I can’t ever argue with a Art Fitzpatrick and Can Kaufman rendering, especially a wide-track Pontiac (their specialty). But the text? How is this the “wisest wide-track yet”? Am I missing something?
Here’s some more F&K goodness:
A Tribute To Automotive Artist Art Fitzpatrick
The ’62 Pontiac’s Better End (And A Few Other Gems By F&K)
A typo that no one wanted to admit to?
Widest Wide Track Ever!
or…
Wise to take the wide (and safe) Pontiac rather than that creepy (and dangerous) mass transit train in the dark background setting.
The book Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard had an big influence on me when I was thinking of a career in advertising and was fascinated with what was then called motivational research.
RL, see my comment below – I always read this copy as “widest” and not “wisest”.
That “wide track” bit of promotion was really effective. I remember an aunt and uncle in the late 60s who had a nearly new 68 Oldsmobile Delta 88 and an aging 60 Pontiac Catalina. My aunt was telling us about having to go somewhere in stormy weather and that they took the Pontiac “because it has a wide track.” It made perfect sense to me at age 10, but is completely laughable now.
We may distinguish both true and false needs. “False” are those which are superimposed upon the individual by particular social interests in his repression: the needs which perpetuate toil, aggressiveness, misery, and injustice…Most of the prevailing needs to relax, to have fun, to behave and consume in accordance with the advertisements, to love and hate what others love and hate, belong to this category of false needs.
― Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man (1964)
Results of a 3 martini lunch.
You hit the nail on the head, especially since this was the 1960s!
The illustrations so popular until 1970s? Often exaggerated the proportions of the vehicles,so why not be creative with the facts in the script? As a collector of vintage sales brochures, the practice was very common. 57 Plymouth (suddenly it’s 1960) is just one example. Not sure if truth in advertising laws were in effect, but truth was often certainly stretched in an effort to attract potential buyers. As for PONTIAC, had 74 Grand Ville and 80 Bonneville Brougham. But to me the most beautiful PONTIAC of all was 65 Bonneville. 66 Bonneville was an excellent example of a minor face lift diminished the original design.
P
Very much agree about the 65 & 66s!
Agree, ’65 much better looking.
They’re extolling the virtues of the 1961 as compared to last year’s model, and doing some word play with “Wide Track.” Many eyes go past these ads from creative to approval; it couldn’t be a typo. Here’s from a full-page ad that has that artwork (minus the slogan) and then notes the improvements:
> Yet, there’s a more parkable, garageable, maneuverable size.
Detroit will never run out of euphemisms for “smaller”. “More manageable!” (1977 Caprice), “International-sized” (1975 Seville), “new size” (1978 Malibu)…
Is there some meaning to that license plate?
I guess “113” meant something. Or not.
I have read that VK&AF used their project number for the Pontiac assignments as the license plate numbers.
It looks like it came from a bicycle. To match the tiny people I guess.
Unless I am remembering an ad for a later year touting the “Widest wide-track yet!”, that is the way I have always read this one. I would almost bet this was intentional, with ad-writers betting that a certain percentage of readers would read it the way I did, while the rest would pick up the “wisest”, so that both messages get promoted, while the wording is completely (or at least legally) truthful.
According to one source (Concept Carz, I think), the front track on Pontiac went from 63.7 inches in 1960 to 62.5 inches in 1961, and body width dropped from 80.7 to 78.2 inches. So they could clearly not claim that either the track or the car was wider in 1961 – which probably chafed at the advertising guys’ sensibilities.
I am not sure how you can tell a wise car from a car that lacks wisdom.
This illustration like just about every other F&K Pontiac artwork is so pleasing to the eye that the advertising text is secondary.
We build enlightenment!
“North by Northwest” 2 years on…Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) is no longer driving a 1958 Continental Mark III but as “Mrs. Thornhill” is riding with advertising exec Roger (Cary Grant) in his new 1961 Pontiac. The railroad…remember Roger telling Eve “I’m sentimental” as they climb into the berth followed by the very ribald symbolism of the train entering a tunnel?
10956 S. Michigan avenue Chicago Illinois 60628 Roseland community Pontiac dealership