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newVideoPlayer("/80_Pinto_476.flv", 506, 423,""); How about the Bauer family, with its ten Pintos in 1980? Hard to believe, but Pintos were once as common a sight as the Taurus is now. With 38 very optimistic highway MPG, these multi-Pinto families could thumb their nose at that damn Ayatollah and his gas-price-jacking hijinks!
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newVideoPlayer("/80_Toyota_Cresta_494.flv", 506, 423,""); In 1980 Japan, it was possible to get synthesizer keyboards with far more futuristic "whistling echo laser" effects than those used anywhere else in the Free World. Naturally, the Cresta was the machine most deserving of those keyboards. Somewhat similar in appearance to its American cousin, the Cressida, the Cresta was basically a luxury-enhanced Corona Mark II. Nice car, but we'd rather have a Crown Super Saloon .
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newVideoPlayer("/70s_Renault_18_Diesel_494.flv", 506, 423,""); When you've got 66 mighty horsepower clattering under the hood, you know no chains can hold you! Does the Renault 18 chained up in a Roman amphitheater symbolize some sort of Italian-French automotive rivalry? And how many clutch discs were destroyed during the filming of this ad?
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newVideoPlayer("/80_Mercury_Cougar_494.flv", 506, 423,""); Perhaps this ad is a bit lighter on the cocaine than the Hot Stuff '81 Mustang ad , but we're talking a few grams at most. Otherwise, it's all there: high heels, polyester, anorexia, miserable engine outputs... and the Ford Fox platform. The sad thing is that the Cougar's (claimed) 34 highway MPG would be pretty decent among the bloatmobiles that pass as "economy" cars today.
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newVideoPlayer("/80_Fiat_Ritmo_476.flv", 506, 423,""); North Americans knew the Fiat Ritmo as the Strada , but did they realize that the little built-by-robots Bertone-styled machine was possessed by Il Diavolo? Just watch as the happy Ritmo-equipped family gets tailgated by a menacing Jaguar (or maybe it's a Daimler)… but then Papa stands on the gas, all sixty ramaging Italian horses kick in, and the Fiat lunges ahead!
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newVideoPlayer("80_Chevette_Dealer_476.flv", 494, 413,""); You Chicago-area folks might remember Timmy of Long Chevrolet in Elmhurst, in which case you've already been inoculated against the effects of this stunning combo of Malaise Era machinery, bad suits, brain-scouringly bad UHF production values, and Timmy's shouts. Chevettes Chevettes Chevettes!
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newVideoPlayer("80_Datsun_210_476.flv", 463, 387,""); Red-blooded Americans normally don't give a rat's ass about fuel economy in their vehicles , but certain events in Iran made gas sippers such as the Datsun 210 look quite appealing. Every time you pass a gas station, you'll want to kiss your 210 (unless you're angry at it because there's no place to set your Big Gulp and the lack of 400 pounds of sound deadener means you're forced to hear road noise).
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newVideoPlayer("280ZX_T-Tops_476.flv", 463, 387,""); It's not possible to feel Malaise when you hear lines like "The pulsing power of a fuel-injected soul nestled in the lap of genuine leather... and, for the first time, an open cockpit to the sky!" Well, that was the hope of Datsun's ad agency when they added this ad to the "Awesome" series. But wouldn't you rather have the Black Gold Edition?
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newVideoPlayer("80_Brava_476.flv", 475, 376); In 1980, Americans with a hankering for a snazzy European sedan could have headed for a BMW or Audi showroom... but those cars cost real money! Not so with the Fiat Brava (aka Fiat 131)- you could get one for $3,000 cheaper than a 320i. There must be a catch there somewhere, right?
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Yessir, you heard Marshall Lucky right! With all the talk about the term 'Malaise Era' this morning , it seemed like a good time to watch this scene from that Malaise Era Kurt Russell classic, Used Cars. In this unforgettable (and semi-NSFW) sequence, Gerrit Graham blasts several Detroit landyachts with a shotgun, then dynamites a Mercedes-Benz 450SL, all with a grim Jimmy Carter speech as the backdrop.
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