Like a relentless parade of tireless tire men, our survey of automotive product mascots marches on. Today, we’ll try to wrap up this brief (although some may feel not brief enough) history of the memorable creatures that have represented automotive-related companies throughout the ages.
Gas and Fuel Products
Let’s start with the Esso tiger. At least here in the U.S., the tiger is perhaps the best-known gas company mascot. Arguably as famous as Michelin’s Bibendum, the tiger nevertheless has a much more convoluted history with his product.
The tiger was initially used as a mascot for a Norwegian oil company, founded in 1893, that was ultimately subsumed under the Standard Oil (Esso) brand.
It seems likely that the tiger was chosen as a symbol for Østlandske Petroleumscomp due to the fact that the tiger is the symbol for Oslo (or Kristiania as it was originally named). That of course in and of itself is a bit controversial since even a passing acquaintance with zoology would reveal that tigers are not native to Norway. No, the actual story is a bit more complicated and involves a backhanded compliment by a 19th century Norwegian poet and Nobel laureate and perhaps additional shade thrown at the Norwegians by their sort of neighbors, the Danes. It appears that at times Danes have referred to Kristiania/Oslo as “Tiggerstaden” – or “City of the Beggars” since “tigger” is Danish for beggar. Looking to make hay from what other cities might have considered misfortune, the plucky and resilient residents of Oslo therefore had several reasons to promote the “Tiger” as their city mascot (better on all accounts than “Beggar”). Shortly thereafter when their oil company was looking for its own mascot, the tiger was a natural shoe-in.
That’s all well and good, except the whole tiger and Norway thing went pretty much underground for another 20+ years as Esso became the parent company of Østlandske Petroleumscomp in 1919 and in the process eventually introduced its own mascot. A mascot considerably weirder than the Oslo tiger.
Happy the Oil Drop was Esso’s global mascot until the 1950s. Happy built off of Esso’s motto/tagline of “Happy Motoring!” and came in both male and female versions.
At times, male and female versions of Happy are referred to as the “Oil Drop Kids” as they perform various musical routines that incorporate the Happy Motoring motto.
Sometimes the mascot was abandoned altogether in lieu of just the song and a cavalcade of national stereotypes that probably wouldn’t pass muster (or for that matter be understood) by many in the 21st century.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fayNr_oG9bk
By the mid-1950s, most Esso ads eschewed mascots and focused only on music and animation. Maybe it’s just me, but all of these TV ads from the 1950s make. me want to visit our snack bar during intermission.
There. Now wasn’t that refreshing?
Altogether, despite some zippy musical numbers and a hint of (strange) sex appeal, the Happy Oil Drop boy and girl lasted only about 20 years as Esso mascots. By the end of the 1950s, the now/still familiar Esso Tiger had emerged as Esso’s worldwide mascot.
The tiger appeared in print ads, in various gas station merchandise such as travel maps, and pretty much anywhere a mascot could be displayed.
And of course, the tiger was featured in some rather snappy TV advertisements, which by the late 1960s were rendered in the contemporary style that combined live action with animation. This vaguely surreal German ad – with a somewhat bumbling motorist driving an Opel Rekord – must be from around 1966 and illustrates the global appeal of the “tiger in your tank” motto and ad campaign.
Here in the U.S. we had the tiger tails that you hung inside your fill cap door (my family’s always seemed to fall off and get lost), bumper stickers, and my favorite, the white Fire King glass coffee mugs that were offered as a premium for fill ups. My family had a set of these. I drank milk from them. My dad drank his coffee for years from his. The mugs were washed so often that eventually the tiger image nearly vanished; and so I passed them over when I cleaned out my parents’ house in the late 1990s. That was a mistake. They’re such a fixture in my mind that I still think someday I’m going to find one in the recesses of my own kitchen cabinets. (Nope, I just checked. I don’t have a Tiger in my Kitchen.)
Esso/Exxon’s tiger lasted a lot longer than his image on my family’s mugs. Despite proclamations as early as the 1970s that the tiger mascot was being phased out, the tiger continues to appear at times even today. Gas station branding isn’t what it used to be what with stations often seeming to change brands regularly throughout the year, but it’s still possible to find a “Tiger Mart” convenience store attached to an Exxon-Mobil station. The brand has been known to incorporate images of live – actual – tigers in some TV advertising. And even if he’s not always recognized as the official mascot, one can find reminders of the Esso tiger on roadways across the country. There’s a site that catalogs all remaining Esso tiger statues, just in case you’d like to visit one locally or (as would be my recommendation) construct a cross-country road trip that hits every remaining statue.
The Esso tiger may be on a slow decline as a gas station mascot in the wild, but another famous gas station critter has found new life and seems to be enjoying something of a renaissance. That would be the Sinclair Dino.
Only Sinclair gasoline has nickle, nickle, nickle. Really?
Registered as a trademark by Sinclair in 1932, Dino quickly got busy doing the yeoman work of mascots by making high profile public appearances at venues such as the Chicago World’s Fair (1933).
Note the zeppelin slowly crossing the sky behind the T-Rex in this video.
Dino appeared as a balloon at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in 1963 and continues to serve in that capacity to the present day…although redesigned in 2022 to include a not-very-dignified (IMO) “Baby Dino” friend.
My personal mania for Dino came with his appearance at the 1964 World’s Fair Sinclair Dinoland exhibit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p37EIw-MvtY
What I didn’t know until researching this article was that Sinclair had also mounted a dinosaur exhibit at Chicago’s fair in 1933, making 1964 something of a repeat performance for Dinoland. I wonder how many people managed to see both the 1933 and the 1964 exhibits. I would absolutely go see Dinoland again if there were ever to be another World’s Fair. Which, sadly, there really won’t be.
The tire ferris wheel was rebranded “Uniroyal” during the second season of the fair (from US Royal during the 1964 season). So this picture must have been taken during my 1965 visit. During its tenure at the fair, the tire was ridden by Jackie-O, the Shah of Iran, Telly Savalis, and me.
I went to the 1964 New York World’s Fair twice. Automotive exhibits – such as the Ford Pavilion with the brand new 1964 Mustangs and the giant Uniroyal Tire ferris wheel (above) – all figured prominently in my memory of the event.
Dinoland was one of the reasons why I worked so hard to convince my parents to take me to the Fair as many time as possible. I likewise prevailed upon them to take me to see the dinos after they went on tour down the East Coast after the Fair. I can still remember standing in that rainy (and cold!) Baltimore parking lot to catch one more glimpse of the Dinoland critters.
Actually, I need not have worried since the Sinclair dinosaurs have continued to live on as a somewhat constant feature in my life. The actual T-Rex seen in that Baltimore parking lot wound up in a state park in Texas, but his identical mold-mates (all of the dino models were molded out of fiberglass by the Jonas Taxidermy studios in Hudson, New York) lived on at the Boston Museum of Science and the Springfield (Massachusetts) Museum of Science where I have visited them often.
The Museum of Science’s T-Rex before it was replaced with a more paleontologically-correct model. This old version – from Dinoland – was eventually moved outdoors where it now threatens to gobble up silly tourists in line for Duck Boat tours.
Likewise, the triceratops from Dinoland – after staring in a much-beloved (by me) TV movie – wound up in front of the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History, where I and a gazillion other kids spent many years climbing on him.
Mostly, it was just a short trip downtown from my home in the DC suburbs to the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum, but no visit was complete in the late 1960s and early 1970s…well into the 1980s…without a visit to Uncle Beazley. Of course this was when society trusted kids to climb on a life-sized fiberglass dinosaur with quite sharp horns. I totally did witness some bloodshed as a youth. Owing to this, and general 21st century sensibilities about how museum exhibits shouldn’t be controversial or injurious (BAH!), Uncle Beazley was moved to a fenced-off enclosure at the National Zoo during the 1990s where he remains to this day. Climber-free.
Ultimately, Uncle Beazley the triceratops was transferred to the National Zoo. My own kids, during their childhood visits to the National Zoo, have grown weary of me telling the story of Uncle Beazley and Sinclair Dinoland. Nevertheless, in this way, Sinclair Dinoland and its dinosaur mascots have woven their way into over half a century of Jeff’s personal and family history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugrimgluNvg
It’s a toss-up as to whether I’d rather have the inflatable dino or the 1963 Galaxie convertible in that commercial. I guess Sinclair put the car in there for adult interest, but let’s face it, the real draw was the toy. That would be what got the kids to pressure dad to drive to his local Sinclair station.
All in all, it seems apparent that in its prime, Sinclair made the most out of using Dino as a way to draw children into begging their parents to go to Sinclair. The strategy definitely worked on me.
It still does.
Last spring when I was in a part of the country that has the newly-relaunched Sinclair stations, I drove at least an hour out of my way to try to find Dino mascot merchandise. I looked everywhere. I found nothing.
Some habits die hard.
Before moving on from gas product mascots, it seems reasonable to acknowledge the fact that many gas brands adopted actual humans as their spokespeople. The Man Who Wears the Star (Texaco) comes to mind.
Prior to its merger with Exxon, and after years of using its rather dull and static flying horse mascot (so dull that there are few interesting online sites about it), Mobil was represented in TV commercials by “Mr. Dirt”.
Mr. Dirt is not dull.
This character/mascot one was particularly memorable to me due to the fact that the actor who portrayed Mr. Dirt – Ronny Graham – is (was) the uncle of one of my long time best friends. Every time a Mr. Dirt Mobil commercial came on TV when I was a kid, my mom would yell “LOOK!!! It’s Jim’s uncle!”. This was my mom, being parasocial 50 years before anyone knew what that term meant.
You go Mom. You’d have loved the 21st century.
Mr. Dirt was a short-lived Mobile character who doesn’t entirely fit the rules of what is considered a “mascot” for the purposes of this exploration. Yeah, nice job explaining the rules of this game when we’re already two-thirds of the way through, but this is why I haven’t featured sections on seemingly worthy mascots such as “Muffler Men” and the Rolls Royce Flying Lady/Spirit of Ecstasy.
Basically, I’m looking for caricatures or characters, and extra points for non-humans. So while I absolutely love Muffler Men, the fact that so many have been repurposed into everything from firemen to lumberjacks to (I don’t know what, with the head of) Alfred E. Newman and they now hold items ranging from axes to hot dogs to golf clubs to chicken wings in their outstretched arms indicates that in my accounting the Muffler Man is more cultural icon (with quasi-religious symbolism in some cases) than brand mascot.
Likewise, just dressing up an unfortunate employee as the actual thing that your company sells does not entirely constitute “mascot” in the same sense of something like Bibendum (who is arguably a whole collection of things that Michelin sells).
I’d guess that she drew the short straw today and wound up with “mascot guiding” duty.
So, while honorable mascot mention should go to the NGK spark plug guy…
“Someday I’ll be a REAL mascot and get a giant foam head and have a pretty lady to walk me around so that I don’t bash into stuff. Until then, I’ll just stand here.”
…or his cross-country rival, Denso Man, neither of these rise to the level of true mascot. I do expect to be soundly criticized for this position by fans of Japanese products and cities, nearly all of which have mascots of some sort.
This clarification may become more important as we move into the our final section of automotive mascots.
Vehicle Brand Mascots
Not to be confused with the generic term used to refer to animal or human hood ornaments, there are surprisingly few product mascots to be found among automotive brands.
Most of the examples I’ve uncovered are from European brands. Somehow, it appears that American companies by and large decided that characters and mascots – particularly anything human-like – were undignified.
The American company Mack, as in Mack Trucks, is one notable exception to this rule.
Mack trucks’ association with the bulldog goes back to World War I when British soldiers referred to the American trucks that supported the Allies as “bulldogs”. Early Mack trucks — which were in fact the product of the “International Motor Company”, the company started by the Mack brothers in 1900 to produce trucks in Brooklyn, New York — carried a bulldog symbol through the 1920s. Nevertheless, as the photo above shows, this bulldog wasn’t quite the same as that which later came to define the brand.
The modern version of the Mack (by this time, the company had been renamed “Mack”) bulldog arrived in the early 1930s and was patented as part of a radiator cap. From this point on, for as long as trucks had something that resembled a radiator cap, most Mack trucks hit the road with a bulldog out front. Otherwise, the familiar bulldog mascot appeared in emblems on the trucks and of course product literature, etc.
As is the way of most things design-wise, the bulldog has lost some detail and become more stylized in modern times, but it’s still very much recognizable as the Mack Trucks mascot.
Since we’re talking Mack Trucks, it’s worth mentioning that Mack’s current parent company, Volvo, also had a mascot for its trucks way back in the 20th century.
I don’t have much information on this mascot and frankly have only included him because I really had no idea that such a thing existed. Maybe some readers can fill in the blanks. It seems that these Volvo mascots were mostly attached to trucks sold in Brittan as I’ve not found any for sale here in U.S.. They seem to have been mascots only for Volvo’s truck division. There have been attempts to utilize a viking as a symbol for Volvo cars, but that seems to mostly have been an unofficial, owner operated affair.
It appears that these truck mascots were intended to be mounted on radiators, much like the Mack bulldog. They came in a variety of different sizes and colors and have different things (or nothing) held in their right hand. All are supposed to have a shield emblazoned with “Volvo” on their left arm. The viking’s left hand is always clenched tightly over his groin. The overall impression is that they’re trying to make something happen with apparent great difficulty.
“Leif, how about next time we pillage the grain stores instead of just eating all of the sheep?”
Arrrrruuuuuggggggh.
Moving back to North America, without Viking raiders, aside from Mack most attempts by American manufacturers to utilize mascots have been short and not largely successful. A good example of this is the brief attempt by Nash (American Motors) to enlist Disney characters as product spokesthings.
Here we find Mickey and family living large in their new Nash. “Live a little, drive a Rambler.” Hummmmm. I’m not sure anyone ever actually said that aside from a cartoon mouse. Just as notable is the commercial’s clear implication that parking a Rambler was so simple that even a woman could do it. Good grief.
The video quality isn’t very good on this one, but it’s one of Several Nash ads supported by the vocal stylings of our favorite perpetually upbeat insect. I’ve heard, by the way, that those fully reclining seats (“twin travel beds”) were good for less wholesome (yet perfectly natural) things than napping the children on long trips.
For several years in the mid-1950s until Nash’s demise in 1957, Mickey, Jiminy, Donald Duck, The Song of the South characters (which for a variety of pretty good reasons have generally been scrubbed from the 21st century Disney roster), Pluto, you name them, all shilled for Nash on TV commercials.
This type of thing was slightly echoed by Warner Brothers in support of the 1971 Roadrunner and Chevrolet’s half-hearted “Warner Brothers Edition” minivans. Still, the Disney effort for Nash was much more full press.
Alright, any reason to post a Wile E. Coyote cartoon…I’ll take it.
Given how well-versed the world is in the artistic vocabulary of the original Disney characters, one of the things most of us would notice about the Nash commercials is that there’s something kind of funky about how Mickey and his crew are rendered. The simplified and flat style of the character artwork used in the Nash commercials was in fact a cost-saving effort. It also fit with the style of “limited” animation that was popular in the mid-1950s in both theatrical cartoons as well as a wealth of television advertisements (see also the Esso Calypso commercial, above). Think of this as midcentury-modern for cartoons. But it was really about the cost. Nash-Rambler-American Motors was looking for a cheap way to jazz up their TV advertising, and Disney (having nearly gone broke building Disneyland in the early 1950s) was looking for cash. A match was made.
But not for long. There’s really not much that Nash could do to save themselves at that time; nothing that could come from a TV commercial anyway. Particularly not one that employed live actors and voice-over that looked and sounded resoundingly old-fashioned. For its part, Disney’s fortunes soon rebounded and the need to rent out the company’s intellectual property quickly diminished. The match vanished.
Yes, overall, automakers have been reluctant to adhere themselves to cartoon mascots except when they are rather desperate.
Which of course may explain Cadillac’s short term fling with turning one of the merlettes in its historic logo into a bizarre one-off attempt to use a cartoon duck named “Ziggy” to sell a rebadged Opel. At least they brought Cindy Crawford to the party, although at the time even that decision was judged by many to controversial and pandering and generally not conducive to efforts to market the car to women. It nevertheless should be noted that the Crawford ad (a 1997 Superbowl commercial) did rather well with men.
Right.
What nearly everyone agreed was that the interpretation of a merlette into a somewhat crudely-drawn cartoon duck was not at all what Cadillac needed in order to sell cars to any gender. Cadillac’s “Ziggy” campaign lasted less than a year. The Catera was around for just five years. Whatever one might say about the Catera, Ziggy was confusing and ultimately not deemed helpful.
And that at long last brings us to the end of this survey. Surely there are mascots that have been overlooked, but I trust that those will show up in the comments. There are a few that I’ve debated on including (e.g., VW’s Fahrvergnügen “driver” icon and what may be the best commercial that isn’t an actual commercial featuring an excellent late 1980s lady, a GTI, and an out-take soundtrack by Prince ) but ultimately I felt that they were too insignificant or confusing and didn’t feature Cindy Crawford in an attempt to rescue an otherwise terrible idea.
For better or worse, mascots, like jingles, are increasingly becoming a feature of advertising’s past. So, it’s doubtful that there will be a slew of new mascots to cover in the future. But who knows. Everything old someday becomes new again. Maybe there’s a new Bibendum out there waiting to take the product world by storm.
Take a bow guys. And smoke ’em while you can. You’ll probably have to give up the stogies in the future.
Great article! The Esso tiger was widely used also here in Italy, although not much after maybe the early 80s, even if the image was still associated with the brand even later. A page with Italian Esso adverts here:
https://curiosando708090.altervista.org/carosello-esso-metti-un-tigre-nel-motore/
(metti un tigre nel motore = put a tiger into the engine)
There was even a comic strip with the tiger as protagonist, I believe to be found at gas station stores.
I didn’t know it (I am 30 years old), but also the Oil Drop was used here as shown in one of the images.
There even were tiger-shaped gas pumps: https://curiosando708090.altervista.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/stazione_servizio_esso_anni_70_tigre_nel_motore.jpg
This image seems to be from early 70s.
Those Italian commercials are great! Bonus points for the 1966 (?) Simca 1000 at about the 20 second mark in the 2nd commercial on the page.
I’m not sure exactly what it is that the woman is driving in that spot. Red, convertible…well, it gets the point across 🙂
The red convertible driven by the woman is a mid-60s Fiat 1500 Convertible, and the white car isn’t a Simca 1000 but a 1961-66 Fiat 1300 (or 1961-64 1500), still Corvair-inspired though 🙂
According to this page: https://www.70-80.it/1966-esso-lancia-in-italia-la-campagna-metti-un-tigre-nel-motore-e-i-ragazzi-vanno-a-caccia-di-code-di-tigre-spille-matite-ed-adesivi/
In Italy the tiger debuted in 1966 as mascot.
Other vintage Italian petrol adverts here, really beautiful: https://www.dannatavintage.com/2020/10/07/pubblicita-e-benzine-depoca/
I like the “mascot” of the BP superissima 😀
Worth to note that the company logo of Agip/Eni (Italian national oil producer) was (and still is) a six-legged dog: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_a_sei_zampe
Thanks for that correction. I was beginning to doubt my identification once I saw a closer shot of what I think was the same car in the clip linked by la673 farther down in the comments here. It looks like that same basic scenario (tiger at pump, driver pulls up at pump and asks for a tiger in their tank, etc.) is used in a bunch of Esso European commercials. There seems to be some interplay between the lady in the Fiat convertible and the guy in the 1500.
(I love it when commercials narratively play off against each other in different segments!)
Yes indeed, there’s interplay between characters, and I believe there were other commercials using the same characters/cars, but I can’t find them on the internet at the moment. I remember a slightly newer one with a family with kids on a Fiat 124 too 🙂
From 1975 to 1982, the Canadian government ran repeated PSAs, on the national conversion to the Metric system from Imperial measurement standards. This one is obviously from the CB radio fad era, informing drivers on the conversion to metric road signs. Speed limit signs that once read ’50’, now read ’80 km/h’. Typically, boring governments ads. Especially, when they are heavily rotated on CBC.
This cartoon character was the official mascot of the Canadian government’s conversion to the Metric system. Seen everywhere for a few years. Then, he thankfully went away.
Those are excellent! Especially the CB radio one. If we’d only had something like that down here, I’m sure we’d have gotten with the program and converted like all other sensible people 😉
In 1975, I was in 8th grade and was so swept up by the talk about converting to “the metric system” that my 8th grade Science Fair project was to design a “metric clock” (which told time in base 10). I was resoundingly laughed at, but did get lots of kudos from the teacher for doing all that math.
The idea that an entire nation could just change the way it measured speed and distance (aside from time, that’s the only thing I focused on since it was all about the highway signs for me) simply blew my mind. Apparently it blew most minds down here…so we dropped it.
In 1973-1974, the US and Canada were at about the same stage of Metric adoption. Then Pierre Trudeau’s government took the leap of faith, to go headlong into the conversion. Far easier converting 25 million people, than 250 million people.
From 1975 until about 1979, every grade school student in Canada would get one of these flat cardboard ‘Metric Cubes’ in September. Which we would assemble, and keep placed on our desks. I know, very ‘1984’ like. lol But the ‘Metric Cubes’ were very useful as we had to make regular measurement conversions in Science or Math class. A very unique era for sure. Majority of Canadians were agreeable with the conversion, as more people trusted government then, than today. No doubt, it would not transition so smoothly today.
The government did a good job of ensuring my generation converted. Though, there are many areas where Imperial measure is still more popular.
This Cube example, has yellowed. they were white and red when new. The R Crumb illustration-style was hugely popular then.
For over a decade, road signs included tabs indicating measurements were in kms. Until by the early 1990s, kilometre reminders went away.
And down here, one occasionally still finds a distance-to-other-cities sign that displays the distance in kilometers as well as miles. These are rare and I don’t think that they’re just holdovers from the 1970s (that couldn’t be possible…). Rather, I think that in some cases a locality might be able to request the dual unit signs if there’s the feeling that there may be a lot of Canadians on the road…such is the case in much of New England and the upper tier of NY. A harder thing to find is French on highway signs, but I’ve even seen a few of those in the parts of Vermont and Maine that are closest to the border.
But the Kilometer highway signs are always fun. Kind of like having a TV commercial from the 1970s pop up in ones day to day Internet browsing.
I remember the tiger in your tank campaign. My Dad had the tiger tail that would attach to the filler neck on the car. Didn’t last long. Got soaked in gasoline after a while. Didn’t want it to act as a fuse for a prankster.
Slightly different was the Gulf No Nox program. Represented by a horse or mule (not sure), but the give away was a plastic pair of plastic horseshoes with gummy attachments. It was very flimsily and fell off the car with the first rain storm.
Found the horseshoes:
http://www.timepassagesnostalgia.com/&page=4&pm=0&searchkeywords=Gasoline&sin=g648
I had those too. A pair adorned the family’s refrigerator for a number of years. Unfortunately, they were made of very thin and brittle plastic. Once the magnets fell out (which as I recall happened rather quickly), that was about the end of the horseshoes.
Great stuff here again! I knew none of the history behind Esso’s tiger, and never would have guessed. The whole Oslo tiger/tigger story is fascinating – sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. I’d love to know a Norwegian’s side of that story as well.
In your last installment, I mentioned the book Meet Mr. Product. One of the things that struck me in looking through that book was the popularity of anthropomorphic oil droplets – not just the Esso Oil Drops too. AC used animated oil drops quite a bit (below).
I’ve never heard of the Volvo Viking mascot, but I love it.
With one notable exception, being Pontiac.
And then there’s my favorite automotive mascot, which was intentionally undignified – AMC’s Gremlin.
Gremlin:
Oh wow…of course! How could I forget the Gremlin? (I knew that there would be other mascots that turned up here in the comments!)
It does seem that American Motors may have had a thing for cartoons.
I am glad we were not so shy in Britain, my favorite is the Rover Viking, it was a free standing radiator cap mascot on the P3, but went to a lovely casting on the bonnet of the P4
Uniroyal tigerpaw was a thing for a while
Yep, I remember the commercial for Tiger Paws.
Traction in the wet and cold and damp.
I’m sure Don Draper would be jealous!!
In addition to the man with the star, Texaco had the Tower of Power – Sky Chief Su-preme.
I even vaguely recall part of the jingle from 1957, or so.
Tower of Power – Sky Chief Su-preme.
Very impressive description of gasoline to this 13 year old.
Thanks for this and part 1. The origins of the Esso tiger was one I would never have guessed. Making lemonade out of lemons…
Mr. Dirt is a totally new one for me; I guess I wasn’t watching much tv at the time.
Thanks!
Mr. Dirt (aka Ronny Graham) was one of those actors who popped up randomly as characters on different TV shows throughout the 1970s. But never for long. I think he was on Chico and the Man for about 1/2 dozen episodes.
His main thing was as a writer. He was a writer and “script consultant” for M*A*S*H (and in, you guessed it, 1 episode). He worked with Mel Brooks on all of Mel’s last movies (although, Mel’s the last man standing, so maybe “last movies” is kind of premature).
Mr. Dirt, the spokesman/mascot for a major oil company, probably paid a lot of the rent in the late 1970s.
Thanks – now the 1956 “The Esso Sign means Happy Motoring!” jingle will be stuck in my head for the rest of my life 🙂 , rotoscoped stereotypes included…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak3-wN74FbI
Another notable Esso Tiger ad is this one from 1964. Before the Velvet Underground, before “Take a Walk on the Wild Side”, Lou Reed eeked out a living singing and co-writing Esso jingles (this one was also issued as a 45rpm single too credited to The Intimates, but it didn’t chart). Why the car in the video looks nothing at all like the ’55 Chevy in the lyrics is a mystery.
I completely missed out on the Sinclair dinosaur, as they didn’t have any stations in my neck of the woods.
The Nash Rambler adverts remind me of the early 1960s Ford Falcon advertising featuring Peanuts characters – the first time they were ever shown on television, 6 years before “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF3PJcQ7YHw
The Catera commercials were an attempt by Cadillac to come across as less stuffy or formal – even referring to the car as a “Caddy” rather than “Cadillac” (was that the first time in their advertising”) In any case, all anyone remembers today is Lisa Catera.
Those Peanuts character commercials are cool. It seems that Peanuts was associated with Ford for several years. I’d never seen the commercials though.
Here’s one with I think Henry II interacting with Charlie Brown and Lucy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nndFzfzI1Ik&ab_channel=USAutoIndustry
You’d probably not get an company’s CEO/Chairman of the Board in a commercial with cartoons nowadays.
Another splendid round! I never, ever saw that Volvo mascot before. I googled around a bit and found a ‘Volvo lorry mascot’. Indeed, must be a UK thing.
The mascot below was quite common here on trucks in the post-Convoy-years. Pure nostalgia now, unlike Bibendum (still very much alive and kicking on truck cabs, mostly two of them, left and right).
And good ol’ Flipje, more or less the fruity version of Bibendum, is also still around. I caught this one last summer:
Ah, jam! That one took a little digging, as that brand never made it over here. But their current parent company Hero is indeed available. Hero also being the owner of the “Frutessa” brand…which I think would a great name for a person. Good thing I’m not going to have any more children.
But apparently Flipje’s museum is still around even if the factory is gone. So that one is on my list for a visit some day.
https://www.fietsnetwerk.nl/en/places/flipje-regional-museum-tiel/
After all, if I could make an afternoon out of a visit to the Jello museum ( https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/road-trip/qotd-summer-2023-roadtrip-plans/ ), the jam museum would be equally interesting.
Flipje’s museum, only 18 km from my place. Never was there. About 50 years ago, I stopped consuming jam. Venz hagelslag (puur) FTW!
Convoy as in “This here’s the Rubber Duck and I’m about to put the hammer down.?
I am glad to have introduced you to that Volvo mascot! I was rather sure that you’d be the commenter who would have further info on it given its clear European focus and the heavy equipment angle.
That’s the duck alright!
Regarding Viking mascots, I just came across this Chevrolet Used Cars ad – the billboard in the background features five Vikings holding the Chevy Used Cars “OK” shield – never seen this before:
In the 80s a Mack truck that was 100% Mack components sported a gold bull dog. One that wasn’t 100% Mack (different engine, suspension, brake system, other components) sported a silver bull dog. Still true?
See JPC’s comment below. Seems like there are still silver and gold bulldogs.
From what I read, you’re right about the different colors of bull dogs. But what I can’t tell – because the sources of info on mascots are pretty scant – is whether this is still the case or if the practice ended or was phased out after the Volvo acquisition in 2000.
Also Esso in Japan used characters from Lupin the 3rd in these commercials.
Now that puts a smile on my face that will last the better part of the day 🙂
I love the 2nd one which features the gas station attendants saying thank you at the end (something I first learned about from Jim Brophy’s post right here on CC – https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/comment-classic/curbside-commentary-my-top-five-surprises-about-driving-in-japan/ )
And the (I’m assuming lead) character who looks like an Amish Abraham Lincoln. I need to go check that out.
Outstanding research for this series Jeff. Some pretty obscure material you have found here.
Looking at the lead pic, how on Earth could Michelin think these innertube men could be seen as a positive promotion? lol They likely would have given kids (and some adults) nightmares. They look like potentially evil stacked pancakes, come to life!
I have to agree with your assessment, and will note that none of the bystanders/onlookers in any of those pictures seem to be doing much of anything other than suppressing the urge to run away screaming. Perhaps entertainment opportunities in early 20th century Europe were sparse (and they were used to the whole creepy clowns performing on streets thing? https://daily.jstor.org/here-we-are-again-how-joseph-grimaldi-invented-the-creepy-clown/ ). And maybe Michelin handed out free inner tubes after every appearance.
Nevertheless, he was popular, that’s for sure.
What about the Dodge “Super Bee”
I cannot find an easy to post picture. But it was a Bee!
Good one! Somehow, the Dodge Super Bee always was eclipsed in my mind by the Plymouth Super Bird/Roadrunner. Such is the power of established intellectual property (and I’ll bet Chrysler paid a lot more to use the Roadrunner than it did to have someone draw the Super Bee). Someone else here can say whether that paid off in sales.
On the other hand, as of last model year, you could still have one more chance to buy a Charger with the Super Bee on its logo.
The final year (2023) Super Bee special edition logo.
Plymouth Super Bird – it was the Roadrunner!
Actually, the Plymouth RoadRunner itself – was also a RoadRunner!
In Australia, we had a sheep !!!
That could have lead to some interesting Standard Oil company mascot gatherings. 🙂
Brockway, a Mack subsidiary for some time used a Husky dog for a mascot. On properly equipped trucks with twin Huskidrive, you would get two dogs up on the hood. How about Greyhound? Opel used an elephant for a few years. Continental engines used a picture of the US Capitol building with the tagline “Powerful as the nation.” Sinclair goodies are available online and also at the Flagstaff, AZ location. I still have a large white and small green inflatable Dinos from a late 80s trip through there in a 66 Studebaker. Still there as I stopped there again in April of April this year but the have a limited selection compared to the online store.
The is the Dodge Ram, usually in the form of a Ram head, but early on as a full Tam on the hood. The commercials for the trucks used to end with two maintain goats bashing their heads together, “Ram Tough”.
Thanks for the series!
Also Lancia used an elephant in the badging of performance versions HF, badge from 70s Fulvia HF:
https://ricambirossocorsa.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Stemma-Lancia-Fulvia-HF.png
and from Delta:
https://www.deltaintegrale.com/images/Products/82487410.jpg?v=21
https://www.deltaintegrale.com/images/Products/82476417.jpg?v=21
https://assets.dyler.com/uploads/posts/45/images/5200/lancia-delta-hf-integrale-1991-1993.jpg
Probably lesser known, but used also on Dedra and Delta II:
https://xn--80aafe9bhdrpm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/alfa-155-q4-e-lancia-dedra-integrale-erano-deltone-travestite-e1548738700632.jpg
http://www.autoviva.com/img/photos/631/lancia_delta_hpe_2_0_hf_turbo_img_8631.jpg
https://www.motorsdb.com/fiche-technique/auto/905/Lancia-Delta-II-HF-HPE-836-1998-2000.html
More recently, a little elephant (elefantino) was used also on the Y Elefantino Blu (basic version) and Elefantino Rosso (sporty one):
http://www.italiazakka.co.jp/shop/goods_img/4867_0_01.jpeg
http://www.italiazakka.co.jp/shop/goods_img/06_02_B5A020_6_01.jpeg
TV commercials (loved them as a kid!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFJp1hM5f4o
Elefantino badge used also more recently for a version of the third generation Ypsilon, in various colours, for example:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sbtOzeyynDc/VC1FnGEku8I/AAAAAAAAIdU/uJHq5lX4jU8/s1600/01-Elefantino.jpg
Not so much a mascot, but the Abarth logo includes a Scorpion. There was a Lancia Scorpion as well.
Wow ~ so many fascinating bits of information in this article and the comments .
Kudos to all .
-Nate
Both parts of this series were great! I loved the Sinclair dinosaur, but my parents never went to a Sinclair station so I missed out on the inflatable dino. The parents in the commercial could easily afford two for the kids with the money they saved by sticking with the standard hub caps on that Galaxie convertible.
As for Esso, the one thing I really remember is the commercial with the singing rocker arm assembly (https://youtu.be/JScq272dIaM?si=sqN0LdgfHZckkoUl). But I don’t think that rises to the level of a mascot. But who knew how well our auto parts could sing?
The Mack bulldog continues to ride the hoods of trucks. It is a little less inspiring from the driver’s seat. The lore is that the bulldog makes a great weather indicator, because if the bulldog starts getting icy, be careful out there!
Well, there you go! You drive a pure-bred Mack with a golden mascot!