|
Browse by Tags
All Tags » classic ad watch » 1984 ( RSS)
-
|
newVideoPlayer("/84_Hyundai_Stellar_494.flv", 506, 423,""); The Hyundai Stellar was quite the mishmash of parts-bin bargains, with the same chassis as the Ford Cortina Mk 5, a Mitsubishi engine, and styling by Giorgetto Giugiaro . That doesn't matter, however; what does matter is that ads for Korean cars have the most awesome combo of macho voiceover and cheezy echo effects in the history of automotive marketing. For another good one, check out the Daewoo Maepsy ad when you're done here.
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("/84_VW_Rabbit_476.flv", 506, 423,""); While many mid-80s VW buyers were satisfied with a plain ol' Kleine GTI , others were willing to take extreme measures to get their hands on the Wolfsburg Edition Rabbit. Yes, climbing up on a moving car transporter was totally worth it , considering you'd get such features as a cassette deck and cool emblems.
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("/84_LTD_494.flv", 506, 423,""); The Fox-based '84 Ford LTD really did handle pretty well… if you checked the boxes for all the suspension options that came on the cop version when you bought one, that is, and for some reason that bit of info doesn't get much play in this ad. This ad would have been far more entertaining had Mr. Bondurant taken the base version out for some door-handle-scraping racetrack action. Why, some madmen even autocross the Fox LTD!
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("/84_Skyline_PaulNewman_476.flv", 506, 423,""); Paul Newman did a lot of ads for Nissan in addition to racing their cars, and the association went far beyond the usual "big in Japan" deal in which foreigners make major yen for appearing in car ads, then flee back home. Nissan even came out with a Paul Newman Version R30 Skyline, which is featured in one of the trio of '84 ads here.
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("/84_Puegeot_205GTI_2_476.flv", 506, 423,""); With the extremely expensive production values of the '84 Peugeot 205 GTI ad we saw last week, you have to figure they'd have a sequel. Sure enough, we've got the Pug parachuting into a frozen wasteland, where it's pursued by what appears to be a C-130. Maybe a huge cargo plane isn't what we'd choose to chase a tiny hatchback, but the baddies use what they can get!
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("/84_Pug_205GTI_476.flv", 506, 423,""); Franzouse keeps sending us tips about cars that hail from the land of Pasteur and Derrida, and today he's found us one of the Best Peugeot Ads Of All Freakin' Time. When a secret agent man needs to deliver a Very Important Briefcase, there's no better car than a Peugeot 205 GTI. Helicopter gunship on your tail? No problem! There's nothing the 205 GTI can't do!
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("/84_VW_GTI_476.flv", 506, 423,""); Yes, it's a German version of the 1964 Ronnie And The Daytonas song "Little GTO," and while the '84 GTI had a throttle body instead of three deuces and an extra gear on the transmission, it was just like the GTO! This ad came out around the time that the Reagan Administration said it was cool to show total hoonage in car ads again (after a moratorium on car-ad jumps and burnouts that lasted through most of the Malaise Era). These things sold like crazy in California, but by now most of them have disappeared.
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("84_Renault_Encore_476.flv", 506, 423,""); The Renault Alliance won the 1983 Motor Trend Car of the Year Award, so buyers might have figured the hatchback version- named the Encore- would combine French build quality with the financial acumen of American Motors to produce one of the finest motor vehicles of all time. Well, unfortunately, the Kenosha-ized Renault 9 didn't live up to expectations, but it did get great gas mileage... at a time when gas was 95 cents a gallon and getting cheaper by the minute.
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("84_Vanagon_476.flv", 506, 423,""); When you come upon a seemingly endless line of air-cooled VW Type 2s grinding up a tough grade, the good news is that you'll probably be able to pass them all in just about any motor vehicle. Why, even the new water-cooled '84 Volkswagen Transporter- loaded with seven passengers, no less- can do the job (if you're patient enough and oncoming traffic obliges).
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("84_Mercury_Topaz_476.flv", 463, 387,""); "30 seconds is hardly a fair amount of time to judge the handling characteristics of any car. One car recognizes that reality." That's why Mercury made a 20-page brochure explaining the suspension of their Tempo clone. We're sure millions dialed up 1-800-MERCFAX so they could read about mysterious features such as front-wheel-drive and independent rear suspension. Hmmm... when's the last time you saw a Topaz?
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("84_Porsche_928_476.flv", 463, 387,""); The Porsche 928 may well be the most expensive car ever to get major TV advertising airplay, with the '84 928 listed at $44,000 (that's about 90 Gs in 2008 dollars). It seems wrong that the car in this ad has an automatic, but we can't argue with the sound of roaring engine and squealing tires. However, the 944 Turbo ad of the same era gets a higher rating on the Hoon-O-Meter.
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("84_200SX_Turbo_476.flv", 463, 387,""); Was there any word that summed up the 1980s better than TURBO? Turbocharging was a magical thing back then, with electronic fuel injection finally making the technology work pretty well for street-driven vehicles. Turbocharged cars such as the Mitsubishi Starion and Buick Grand National let everyone know that the Malaise Era was finally over, and Nissan's 200SX Turbo was packed with all manner of 80s-tech gizmos in addition to forced induction. As the man says: "Give me a turbo and I come alive!"
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("84_Corolla_Japan_476.flv", 463, 387,""); Here's another in a long line of jittery Japanese-market car ads, this one showing how a pack of tie-wearing Toyota shoprats can whomp together an '84 Corolla for fashion-deranged monogloved chopsocky experts and fedora-wearing, flask-in-bottom-drawer newsies alike, all thanks to the mighty powers of the Munificent Plutonium Wrench.
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("84_Sprint_476.flv", 463, 387,""); Yes, 53 highway MPG... 24 years ago. The little rebadged Suzuki got the kind of gas mileage that many Prius drivers will never see in real-world driving, but we're betting that today's car buyers would find its noise and lack of cupholders absolutely intolerable. Still, can you do this in a Prius?
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("84_Ford_Ranger_476.flv", 463, 387,""); Based on a survey of owner-reported problems during the first three months of ownership, the '84 Ranger had "quality unbeaten by any major small-truck maker!" Not only that, it had the widest cab of any small truck. But at least the Ranger was small back then!
|
More Posts Next page »
|
|
|