Traveling by air today is little more than riding a Greyhound bus with wings, but that wasn’t always the case. Back in the golden age of Aviation, which ran roughly from the late 1940s to the early ’70s, flying was a more upscale experience that people got dressed in their Sunday finest for. So naturally, airplanes and all the trappings of air travel were fertile ground for yet more “luxury by association” auto ads.
1930 Marmon Ad
Per my now well-established pattern, I will start this piece with the oldest example of this trope that I could find, which in this case is the 1930 Marmon ad above. While Marmon is a relatively obscure brand today, back in the day it stood toe to toe with Cadillac, Duesenberg, and the “Three P’s” in the upper echelons of American luxury cars. Indeed, Marmon was the only manufacturer other than Cadillac to produce a V-16 engine in the 1930s (sorry Peerless, but you went under before you could bring your V-16 to market).
1940 Ford Ad
Of course, it didn’t take long for this trope to trickle downmarket. In this 1940 ad, we see Ford parking a car on the tarmac next to a plane (a DC-3, in this case). There is also one other trope at play here too, one that we’ve seen before: That professionals can somehow drive and park their personal vehicles wherever they want, whether it is at airports, golf courses, or movie sets.
1941 Pontiac Torpedo Ad
I never knew that TWA originally stood for “Transcontinental and Western Airlines.” Growing up, it was always Trans World Airlines to me, or simply just TWA. The Stratoliner mentioned in the copy (and pictured in the background) is in fact the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, derived from the legendary B-17 Flying Fortress. If you’ve never seen one, don’t feel bad: Production of the civilian B-17 variant began in 1940, and only 10 Stratoliners were built before WW2, compared to the 12,000+ B-17s that eventually got built. After the war, the 307 Stratoliner would have been quite obsolete compared to the B-29-based Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, so production of the 307 was never resumed.
As for the Pontiac, it appears to be a top-of-the-line 1941 Torpedo Streamliner Sedan Coupe, with Streamliner being GM-speak for fastback. I have a real soft spot for these pre-war GM fastbacks, so I don’t think that GM is being too immodest by calling it “A General Motors Masterpiece.” Jack Frye, founder and president of TWA and pictured admiring the Pontiac, was tragically killed by a drunk driver on February 3, 1959. If that date sounds familiar, that is because it is also the Day the Music Died, when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper all died in a plane crash.
1956 Chrysler Ad
Chrysler’s 1956 “Forward Look” models might not have been as sleek as the ’57 models that followed them, but picturing a 1956 model in front of a fighter aircraft helps drive the point across. The fighter jet pictured in the background is a North American F-86 Sabre which, having come out in 1949, wasn’t all that advanced of a fighter by 1956.
According to the military aircraft registry, F-86 serial number 3969 was manufactured for the Ejercito de Aire (Spanish Air Force) so I’m not sure why it is shown here in USAF livery, unless the number in the photo was retouched from something else. By the way, the large numbers on the fuselage are known as the “Buzz Numbers,” so called because they are meant to discourage pilots from “buzzing” (making high-speed low-altitude passes) over ground targets. The first two letters indicate the plane type (FU=F-86 Sabre) followed by the last three digits of the serial number. The buzz numbers were to be “as large as practicable” to assist civilians in reporting offending pilots to the authorities.
1956 Chrysler Ad
Here’s a second 1956 Chrysler ad, with the entire lineup parked on a runway with another F-86D in the background, this one with all the markings airbrushed away. This photo seems to be heavily airbrushed, so much so that it blurs the line between a photo and an illustration.
1959 Lincoln Ad
By the late 1950s, showing military hardware largely fell out of favor in car ads. Views of militarism and the Military Industrial Complex were starting to change (gradually at first, but would accelerate rapidly in the 1960s). By this time, it was pretty clear that the war against communism was not going to be fought like WW2. Rather, the Cold War was going to be a decades-long slog of sanctions, spheres of influence, and proxy wars.
So advertisers turned their focus to private planes as an indicator of status. And nothing says status like a twin-engine plane.
The 1958-1960 generation of Lincolns was polarizing when new, and they are still dividing Curbivores 70+ years later. You may want to click and enlarge this picture to see the full details, where it appears the gentleman by the plane is trying to load his children into the luggage compartment of his Beechcraft Bonanza. Wave goodbye to your mom, kids!
The reason I didn’t better crop this image is the photo in the upper left. Look closely – The gentleman in the driver’s seat appears to be using a car phone! This has to be one of the first-ever appearances of one of these devices in a car ad.
Lincoln used a similar twin-engine Cessna 310 in the 1967 Continental ad shown in the lede photo.
1959 Oldsmobile Ad
Compared to the Cessna 310, The single-engine Cessna 172 in this Oldsmobile ad is downright attainable. Apparently, it is not even interesting enough to capture the gaze of the passenger, who is looking the other way.
1965 Rambler Ad
While there is nothing particularly exceptional about this 1965 Rambler convertible, the plane behind it is very unusual indeed. Specifically, it is Morane-Saulnier MS.760, a four-seat two-engine jet with a fighter-style canopy roof. While the MS.760 is typically used for military pilot training, it was marketed and sold for personal use as well. N706X appears to be such a civilian model and is still in service today (with the last airworthiness certification completed in 2020), and is currently owned by Aerotechnics Aviation Inc. in the UK.
1970 Saab Ad
The one notable holdout to military aircraft was of course Saab, who made hay out of their association with military jets for decades. The 1970 ad above is perhaps one of the earliest examples.
1970 Ford Thunderbird Ad
Paul has previously blogged about this particular ad before, but it bears inclusion here as well. Yet another example of the “professionals implausibly parking where they work” trope.
1973 Mercury Ad
Lastly, we have this rather strange entry from Mercury in 1973. I’m not sure what is with the ten pilots standing around. It surely doesn’t require that many to fly the DC-9 in the background. Nor are they all likely to fit in the Marquis in the foreground (at least not comfortably). As for the “European town car?” It is hard to say for sure, but it appears to be a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, hardly the paragon of driving dynamics. Anyone care to write a letter to the address in the ad for documentation showing the proof?
Interesting article with great advertisements. However I would question if the 1940s through 1970s was actually the Golden Age of Aviation; flying was much more dangerous as well as unaffordable to the vast majority of people.
While today people may not get dressed up for it flying is much more accessible, affordable, and safer than ever.
It was called the golden age of flying precisely because it was so exclusive and levels of customer service were so high.
Or at least so I’ve been told. I’m not old enough to have experienced the golden age personally, and even if I were I probably couldn’t have afforded the tickets.
Now this is how young people today should also act and dress. I’m serious, not kidding.
I’m barely old enough to have caught the tail end of the golden age of air travel.
My very first plane ride was out to San Francisco, California from Baltimore, Maryland on a plane identical to the one pictured below.
The food that day on that 707 was a hot dish (and quite good as I recall), served on a real tray (thus why there are tray tables on planes, but they should be called ‘laptop supports’ nowadays), by the then not so politically correct termed ‘stewardesses’.
The service was impeccable. We even asked for and received a free deck of playing cards. As an airplane geek I loved this. I think my deck had a Boeing 727 pictured on the back of each card, and the deck my little sister received pictured a DC-8, in TWA’s livery of course…
Now we’re lucky to get a bag of peanuts… oh wait, you can’t do that anymore due to allergies… and a soda, and the occasional comedy routine from your flight attendant…
But Southwest’s 737(s) are most likely a lot safer than an old Connie or DC-4!
before deregulation of airlines in 1978 the only area where airlines could actually compete was in service. Fees were regulated at a comparative high level in exchange for airlines servicing out-of-the-way and/or otherwise unprofitable destinations.
I was also lucky to have flown during the tail end of the golden age. My first plane trip was at the age of 17 in June 1969. The flight was from Pittsburgh to San Juan, Puerto Rico with a pit stop in Miami. I went with a small group of students and a teacher as part of the high school Spanish Club. We had various fundraisers through the school year, but only one student earned enough money to defray completely the cost of the trip. The rest of us needed supplemental funds from our parents.
The plane was an Eastern Airlines DC-8 for both the outgoing and returning flights. Later in my college years, I flew frequently between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia for vacation breaks. I always flew Allegheny Airlines, typically on DC-9s. The student fare at the time was only $19 each way, a bargain even in today’s money.
The last time I had a really enjoyable experience flying was on a business trip in 1999 to Japan. The airline was ANA and the plane was a Boeing 747. The service was excellent, with frequent offerings of various foods and drinks, we were even offered generously sized moist hot towels to wipe our faces and hands.
As far as I can recall my first flight was in 1976 via World Airways on a DC-10 from Frankfurt to Los Angeles, there may have been a stop involved too.
Let me assure you, by that point whatever golden age of flight there ever was, it was well and truly finished. 🙂
I think perhaps my best flight was with CityBird (The Flying Dream) from Oakland non-stop to Brussels around 1998, the round trip was something like $200, the planes were brand new MD-11s and the plane was maybe 10% full, so pretty much everyone got their own middle row to lay down in. I was too cheap and broke to pay the extra $100 they wanted to move up to first class… But I still have the woven blanket with their yellow and green logo.
Something can have a great sense of occasion without necessarily being terribly luxurious or sophisticated in any absolute sense. (That principle certainly kept Rolls-Royce cars alive for many years.)
I would call it the golden age of civil aviation/private pilots. There were so many guys with flying experience that left the service after the war, and many of them kept their licenses current with small planes, especially the more affluent ones. New small planes were relatively affordable then (especially compared to now) and small aircraft production reached its peak during those years (and maybe into the very early 70s).
Many of those ads showing Cessnas and such were not unrealistic for many people.
I think the name “Airbus” sums up the entirety of modern commercial aviation nicely.
One of the press photos for the 1961 Pontiac Tempest coupe features what I think is one of the Rockwell Aero Commander family, which is almost more prominent than the car.
Regarding the Sabre, Joe Baugher’s military aircraft pages (https://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_fighters/p86.html) indicate that all Spanish Sabres were USAF surplus F-86F models, not the F-86D, which wasn’t exported until 1958.
This bears some explanation. The -D was pretty close to being a new airplane, and it originally had a different designation (F-95); calling it an F-86 variant was a political maneuver. Unlike the standard Sabre, which was a fairly straightforward day fighter, the -D was an all-weather interceptor intended for continental air defense, with an ambitiously sophisticated radar-directed fire control system for a pack of two dozen unguided air-to-air rockets; it had more powerful engines than the regular F-86 and most had afterburners.
The Air Force bought them in very large numbers (more than 2,500, more than half of those for ADC), and at the time of the 1956 ads, they were the leading edge of American defense against Soviet bombers around the world. The fire control system was considered very sensitive technology, which is why it wasn’t exported early on and may be why the aircraft in the pictures were so airbrushed. However, the system never worked reliably, the engines had problems, and the various attempted fixes made it so almost no two aircraft were the same. So, the USAF began phasing them out in 1957, at which point some were foisted on the Air National Guard and several allied customers, including Denmark, South Korea, Japan, Greece, Turkey, and (curiously enough) Yugoslavia.
In U.S. service, the F-86D was replaced by the F-102 and F-106, which were much swoopier-looking and a good deal faster, but in 1956, Convair and the Air Force were still struggling to get them service-ready. (The F-106A didn’t fly until the end of 1956.)
The D model Sabre “Sabre Dog” wasn’t exported. The USAF examples were converted into F-86Ls, with a different wing, amongst other differences.
The F-86K was a simplified version, with four 20mm cannon and less sophisticated avionics. Used in the all weather interceptor role.
While not an ad, this is my favorite Road & Track PS image:
Those shots of small planes with cars parked nearby bring back many memories. My father was an accomplished private pilot and I got many hours in planes he flew – and around the airports where they came and went. A big Lincoln and a small/medium sized plane are a familiar combination to me.
The part that is more photogenic than realistic are the shots of expensive cars at grass landing strips. Most pilots far prefer nice, long paved runways to bumpy grass landing strips.
My uncle Joe, who was Air Force pilot during the Korean war, became a career 707 flight engineer. He took me to work with him one day, which was amazing in itself ( who gets to sit in the cockpit of a commercial aircraft? ) And also owned a Cessna 172 which he handed me the controls of when I was 14 years old. I might add, on the 707 flight, I sat in the navigators seat behind the Captain, this was early 80’s and navigators were replaced by electronics at this point.
Finned cars in ads with airplanes are appropriate! After all, the car makers wanted potential customers to think their cars could fly!
Love these vintage adds. Once again again, Lincoln is making an appeal to a particular potential customer. However the car is definitely the focus. As someone else posted, note the way the people are dressed. This was near the end of an era of aspirational advertising, encouraging people to Move on UP! Recall another post with Lincoln in a field and another Lincoln ad in front of a large home. Cadillac frequently used upscale backgrounds, formally dressed people and jewels. AND who can forget LEONA HELMSLEY ads for hotels with The (Helmsley)Only Palace 🏰 Where the QUEEN 👸 Stands Guard?
I love the unbridled optimism in most of these ads. The Thunderbird in front of the Queen of the Skies to usher in the wonderful 70’s together gets me every time. Even if the malaise era was just around the corner.
I just can’t get past that beak….
Didn’t the beak only last one year because of insurance issues?
The beaked ‘birds lived for two years: 1970 and ’71. They expired ahead of the bumper regs, which started in 1973, and were a final facelift of the 1967 Thunderbird.
Some trucks are also featured in airport ads like this 1960 Dodge pick-up truck.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/plum-crazy-candy-apple-red–468515167473132836/
Good catch in the 1959 Lincoln ad! The small children may indeed have piled in through the open bag door on the Beechcraft “T-bone” Twin Bonanza. Although they could have squeezed past the 4 adult chairs forward; much more fun as depicted. There was at least one, possibly two small jump seats aft but truly for marketing purposes. Full sized people could rarely occupy them because of weight & balance.
Minor detail, but that’s not a Cessna 310 with the ’58 Lincoln; it’s a Beechcraft Twin Bonanza. The one in the top image with the ’67 Conti coupe is also not a 310, looks like a Piper Twin Comanche.
The one in the 67 Lincoln ad is definitely a Cessna 310, at least according to the tail number (N8018M), assuming it wasn’t retouched in the ad. This plane’s airworthiness certificate was revoked just recently, in 2015.
The tail numbers in the 59 Lincoln ad are airbrushed out, but I think you are correct, looking at the shape of the windows it is probably a Beechcraft Twin Bonanza.
Yes, the top one is a 310. Looks very similar to the Twin Commanche. The other is definitely a Twin Bonanza.
I looked up the number like Tom, but I didn’t have to get that far to exclude it as a Twin Comanche. That was a plane my father flew in the early to mid 1970s, so I know those quite well. I still remember the tail number – N8614Y. I looked it up, and it still holds an airworthiness certificate. That was one of the sharpest looking planes of its era, especially in the red/white/black paint scheme of the one Dad flew.
Yes, I already corrected myself. It most truly and sincerely is a 310!
The one used in the brochures was identical to the one Dad flew – as I recalled he owned it in a partnership with 2 or 3 other guys.
If it was a V-tailed Bonanza the kids would truly be waving goodbye to their mom. Bonanza’s in general were known as doctor killers because their performance was way above the average little prop plane so inexperienced pilots could get themselves into trouble. This was told to me by an old timer Beechcraft engineer.
Well, it was all the twins that were the real “doctor killers”, as contrary to popular belief, singles have a better safety record than twins. Why? Because if one of the engines goes out, they can be very tricky to keep flying. And of course, the odds of an engine going out is twice as high as on a single.
On a single, if an engine goes out, as long as you can find a adequate level field or highway to land on on, it’s not that hard to fly. Not so on on a twin with one dead engine.
I know very little about flying, and that was on the list of things I didn’t know. Makes perfect sense; likelihood vs. consequences of a failure.
Whoa! Sounds like he was having you on. The Beechcraft Bonanza has been in continuous production for 75 years, and is widely regarded as an exceptional aircraft. Early examples are treasured by their owners and new ones are greatly sought after. The “fork tailed doctor killer” jape was a tongue in cheek observation that sometimes those with the money to buy one(doctors) sometimes lacked the skill to operate one correctly and sometimes died as a result. In the hands of a qualified pilot, there are few finer single engine planes ever built.
totally agree and that was his point really…ego and money was more deadly than hard earned skill.
As trope-ish as the American car ads are, the SAAB ad is not. It’s just a legitimate picture of things the company makes. I think we’ve seen ads from GM on these pages before that featured GM cars combined with GM locomotives. Same thing.
Wish I had bigger/better quality/more-of-the-page, but here’s one for a ’62 Chrysler (of Europe) Coronado:
…and here’s the other one:
What a great combination; two Coronados. The plane is Convair Coronado (“990”), and Swissair was one of the relatively few operators.
I love the other Coronado too; I wonder if any survived?
The Convairs were built in San Diego and Coronado was right across the bay from the aircraft plant.
Unfortunately I never got to fly on either the 880 or 990.
Yes, I lived on the hills overlooking the airport and the Convair plant when I lived in SD. I used to have breakfast on the little upstairs porch and watch the jets land and take off. There was a National Airlines DC10 that took off for Miami at 8 AM every morning.
Donno—but I hope so. Don’t know if ’62 was the last year or not, but there’s something the matter with whoever doesn’t dig a factory-built ’62 Plymouth-bodied 8-passenger airport limo!
There are (unverified) words and a couple more pics here at the undead zombie remains of Allpar.
I suspect that military planes lost their allure as advertising backgrounds because the 707/DC-8/Lear-Jet 23 brought fast jets to the civilian market for any automaker wanting to emphasize speed and leading edge technology. Concern about the military-industrial complex or other anti-military sentiments did not become common until the late 1960s with the Baby Boomer generation getting into draft age, and any Lincoln owner during that time was likely a Republican/Dixiecrat anti-Communist, and proud WWII veteran. Thus I suspect luxury car use of private planes as background was simply to convey status of someone rich enough to own a Lincoln (or Rambler convertible) and their own plane.
Using private planes for ad and brochure photo shoots was probably also a lot less hassle than dealing with the Air Force press office.
What’s kinda funny is the Marmon ad. This car was a fancy luxury car, and it’s pictured with a plane manufactured by one of the “low priced three”!
And those fins aren’t just for looks! …they make a real contribution to the remarkable stability of these cars on the road.
For me this brings to mind Lincoln choosing the name Aviator for one of their models. What in the world? This makes no sense at all as a name for a car. But my guess is the brain trust at Ford thought it’d be cool to have some tie-in with Navigator—and chose it simply because it ends in “ator”. Ridiculous.
Maybe TerminATOR could work as a model above NavigATOR?? Mercury used EliminATOR but i don’t think that could tie into a Lincoln with the current lineup. Did someone say BaconATOR? LOL
I always liked this Chrysler ad with all of their products, product involvement. I ended up getting one and putting it up in my pole barn.
This was a Great Ad!!
Neat ad! I’d never heard of the Chrysler Mobile Lounge, so I Googled it – pretty fearsome looking vehicle!
We have a CC post on those:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/rampside-classic/rampside-classic-the-mobile-lounges-of-dulles-airport/
There really are CC posts on everything!
Back when Chrysler Aerospace contributed to the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo program I presume. As I recall they divested themselves from all nonautomotive divisions since.
I think that Lincoln’s current names for it’s SUVs are actually pretty good. The Navigator brings to mind a large vessel sailing confidently across the ocean, or in this case, traversing the Continents. The Aviator brings the thought of flying unfettered through the sky. It probably also borrowed some cachet from the Howard Hughes movie starring DeCaprio. Hughes was quite a dashing and exciting character in his youth. Setting aviation records with planes that he designed and built. Nautilus sailed beneath the oceans of the world under the command of Capt. Nemo. Best exemplified in the film, The League of Distinguished Gentleman.
I initially thought that Corsair had something to do with ocean winds, but learned that it referred to a pirate! I’m not really a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean, but I imagine that the image of a small, fleet, attack ship, romanticized by the movie’s popularity, erases any problem with political correctness.
In my mind these are romantic names well suited to their namesakes. Any of these names is so much better than the previous MK letter soup!
The Corsair is also the name of a WWII Navy/Marine fighter, the F4U. It was also used in the Korean War as well. Had a distinguished service record.
OTOH, Corsair was also the name of one of the ill-fated Edsel models or trim lines – perhaps best forgotten though I think the general public isn’t going to remember that.
There was also a UK Ford Corsair, built 1963-70, and very much in debt to the Bullet Bird for its looks. Possibly the first car in the UK to be sold with a factory-fitted vinyl roof? (Someone will correct me, I’m sure.)
It nominally replaced the Consul Classic and sat between the Cortina and Zephyr/Zodiac in the range, but was rendered obsolete once the Mk III Cortina debuted.
I have held a pilots licence since 1977 and have had a lifetime interest in aviation with a particular interest in scheduled airlines. From many reasons, I believe the ‘Golden Age’ of air travel from the 1940s to the 1970s mentioned in the article is returning.
The cost of long haul international travel has increased significantly over the past two years as much as 45% more! This has been caused by many factors, but the days of cheap air travel which commenced with the introduction of B747 and in more recent years the Airbus A380 are fast leaving us.
I predict, that over the next decade air travel will be more and more be for the wealthy or upper middle class. As an example Qantas fares from Australia to the United States, today are almost double what they were just 2 years ago. These airfares might drop to some degree, but the overall direction will see them continue to increase. They are very likely well out of most peoples reach now.
Interesting times, we live in.
In the past few years an extra cheap coach (or whatever they call it) ticket without checked luggage has been offered for flights between the US and Europe – maybe $150 cheaper. Like in the olden days in the US (or on Southwest) checked luggage had been a given on international flights. I’ve done it going to Rome and London. I travel light enough anyway, but it means I couldn’t bring a bunch of jars of chutney etc. from Sainsbury’s back with me. I had to settle for dark chocolate Hob Nobs.
Speaking of the olden days, in coach on TWA (San Francisco to Tucson) I got Coq Au Vin, as described on a folded card on the tray. Luxury! I think that was the meal that also included a four pack of Winstons. It’s really true kids, people smoked everywhere.
Best Thunderbird ad ever. Stay to the end: “…very closely approximates the feeling of flight.”
Your “Beechcraft Bonanza” is in fact a Beechcraft Twin Bonanza (model 50, not model V35). Similarly named, but vastly different aircraft.
Looking at the 1956 Chrysler ad with the New Yorker and the Imperial, it tells me to buy the New Yorker, save a few bucks, and then I can afford air conditioning. Somebody flubbed on this one.
How’s this ad for the 1955 Olds Super 88?
Here is one that took me some time to find in my files. I hope that you all like it.
The swoosh line drawing on the first 1956 Chrysler ad look very much like a sneak peak at the 57s. (But given the choice, I’d take a 56.)
You name your sports car after the most iconic aircraft in England’s history, it’s a given pairing for advertising:
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/24/43/2f/24432f2ac3c817b9e691ee7da444df7e.jpg
Of course> the Triumph WAS a piece of history by that point in its career, based on the “stopgap” Herald…
Another UK example: Vauxhall Viscount.
The Sabre is an F-86D-60-NA. Upgraded to an L. Serial 53-969. Scapped in the early 1960s. The D models were a USAF only version, there was a more basic version the F-86K for export.
Source: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1953.html
This is my favorite “Car & Plane” ad, a 1940 Packard Super 8 with a 15 passenger airport limo by Henney of Freeport, IL. If not mistaken, the airplane is a DC-3. Almost all of the Henney-Packard pre-WW2 vehicles were built on the Packard 120 commercial chassis, and I suspect the Super 8 chassis was chosen because of the drastic GVW increase compared to the smaller Henney-Packards.
Years ago I asked a fellow Packard Club member in Chicago to look into this limo, but it’s doubtful it survives today. It’s probably the largest pre-war Packard automobile ever constructed.
While I was searching my computer for the Henney-Packard ad, I ran across this car & plane photo featuring a Bentley Continental and a De Havilland Comet.
Also forgot I had this one as well, it’s a 1942 Packard Clipper Club Sedan fastback in front of a DC-3, with what might be the plane’s pilot saying goodbye to his wife or girlfriend, before he boards the plane.