Automobile Advertising Archives

December 12, 2021

1965 Ford Galaxie 500/LTD

I ran across a bunch of 4×5 negatives, some of which were in really bad shape, showing the 1965 Ford Galaxie 500/LTD and noting that Ford Groves had been around for half a century.

I don’t have any idea who the women models are. Check out the old TV on the left.

Who are these women?

Here’s a better look at the young women. I wonder if they were hired talent or friends, relatives or employees of Ford Groves.

It looks like the film might have slipped out of the groove when it was being developed, resulting in all the funky stuff looking like it’s trying to eat the Ford.

If I had turned it in as a class project when I was a Fine Arts student at Ohio University, I would have come up with a fancy, high-faluting caption brimming with Deep Meanings.

This guy must be important

He looks important: he’s got on a suit, wingtip shoes and a steely countenance.

I’m sure one of you will be able to identify him.

Obligatory mug shot of Galaxie

Spell check keeps trying to change the word to Galaxy, but the name on the side of the car and the sign says Galaxie. Ford should know, right?

Wikipedia provided this information about the 1965 model:

“The 1965 Galaxie was an all-new design, featuring vertically stacked dual headlights. The cars were taller and bulkier than the previous year’s. The new top-of-the-line designation was the Galaxie 500 LTD and Galaxie 500 XL. The LTD and the XL trim package were accessory upgrades from the base Galaxie model. Engine choices were the same as 1964, except for an all-new 240 cu in (3.9 L) six-cylinder engine replacing the 1950s-era 223 “Mileage-Maker” six and the 352 was now equipped with dual exhausts and a four-barrel carburetor.

“Suspension on the 1965 models was redesigned. Replacing the former leaf-spring rear suspension was a new three-link system, with coil springs. Interiors featured a new instrument panel, as well as two-way key vehicle access: the introduction of two keys was for valet parking, where the rounded head key would only open the trunk or locked glove compartment, while the squared head key would only unlock the doors and the ignition.”

Car salesmen pitching the Ford Maverick

This ad shot is so cheesy I finally grew to appreciate it. It was for The Athens Messenger in 1969. You can see more Maverick ad photos here.

I tried everything I could do to get out of shooting advertising photos.

Part of it was because some advertisers thought that since they hired you to to take their ad picture, they could also try to dictate what you could shoot in a news situation.

March 2, 2014

1961 Buick Magazine

Y’all are probably tired of hearing me mention the family’s 1959 Buick LaSabre station wagon, but that vehicle is why I have a copy of the February 1961 Buick Magazine. In it, readers get to rhapsodize over the features in their new and old Buicks.

F.G. Chambers of Cincinnati, Ohio, is very pleased with his 1961 Invicta, which he is convinced is better than his 1957 Special and gets better gas mileage. He brags that his buddy, has a “much more expensive competitive make that doesn’t ride any better and that certainly doesn’t have the smooth transmission of my Buick.” In addition to power brakes, power steering and windows, he has the guidematic light dimmer and rear window defroster. “I also have my car equipped with Wonder-Bar Radio. That floor button control is out of this world.”

Buick demographics

If you are curious about the demographics of Buick owners in those days, just check out the cutline for the photo at the bottom right of this spread on New Orleans: “DRESSED APPROPRIATELY for the occasion, two attractive young [emphasis mine] ladies look on the Mardi Gras fun”. You had to be a Buick owner to think those are “young” ladies. I don’t think they could see young with a telescope.

On a second note: Missourian Editor John Blue impressed on me that “You never write that a female was a lady. You can tell if she is a woman, but you don’t know that she’s a lady.”

Control Arm Suspension

The driver if this car doesn’t seem at all nonplussed to find herself on a raft afloat on a nondescript body of water. She doesn’t even seem concerned that a couple of hooligan fisherboys are apt to scratch her paint job. In 1961, the portholes are still there, but the fins are disappearing.

Cypress Gardens

I was just looking at footage of Cypress Gardens in family home movies from when we went to Florida in 1961. The Gardens were living-breathing PR machines for Florida. They even had a photo booth where you could call your friends up in the frigid north and describe to them the action flying by. If you weren’t all that good at photography, the announcer would tell you the exposure settings before the skiing beauties passed by.

Testimonials

Peter Jay Noto of Oaklawn, Illinois, wrote, “Every two years I buy a new car. I travel quite a bit being an actor, and Buick offers me the best performance together with complete pleasure. My next one will be a 1961 Buick Convertible.”

That name didn’t ring a bell, so I turned to Google. The only reference that popped up was on Page 10 of the June 29, 1960, Economist Newspapers where a gossip column by Vic Short said, “Peter Jay Noto reminds me he read the leading male role for “Living Venus” as mentioned here a few weeks back, but movie producer Lewis said that play wasn’t Pete’s particular cup of tea, that the Oaklawn theater guild actor would be better cast in a teenage flicker.”

Living Venus sounds imminently forgettable, but it did serve as the film debut of Harvey Korman.

Old Jackson Road

The magazine came to Mr. and Mrs. L.V. Steinhoff, courtesy of Wiethop Buick Sales at Sprigg and William. I was pretty sure that’s where Dad bought our LaSabre, but I would have sworn it was called Clark Buick.

I’m not sure when Kingsway Drive quit being called Old Jackson Road.

May 24, 2013March 2, 2021

Ford Maverick – $1995*

These guys were ready to sell you ‘the first car of the 1970s at 1960 prices.” Step right up and drive off with a Ford Maverick for $1995. There’s an asterisk after the $1995, so that’s probably where they tell you that the tires, engine, steering wheel and seats are extra.

Are car salesmen born or made?

I hated shooting advertising photos. Partially because you ended up having to take hokey shots like this; partially because the next time you ran into them at a news event, they thought they still owned you. It gave me a great deal of pleasure to disabuse them of that idea.

These were taken for The Athens Messenger in April 1969. Based on the expression, these guys didn’t seem to think there was anything unusual about pretending to be roped cowboys (I’m not sure I understand that symbolism). I guess they figured anything goes so long as they met their quota.

Cape car dealer ads

Here are some Cape car ads that ran in the 1956 Sesquicentennial booklet. I think one of the most curious slogans was in the Clark Buick ad: “We will deal until we deal.” They must have offered a pretty good deal to get Dad to buy our 1959 Buick LaSabre station wagon from them. Whoever did the Goodwin Motor Co. ad didn’t quite know the difference between the “roll” and the “role” of a Mercury-Lincoln dealer (it “is of ever increasing importance to Cape Girardeau”).

If you want to read about the early days of automobiles in Cape, follow this link. Here’s a piece on “Rusty” and Rueseler Chevrolet.

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