In the midst of perhaps the strangest spring in our collective generations, I have been struggling to overpower my natural cynicism by focusing on things I love: spending more time in the garage and with my lovely bride, finally finishing Bleak House, staring at Venus in the evening sky, and perusing my room full of classic ads and toys. As I thumbed through the April 1963 issue of Car and Driver recently, I found some classic ads that we all can enjoy.
On the back cover was my favorite, the ’63 Triumph Spitfire. Long an item on my list of favorite cars, I’ve never owned or driven a Spitfire, but I discussed them at length here. Motoring is always the most romantic when there are difficulties to be faced, such as a cool, damp day with a lukewarm heater and a folded top. The handsome couple enjoying their handsome new Triumph seems to be weathering the gale with aplomb.
Most advertisements in the “buff books,” however, were in black and white. In film, black and white sets a mood; in print, it bears the guilty fingerprints of the accounting department. In 1963, Shelby American was barely on the plus side of the ledger, so this cool half-page black and white ad was probably all they could afford. A few stats and an address was all ye got, and ye needed.
In glorious color, on the other hand, was an eight-page spread on Porsches that must be one of the most exciting pieces of marketing of the 1960s.
My only experience with a Porsche was a ride in a 928S when I was a young child, and although that super-speed limit rush through the gears was the most exciting of my first decade, I’ve never quite understood the Porsche cult. In fact, I’m so sick of seeing 911s on the covers of contemporary magazines that I don’t even read the articles.
Nevertheless, nothing in the storied history of the German car enchants me like a 356 coupe does. This colorful cutaway drawing is a ghostly image of a car I love: see here.
Porsche’s advertising approach was certainly different from that of other automakers. Mountains of text, graphs, specifications, and vaguely technical drawings gave prospective buyers more than a hint of what they could expect from their new swoopy air-cooled purchase.
To learn more in 1963, you were invited to write to Porsche of America itself, a slower but perhaps more romantic way to learn about a car than a flashy website.
Speaking of air-cooled German cars, Champion spark plugs claimed that you should use Champions because Volkswagen did. OK.
As a guy with some experience with Ford small-blocks, I appreciate this ad that touted the virtues of the new 289, which was a bigger-bored 260, which itself was a bigger-bored 221. The pictured engine was a high-performance version, something that an astute reader can ascertain not only from the text, but also from the lack of a vacuum advance canister on the distributor, a larger pulley on the generator, and the open air cleaner. This engine was available in the ’63 Fairlane.
Another of my favorite cars was in the April issue: the ’63 Riviera. The Riv needed little text; a picture is worth a thousand words.
A few weeks ago, Paul discussed the history of Studebaker’s V8 engine. This advertisement for the Lark invited interested customers to write directly to Andy Granatelli himself if they wanted to own a hotter version of the Lark.
Another of my favorite cars is the Volvo P1800. Jensen of England bodied the early versions, but their build quality and rustproofing was apparently not up to Volvo standards, so Volvo soon took responsibility for that task. The P1800 is one of those cars that shouldn’t have aged well but did. Its long lifespan belied the fact that its design said more about the 1950s than it did about the 1970s.
MG advertised regularly in the buff books. The 1100 was advertised as the “Sports Sedan” in this ad, probably because an 1100cc engine sounds more like something one would find on a Harley-Davidson than in a new family car. Instead, the MG has a “sports car power plant – the world’s number 1 competitive engine.” Well, the BMC B-Series did power a lot of race winners, but it might not have been the first choice for a population more accustomed to five-liters or more under the hood.
Dodge got their big 426 wedge-powered drag cars involved, even though the more obvious buyer might have been more inclined to read Hot Rod rather than Car and Driver. I wonder how many 426-powered Dodges found buyers in 1963, in America, compared to MG 1100s.
FIAT was a common advertiser in the early-’60s. The 600 is an icon, but I’d prefer the 1200 Spider.
The E-Type, ahem, XK-E, fits right in. I’ll take a coupe over a roadster, and I’d rather not think about the later 2+2 (personal preference).
Although the Tiger was hot on the heels of this ad, Sunbeam wanted the reader to wax nostalgic about its old sporting machines, and even a ’55 T-Bird of all things; could the ad men have known that a Ford engine was soon to find its way under the hood of the lesser Alpine?
Speaking of American small-blocks, Pennzoil recommended its Pennsylvania crude for your Fuelie Vette, and even did Chevy a solid by listing the specs of its hottest mouse motor.
I think we’ll complete our magazine thumb-through with a glimpse of the future: the Datsun SPL-310 (?). Within seven years, Datsun would take the sports car world by surprise with the gorgeous 240Z, but they were still establishing their presence, one small used car dealer and gas station at a time, in 1963.
I prefer to buy old Life, Look, and Saturday Evening Post magazines for their colorful ads for my beloved American cars, but the racier rags of the time offered ads where the cars were often more exciting than the copy or the photography. If I were a prospective new car purchaser/Car and Driver subscriber in April 1963, I’d be tempted by more than a few of these magnificent machines.
Nice collection.
If I’d been Studie’s ad agency, I wouldn’t have invited the reader to mix Larks and go-carts in his mental image. The Lark might not come off best in the comparison.
There was much more choice in the 60s. And GM and Ford were ahead of the competition.
The Jag E-type ad is somewhat less than dynamic, but then, the car itself is similarly bargain-basement: it’s less than the half the price of the Aston or 300SL in the P1800 ad, yet as fast and refined as either. No wonder they sold so well Stateside. Probably hardly need an ad at all, and given this standard, that’s a stroke of luck.
I like your comments under the Spitfire ad, yet would modify them just slightly:
“Motoring is always at its most frantic when there are handsome Triumphs to be faced, such as a cool, damp Spitfire, a lukewarm beater driven here by a scolded fop. The couple are weathering the bomb handsomely, with a pail.”
Just what I needed over breakfast, as today promises to be rainy, so the day’s chores include spending the afternoon in the garage for Day Two of detailing out Agnes, my ‘02 Civic Si, getting it ready for the day I finally dare attending a Cars and Coffee again.
It’ll be more enjoyable than the rest of the day, which will be spent sewing face masks for some of my wife’s coworkers.
Great collection and commentary Aaron.
Historically and today, so much over-the-top overstatement, manipulation, and exaggeration in automotive marketing, and ad copy. Obviously, it entices many buyers, but I find much of the hype genuinely nauseating. Given the money that could be spent making a reliable and better product, that creates its own marketing. I’ve never read the ad copy when considering a new car. If I picked up a brochure, it was to see options and vital stats.
As a kid, I felt embarrassment reading lines like, ‘A new breed of American road car.’ Thinking, “Do buyers believe this nonsense?” Of course, many do. 🙂
Ahh, so much good stuff available in 63. I love my 63 VW of course, but wouldn’t a Porsche 356 coupe have been even better? Or an XK-E?
Neither of those two were in my Dad’s budget in 1963, and they’re still not in my budget in 2020. Oh well.
And how many people today even know what a boring bar is?
May we presume that your 63 VW has the appropriate Champion spark plugs?
A couple of unimportant points:
1. I have only heard of a couple people espousing the virtues of Champion plugs. Most hate them. I’ve only used one set and they ended up being an improper heat range (the parts books were wrong).
2. I read an interesting biography about Albert Champion, the man behind not only Champion spark plugs, but also AC spark plugs (his initials). It was actually quite interesting! Here’s a link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K9MK5P4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Well, back in 1963 Champion was the gold standard for spark plugs. Although the Datsun 310 ad was probably also a harbinger of a future that would feature NGK and Nippondenso plugs.
Does anyone know what happened to Champion spark plugs to slip so badly from their heyday? All I could find was that the company was sold to Federal-Mogul in 1989. Did quality take a nosedive after that?
Pushing the “reply” button to dman; but actually trying to reply to rudiger, below (but his post has no “reply” button.)
Champion plugs had the most-brittle porcelains in the industry, and soft, quick-wearing center electrodes when I swore I’d never buy another one in the early 1980s. And those problems weren’t new then, that’s just when I got fed up. I haven’t bought them since, but I have no reason to believe that anything has changed.
At that time, AC and Autolite were good substitutions. The Autolite line has been sold…and sold…and some (maybe all) of the Autolite plugs are now made in Communist China. AC is buying-in some of their line from NGK or Nippon Denso (I forget which) but with “AC” printed on the side. The plugs for my Trailblazer are ACs-from-Japan. AC has not only discontinued many part numbers, but they’ve changed from a descriptive part number which actually told you about the plug’s characteristics, to a totally-random number that’s useless for determining heat range or thread length; making plug-swapping a complete nightmare.
Thanks, Schurkey. I can only surmise that, back in the day, other brand sparkplugs were so bad, that Champions were good by default. But other manufacturers must have taken steps to improve their plugs while Champion relied on past reputation and slick marketing to stay in business.
At least with their ‘entry-level’ line of sparkplugs. There seems to be a never-ending succession of gimmicks which seem to be mostly designed to charge more (in some cases, a lot more) for plugs. Indeed, the sparkplugs installed in new vehicles don’t seem to need to be replaced for a ‘very’ long time.
No, it’s got BERU spark plugs from Brazil. Apparently I am missing out on some dependability and efficiency..
Champion spark plugs seized in VW heads. Removing Champion spark plugs from VW usually took the threads in the hole with it.
I do not recall any VWs from factory with Champion plugs.
BTW – Datsuns didn’t want to start when equipped with Champion plugs.
Where I live, all the bars are boring right now.
Good one! 🙂
Don’t stroke his ego by praising his puns.
It is tough to decide which of these I might have bought in 1963. The Studebaker appeals, of course, but there were so many good choices. That 63 Dodge would be something to think about, but I would probably have switched to an 880 in the showroom.
I love that Volvo ad – what a great way to make a really, really expensive (for what you got) car seem like a great value. They do not say that for another $500 you could have a Thunderbird.
Speaking of, the choice to advertise the Riviera in a publication like this is interesting.
I wonder if anyone (other than me) would have crossed shopped the P1800 and the T-Bird. The T-Bird is just so much bigger and more ponderous, but they probably have similar real world performance. The Volvo would handle much better. The styling is handsome (and a little quirky) on both.
Today, the T-Bird is certainly less expensive to buy, which is why I have one of them and not a P1800.
All true – I just picked the TBird at more or less random because I remembered that they were not all that far apart in price. I guess the bigger point is that a person could buy a very powerful and nicely equipped American car for $4k in 1963. But, as we know, those did not satisfy everyone at the time.
Speaking of, the choice to advertise the Riviera in a publication like this is interesting.
C&D was not at all anti Big American cars back then; maybe you’re thinking of R&T. In fact, they loved them and tested lots of them, including this very in-depth review of the ’64 Riviera we posted here:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/vintage-reviews/vintage-test-car-and-driver-road-research-report-1964-buick-riviera-the-longest-most-comprehensive-car-review-ever/
True CC effect. I have a pile of 1960’s car mags and one is on top. Such great reading. Wife won’t let them in the house but I love the faint moldy scent as I sit in the garage turning the pages. Whole stack was a freebie from Engishtown Flea Market. A real treasure
Interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing it!
At the time specified. Spring of 63, I was allof 11 but soon to be 12. My father had already preused the possibilities the previous fall, and had gotten Mom her first of what would be a series of Grand Prixs. He did consider the Riviera, then and again in the Spring, when he decided his 61 Bonneville needed a replacement but again Pontiac won the coin toss and in came his 63 Bonneville. the only time the parents each had a car of the same year. My uncle Red ( a name he had since a kid, for obvious hair coloration) did have a Jaguar. one of a series since the early 50s. But he lived on Los Angeles, so it was only expected. That was the only foreign car in the family in the early 60s. Having an older brother, I was aware of car magazines at an early age, in fact, my brother presented me with my first subscription to Motor trend in May, 63, my 12th birthday. Thank you for the memory jaunt.
Looks like a catalog of the cars me and my 2 best friends teenage and early 20s had, we all three went in together to buy a 63 Spitfire when we were 17, $180 in 1973, for a 10 year old car it was pretty rough, no muffler or starter so we pushed started it until we finally got around to getting a junkyard starter. Also had Lark, VW, All 3 varieties of Fiats. Not to mention all the british cars of that era.
Now, if we could only go back in time and purchase a few of those cars for their ’63 MSRP’s. . .
Wonderful post and ads! Thank you Aaron. Am I alone in thinking the magic of advertising has evaporated? Some of these ads are so clever and punchy, the Volvo ad had me laughing out loud..
Great selection here – the ad that I consider to be the most effective from an advertising standpoint is the Volvo ad. A cheap ad to put together, but very eye-catching. Volvo 1800 ads were generally very good… this is another of my favorites below — again a budget ad, but very to-the-point:
Thanks for sharing. Got to be the Riviera for me, even in black and white.
And I agree with your view of contemporary magazines and 911s.
63 a good year for cars Ive owned a few from that year of manufacture though nothing mentioned in the post
2 63 EH Holden Specials both sedans 1 manual 1 Hydramatic,
1 PB Vauxhall Velox sedan manual rustbucket with great engine,
1 Triumph Herald coupe the cheaper alternative to the Spitfire 1147cc twin carbs and rust looked ok piece of crap though,
2 Humber 80s both manual 1 sedan 1 estate, both 1592cc rebadges of the 3C Hillman Minx built by Todd Motors and NZ only cars,
1 Austin A40 farina Countryman the MK2 version that the whole back opened up on like a wagon,something they missed on the early models
The Porsche spread is very impressive. Clearly, lots of time, resources, and money was put into this marketing piece. Photo shoots, illustrations, airbrushing, photo effects, and typesetting, plus plenty of negative film work in an era long before desktop publishing. Full colour offset printing being added to printing forms, would have made this a very pricey campaign for Porsche. And a big money maker for Car and Driver, even with their added printing costs. Realistically, I could not see C&D saying anything negative about Porsche after this kind of spending in the magazine. This ad buy would no doubt give Porsche influence with these magazines, at the expense of editorial independence. One reason I’m not a fan of tonnes flashy ad spending. It’s buying influence.
This sort of marketing is typically done when a maker is trying to make large inroads into a market quickly. I remember similar multi-page colour spreads for Opel in the mid 70s in the major US car magazines. I’ve noticed in archive searches, many small town newspapers in the US and Canada had as many ads for the Japanese makers as domestic in the early 70s. As they were marking their foothold, helped by the oil crisis.