

Let us know what you're seeing in the Forums Feedback and Suggestions discussion (Yea... hyperlink icon works!)

ab348

Let's try an ad:


Ruh-roh. What worked 5 minutes ago in Firefox doesn't work now. Pulldowns unresponsive again.

Atten: @PF_Flyer , any suggestions? Have already left the site and returned, still no luck.

PF_Flyer

Left the site or actually signed out? Signing out and in has also restored Edit Profile for users (and mods) that couldn't. It feels like lingering issues are from accessing cached versions of a page. Could also give an incognito window a try.


Cached versions of all the pages you've been on are saved on your computer. (to speed up your next visit) You might also be running into the issue on each page as you visit it. Might want to clear your cache and get rid of old versions of all the pages you frequent.

And if you use multiple browsers, those will each have the old pages cached.

My computers get cluttered with all sorts of useful stuff too!

ab348

@PF_Flyer , I see no way to actually sign out.

Michaell

ab348 said:

@PF_Flyer , I see no way to actually sign out.

Click on the gear icon by your name on the right, and the "sign out" option appears.

benjaminh

I'll see if I can post a couple of Chevrolet ads from 1929....

ab348

Deleted cache and cookies again, signed in yet again. Let's try this again:

{kicks dirt}

Still won't work.

ab348

Trying this from my other PC:




So, working on this one for now at least. The mystery deepens.

ab348

It started working again. Flaky.

PF_Flyer

Could be that you're starting to get new cached versions of pages created. That looks like a motel in Florida during the space craze!

texases

Anyone seen (or stayed at) the Space Age Lodge in Gila Bend, Arizona (on I-8)? This pic looks like it was taken around the time I did, in about 1978:

berri

Some nice period shots!

benjaminh

Ads from January of 1929. The Ford ad says that the Model A is designed and built for functionality and durability, and that it is an expression of an "ideal" that is more important even than profit. These are high rez, and so if you click on them twice you should be able to read even the small text if you'd like.

benjaminh

1929....

sda

I completely forgot about Viking, and especially it being marketed with Oldsmobile as a higher line than Olds. Seems it was built from 1929-30 with a few 31s produced.

sda

Staying in the Olds history, this is a key chain given to me when I had my 2001 Aurora 4.0. Less than a year later and before Olds produced the last Alero, this Olds dealer faded into history. Now the key chain is used to keep the yard shed lock key.

As side note, before closing the Olds dealership location was fairly new and was built when Olds tried the one price strategy copying Saturn and the building design looked Saturnish as well. After the Olds dealership closed, it became a Toyota dealership, then around 2005, a VW dealership. It is still a VW dealership and it is where we recently bought the ‘16 Audi Q5.