Other than love, nighttime has to be one of the most popular topics of popular music. In the Air Tonight. Nights in White Satin. Sunglasses at Night. We can all rattle off dozens of songs about nighttime. And it is not just musicians – Carmakers (and their advertisers) are also obsessed with this most peculiar time of day, as we shall see.
1933 Pontiac Ad
There are two main takes on the nighttime trope, one primal and one modern. The primal nighttime is a treacherous, scary, and potentially even dangerous time of day, one that apparently only your car can save you from. With its bright lights, locked doors, and warm heater, your car can quickly, reliably, and safely deliver you from whatever goes bump in the night, as illustrated by the 1933 Pontiac ad above.
1960 Chevrolet Ad
While walking my dog after dark with the comfort of street lighting, lamp post lights, and landscape lighting, I often wonder how different nighttime would have been perceived in the pre-electric lighting days (which would have been within the living memory of some people well into the 20th century). The world must have looked a bit like the gloomy streetscape depicted in the 1960 Chevrolet Ad above, especially on moonless nights.
1967 Saab Ad
Don’t let all this doom and gloom get you down. This version of this trope is by far the less common one. Spoiler alert: There is no bogeyman. Luckily for us, the far more common version of this trope is the modern take: Nighttime as a wondrous, magical time, as shown in the remainder of the ads in this post.
1941 Lincoln Ad
There is actually some truth to this 1941 Lincoln ad. Speaking from personal experience, there is nothing more magical than driving at night in a convertible with the top down – Indeed, night is my favorite time for top-down motoring. So long as you don’t mind a few bugs, you are otherwise free from the oppressive heat of the day and can dispense with sun protection like hats and sunscreen. Nighttime is also a perfect time for top-down motoring if you are self-conscious, as you are not as “on display” at night as you are during the day in an open car.
Paradise by the dashboard light
Many of these nighttime ads naturally focus on exterior lighting (headlights and taillights) and their ability to lift the gloom. This ad is interesting because it focuses on interior lighting. But why exactly are there two cars? Did this couple drive separately for an illicit walk around the lake? Or is someone else watching them?
This 1958 Pontiac ad is rather strange. Most ads choose either a rural or city setting for their nighttime shots. The choice of a nighttime industrial environment is an unusual creative choice, but still visually compelling.
Stargazing is another activity you can do in your car after dark (although again easier in an open car).
1959 Mercury Ad
While starlight and moonlight are all well and good, many of the after-dark ads focus instead on the hustle and bustle of urban life, like in the 1959 Mercury ad above (click to enlarge). After all, the city just starts to come alive when the sun goes down.
1961 Studebaker Ad
Not surprisingly, the best ads in the nighttime trope are illustrations. Night-time photography is difficult owing to the low light and corresponding slow shutter speeds. Not helping matters was the low ISO large format film used by professional photographers at the time. That said, the 1961 Studebaker ad above does a pretty good job of turning the disadvantages of low light and low shutter speed into a creative advantage.
No discussion about nighttime ads would be complete without legendary automotive illustrators Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman. Even if you don’t know their names, you certainly know their work – Nobody did night better than they did. Most of their ads (like the 1960 Pontiac in the lede) have been featured here at CC in the past, but they are so fantastic I don’t think anyone will mind a few repeats.
Part of the Fitzpatrick/Kaufman magic was their use of color, at least in their earlier works. While nighttime is generally dark, bleak, and monochrome, AF/VK’s nighttime illustrations are bursting with color – rich greens, vibrant reds, and deep azure blues, among others. And those eerie ghostly headlights (high beams always on) that you can’t look away from. It is a bt like Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night, but with cars.
Like most artists, Fitzpatrick and Kaufman’s style evolved over the years. The streetlights in this 1966 Pontiac ad also have a pleasing van Gogh-esque quality to them, even if the rest of the ad has an otherwise minimalist vibe to it.
1969 Pontiac Grand Prix Ad
I would say that roughly a third of AF/VK’s ads are set at nighttime, so I can only highlight a few here. We’ll close out with one of my all-time favorite AF/VK nighttime ads of one of my all-time favorite cars – the 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix.
Tom: The ’58 Pontiac seems to be an illustration of the car and men and a photo for the background. This certainly does not look like Fitz/Van but maybe the car alone could be. Any comment? I believe that for ’57 F/V were doing Buick and for ’58 they were with Cadillac. Please advise.
I suspected the 58 Pontiac ad might be an AF/VK work, but I don’t know for sure (they didn’t sign their earlier works like they did their later ones). The industrial setting does appear to be a photo, albeit one that has had some artistic embellishments around the lighting.
AF/VK started doing Pontiac ads for the 1959 MY. That ’58 doesn’t look like their work in any case.
It’s also interesting to me that the ’58 Ford ad featured the Skyliner HT with its top up.
I agree about the pleasures of open-air nighttime driving. There’s a special excitement in cruising along in an open car (mine’s a ’90 Miata) on a crisp clear night. Heat on and windows up in chill weather is even more exotic feeling.
One other trope on view in many of these fine illustrations is the “couple out for a society evening”, with mink stoles and tuxedos. The car was the chariot that got them there.
My Dad had many vintage car brochures that he gathered as a boy during the 1930’s and ’40s. The cover of the 1939 Nash brochure distilled the feeling for me without showing more than a steering wheel (Image from oldcarbrochures.com).
If I have an engagement that could extend beyond twilight, I refuse to take our 95 M-Spec out.
I am fearful that the SUV’s who can barely see it during the day, will be even more oblivious to it in the dark.
I had thought about building a PVC “cage” to sit atop the car, with lights on the corners to make it more obvious…but not.🤦♂️
PS did ’41 Lincolns have under-dash lights that were used while driving along? Seems awfully bright in that cockpit. 😎
That ’58 Ford is in Neutral, hope it’s level ground, or that the parking brake is engaged. Nine forty PM, still time in the evening for some warm cuddling. Not the cars the people. They must have met at this formal occasion and chose to get to know each other ‘ahem’ better.
Amazing the details some of you guys notice!
AF/VK Pontiac ads were required STUDY art during my student days at Art Center. Their magnificent art work was hard to top!! 🙂 Below is a Pontiac ad withOUT the headlights blazing!! However, the carefully placed “dots” of white, and white reflections did help lead the eye to the super shiny Pontiac! DFO
This one looks at least a foot wider than reality, even after factoring in “Wide-Track”.
I went to Art Center once (with pal who was applying). I definitely felt the presence of genius…and this is what they were studying! No wonder.
80% of the messages incoming to our brains is through vision. When night occurs, your eyes and brain relaxes because there isn’t as much information flooding in. Night forces your other senses to become heightened. Consequently we experience nighttime differently than we do daytime. We feel more vulnerable because we aren’t getting visual information flooding into our brains at night. We find comfort in light sources, cuddling and sex. Bold individuals take advantage of the night sky to view the heavens.
These ads reveal these cars as light sources that can comfort you during the night. They are protecting their cuddling occupants. These cars are your guardians.
Any excuse to look at Fitzpatrick/Kaufman artwork is welcome.
I agree that the illustration for the 58 Ford is pretty creepy, although I do like seeing the dash all lit up like that. I imagine that this captures the instant that the driver has lit up the couple on the shore, right before they spin around in startled surprise.
The ’60 Pontiac on the Golden Gate Bridge is pure psychedelia.
Speaking of driving at night, one of my favorite things when I lived in Iowa in the early ’70s was to turn off the lights of my VW while driving at night on rural roads, typically when coming home late at night when I lived on a farm for a while. My young eyes adjusted very quickly, and it totally changed the experience.
I still like walking and hiking at night, without any headlights and such.
We can’t give short shrift to Meatloaf’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”, can we. It seems so fitting here.
My first thought was that the couple in the ’58 Ford ad are actually meeting and they’re leaving the car in the foreground idling to keep the heater running. Then I took a closer look and looks like the fan and heat are turned off. Maybe it is a stalker or one of their spouses.
Also, the Gran Prix picture looks like it is at dawn. Draw your own conclusions as to where they have been.
I don’t think it’s unoccupied and idling. The transmission is in Drive.
Yeah, it’s a crime scene in the making.
Studie loved night scenes.
And more:
And again:
And again.
Ahh… The ’53-54 hardtop is probably my favorite car ever, from any manufacturer.
Studebaker also did some amazing Avanti shots.
…and another
This is one trope that I do not roll my eyes at or tire of. I’ve been a night person since I was a kid, and continue to be to this day, so these scenes speak to me much more so than most stuff tainted by daylight. Interestingly, that image of the Lark convertible in the (1961 only) color Flamingo popped into my head before I scrolled down and saw it here… There’s also an artfully composed night scene on the cover of the Lark Marshal (police package) brochure for that year.
Looking at the 1960 Chevy, I don’t remember the cheekily named “Safety Salute” feature of the Guide-Matic, nor do I remember encountering any 1960 Chevrolets optioned with Guide-Matic. I’ma hafta dig a little to see how they pulled off the fade-before-change to low beam.
If that 58` Pontiac was a 49` in the ‘refinery’ ad, it would look like a scene from ‘White black and white Ford dealership (that I swear I saw) would not look out of place in a Los Angeles set ‘film noir’ from that era.This is how a classic film buff like myself sees things sometimes.
Nice images .
Driving across the Desert late at night in always a treat, like Paul I used to turn off my lights if I knew there was no one else on the road, magical doesn’t quite get it but it’s close .
SAAB played dirty by pointing out that VW still used anemic 6 volts until the 1967 model year, going fast in an old 6 volt VW in the twisty bits was too scary for me after a few near misses .
Luckily all us stupids who retain the 6 volt systems can now put LED bulbs everywhere, even the headlights and the generators love them as does anyone who drives after sunset .
Sadly I no longer trust my eyesight after the sun goes down .
I think the ’41 Lincoln advert is the best of the lot .
-Nate
Nighttime really gives cars a different aura. A few nights ago I was passed on a nighttime highway by a guy in a 1961 Ford sedan done up as a Mayberry-style squad car. Those jet-tube taillights going away from me and the overhead lighting in that location made for the most attractive 1961 Ford sighting I could remember.
On the 1958 Ford shot – all I can think is an alternate headline: “Ford – The Fine Cars Favored By Private Detectives Everywhere!” I am also reminded that a nighttime shot of a lit-up dashboard is one of the rarest things there is, and one of the most appealing aspects of many classics.