A while back I had a post on the classic Volkswagen ads Doyle Dane Bernbach did in the 1970s. The other company with clever, cool ads at that time was Volvo. Like VW, Volvo was selling substance, not gadgets or Broughamesque luxury.
The Volvo 140 series, introduced in 1966, was arguably the template for what a modern car should be: space efficient, reliable and compact, with a stout powerplant and comfortable interior. When you consider the gas-guzzling barges then plying American roads, the Volvo was a breath of fresh air. Volvo took advantage of this, and pointed out their cars’ practicality and safety in an engaging and entertaining way. The ad above, with the famous stacked Volvos, was an accident. The cars in question were water damaged and unable to be sold. Someone had the idea that they could stack them on top of each other to show off Volvo’s superior construction and vaunted ‘safety cage’ built into the passenger compartment. The rest was history.
If the 142 and 144 were practical, the 145 was even more so. The wagon actually had a smaller turning radius than a VW, and the one-piece liftgate with built-in wiper was very unique. Most station wagons still had the fold-down type, albeit with two-way operation, pioneered by Ford.
Now, I like Volvos, and appreciate their practicality, but come on, look at all those Country Sedans, Country Squires and Estate Wagons. There’s even a Satellite Suburban!
While safety was probably Volvo’s biggest selling point at the time, their space efficient design was also a big deal. Here we see a ’73 144 as ‘just right’ when compared to compacts and full-size ‘Merican iron. The blue car is obviously a lightly-disguised ’73 Newport or New Yorker, but can anybody identify that little red car? I think it might be a Fiat.
Volvo played up their uniqueness on their luxury 164E too. This ad is a favorite of mine, basically taking potshots at all the tacked-on gingerbread that Detroit was touting as luxury in the ’70s. I wonder what Cadillacs and Lincolns would have looked like if the styling themes of the ’60s had continued into the ’70s – no landau tops, no opera windows, etc.
One big advantage Volvo had in the Seventies was all their cars had four-wheel disc brakes and a dual-circuit triangulated backup brake system. That meant that if one of the brake lines failed, you still had brakes on three of the four wheels. This was very different from US cars, when even luxury makes typically had a front disc/rear drum setup.
Volvo advertising was pretty good in the ’70s. They had a unique product, and their clever advertising probably helped the right buyers notice them, much like Dane Doyle Bernbach did for VW.
Good stuff Tom.
I could read old car ads for days. One of these times, I need to digitize my collection, rather than letting it sit forgotten on a shelf in the corner of my basement.
There was always such variety in what was being sold. Safety, beauty, power, prestige. The great ones take an essential attribute of the car and try to make you value that trait above all others. Some are entertaining because they try to gloss over obvious shortcomings by trying to dazzle you with BS.
Thanks for a walk down Volvo lane with these. They really did have some creative people working on these.
You know, that’s not a bad idea. I have quite a few vintage ads in binders. We should try and convince Paul to let us have a spot on here to share them.
Volvo: they’re boxy but they’re good.
Best ad campaign ever. Too bad it was a joke in a movie, because it’s right in step with some of these ads.
Here you go!
Something I always wanted but never had was a Volvo wagon. Really would prefer the 66 (or older) that looked like a 48 ford. I don’t get rid of cars very quickly so who knows how long something rugged would last for me. I guess I won’t know because I won’t dump the current stable to find out.
I miss the erudite, intelligent and slightly witty car ads of that era.
So much of advertising now is either ditchwater-dull or all about screaming the loudest.
If I’m not mistaken, Volvo eventually went a bridge too far with an ad captioned ” can you spot the Volvo?” which showed a monster truck crushing the competition. The Volvo roof was shown still relatively undamaged while that horrible domestic stuff was crushed like tinfoil. Then it developed that the Volvo roof had been reinforced and the rest of the cars structurally weakened for the photo. Oops.
I don’t remember how they got caught out, but caught they were and it got a lot of press at the time. I’ll bet the ad agency paid a price for that one.
The agency was fired after a 3 decade relationship.
Take a close look at Volvo’s recent print/TV advertising. They’re still using the same distinctive font from the ’70s ads (note the S that looks like a backwards Z). That’s kind of cool.
Unfortuately, that’s about the only thing new Volvos have in common with their ’70s counterparts. I think they’ve completely lost the plot.
These Volvo ads are great. Volvo were successful then because they know what they are, are proud of what they are, and concentrate on being what they are. Nowadays Volvo is in a confusing state of mind. Am I a mainstream car? or am I a luxury car? And they’re failing at being both, and are stranded in the no-man’s land in between.
Volvo’s problem is similar to AMC’s in the early 1960s – it was ahead of the game on a key aspect of modern automobiles, but eventually everyone else caught on.
AMC, under George Romney, pushed compact cars that were easier to handle but still roomy. The Big Three jumped on the bandwagon with their compacts and intermediates, and soon AMC was an also-ran in the segment in had pioneered.
Volvo pushed safety, which worked when the Big Three and most imports basically gave it lip service. Once Lee Iacocca reversed course and installed air bags as standard equipment on Chryslers in the late 1980s, and then everyone began advertising five-star crash ratings, Volvos lost their main selling point. Are modern Volvos really much safer than an Acura, VW or Ford?
I’ve always loved the stacked Volvo ad – such a simple ad, but says so much! We didn’t see the other ads shown above here in NZ, but they make enjoyable (and humourous!) reading. As I’ve mentioned before, my grandparents drove Volvos from ’73- ’84 – a 164E and then a 264GLE. As well as the cars, they also got the brochures for most of those years, and I loved reading them as a kid. The brochures were made like the cars: nothing grandiose, just well-designed classic and informative items. I still enjoy flicking through them today.
The stacked car gimmick even extended to plastic models seen in Volvo dealerships. I definitely remember that.
I think my dad got hooked on Volvos when an old friend of his was driving one, an old 144. Yep, and he was a university professor (stereotyped Volvo driver) too. Eventually we got our 1973 144 tank.
Like when they dropped a HQ Holden 21ft and didnt bend the slim windscreen pillars to prove how strong it was
Or the other time when Holden first introduced seatbelts (or made them standard or something) in the mid-late 1960s. To prove how strong the seatbelts were, they suspended a Kingswood from a crane by a seatbelt. It was above something else (an early Viva/Torana?). I can’t find the article right now (it’s in one of my Wheels magazines), but suffice it to say the seatbelt wasn’t as strong as they’d expected and things did not end well for either car…
“Are you in the market for a hardtop?” is my favorite car advertisement of all time. I think I first saw it in an Advertising Text Book at College in the late 1980’s. I actually thought about it when I was reading the other Volvo article in the CC Archive the other day.
I love my 2007 Volvo V70 wagon. It’s my only car and there is nothing I would rather be driving.
Volvo of the 60’s-80’s…a “thinking” person’s car with advertising that appealed to folks with a sense of intelligence. All the text in the Volvo ads described quality and performance attributes that could be proven, unlike the hyperbole of the Big 3. How refreshing it is to read these again!
A part of me always went for basic, utilitarian, plain jane cars devoid of superfluous ornamentation. The Volvo appealed to that sensitivity in me. Give me a “custom” with dog-dish hub caps and vinyl bench seats. Though I must admit, the dolled up 164 with her Merc-Rolls grille and Jag headlight treatment was always a European beauty. Just imagine if Caddy and Ford had utilized the Volvo 164 formula in creation of Seville and Granada…
I loved the 240 but couldn’t swing the price of one in the late 80’s upon college graduation…went with a Civic sedan which was more cost effective but no less durable choice.
Volvos of today don’t have the same soul.
I remember a couple of Volvo commercials from the 70s, usually on the Phil Donahue show.
The one I really loved (and would like to find), started with the camera looking up at a multi-story parking structure, the Volvo comes flying off the edge, lands on its nose and falls back onto the wheels. From off screen a man in a jumpsuit comes into frame walks over to the car, opens the door, gets in, starts it and drives away.
I don’t think it even had any narration, just the logo at the end. Anyone remember seeing that one – or have any idea where I might find it?
The other ad was a really short one during the rebate days. It just showed a Volvo with the voice-over – Ever wonder why you never see ads for rebates on a Volvo? Because when you build a good car, you don’t have to pay people to buy it. 🙂
I’ve heard that when Ford bought Volvo and the accountants got to look at the books, one of the first things they said was, “You could save a lot of money by reducing the amount and quality of the steel in all the pillars supporting the roof.”
When my Porsche Boxster was totaled on
Last June, I remembered my second Volvo
a 142 and a head on collision, at a closing
Speed of 90 mph! At 77 I’am back ,Volvo
XC70 T6!!
George Pfister
2015
Volvo XC70 T6.
Call me old-school, but I miss the car advertisements of the 1970s. Although I’ve never owned or driven a Volvo, I do like the Volvo cars of the 1970s.
Jason you need to find one.I drove a mid 80s Volvo 240 for 11 years it delivered everything you could ever want from a car and I wish I still had it today.