(first posted 9/23/2016) Not only was the November 1966 issue of Motor Trend thick with information on the new 1967 domestic cars, it was also loaded with ads. At the time, there was no more effective method for marketers to reach an audience of car enthusiasts than a buff book. The results provide some great advertising eye-candy for us today.
Pontiac had excellent placement on the inside front cover of the issue, with a 3-page gatefold that ran behind the fold-out cover. For easier readability, I’ve included a larger scan of the bottom part below:
I love the fact that you could send away a quarter to Pontiac Headquarters on Wide-Track Boulevard in Pontiac, Michigan and receive wall pictures, specs and stickers. Great marketing to teenagers (and older) dreaming about cool cars. Pontiac was a master at building customer affinity in the 1960s!
For a Muscle Car ad, this one sure was boring…
Renault’s reputation had been badly damaged by subpar products and dealers, so advertising tried to confront the issue head-on. It was an early example of “apology” marketing. Then, as now, this approach typically doesn’t work very well…
An early version of “That’s not a Buick” advertising…
The Camaro marketing emphasis was in full swing for 1967, with this nice 4-page ad unit.
Coca-Cola was a major advertiser in Motor Trend in the mid-1960s, and their iconic advertising sure made you want a Coke. When I was a kid, having a Coke was a major treat: very rare at home, but a little more prevalent at my grandmother’s. Always served over ice too–just regular frozen water, not frozen Coke, though I bet those Coca-Cola cubes were tasty. I have to admit I still love occasionally indulging in a Coke (never Diet!), and yes, still poured over ice!
Given how small, logical imports were making some noticeable inroads into the U.S. market in 1967, it’s surprising that the Cortina was not more successful. It certainly was practical–a 20 cubic foot trunk on a car this size was pretty amazing. American Ford dealers must have been too busy moving Mustangs to bother with the baby British Ford.
The standard Motor Trend annual subscription cost $5.00, which would equate to $37.00 today, while the additional “gift subscription” was $4.00 ($30.00 adjusted). Today, you can get a year of the Motor Trend print edition for $10.00, while a year of digital costs $14.99. Shows how much the world has changed!
Years before WeatherTech floor mats became popular, Ford was busy hawking their carpet savers. Nice business for dealers, and one of the classic ways to close a sale: “take this beauty home today, and I’ll throw in the floor mats for free!”
I love these ads, which come straight from my childhood. I remember what a big deal “Wide Oval” tires were in the 60s. And if we have to nominate a reason for why Mercury wasn’t doing better then, its slogan of “The Man’s Car” has to be in the running. What a great idea – start off by telling half of the buying public that their car is not for them, so don’t bother looking.
Also, in case anyone didn’t read the fine print at the bottom of the STP ad, it was still “STP Division, Studebaker Corporation.” Damn, but those red stickers were absolutely everywhere in the 60s. It was as though a car got 5 extra horsepower just by putting that sticker on it somewhere.
STP stickers were like Harley Davidson stickers today. You didn’t go far without seeing one.
We even put them on our bikes and book bags in those days.
Yes, the Man’s Car slogan was an odd approach. I have a copy of the 1967 Mercury full line brochure, and each model is further embellished with Man’s Car credentials.
I guess the theory was that you can sell a man’s car to a woman, but not the other way around. But still, even judged by the standards of the day, it was a questionable tactic.
Now there are bumper stickers proclaiming, “Silly boys, jeeps/trucks are for girls.” More gender parity perhaps, but not more maturity.
Interestingly, a full 40% of the first year Cougars were bought by women. But I wholeheartedly agree, not the wisest campaign!
Even today, in the classic Cougar clubs I belong to, there is a very good percentage of women owners, more than for other makes/models, I observe.
It would be interesting to see Volkswagen pitch the new Beetle to the male gender. How `bout something like this-“The Beetle-you don`t have to be a woman to drive one”.Then show a tricked out Bug with wheels, fat tires in black with a millennial holding his smart phone standing next to it.
That Chrysler ad looks like a scene from McMillan & Wife.
And why is the guy hiding under the bridge while the attractive woman is calling for him?
I think that the point is, that he went for her because of her looks but she drives him nuts.
Mmm…Susan Saint James.
The first show that made me want to live the life of the main characters:
Cool multi-level condo in glamorous San Francisco.
Classy Lincoln Continental sedan for your car, with vintage MG for the wife.
Beautiful, young sexy wife.
Wise-cracking maid who makes sure dinner is always on the table and the house is always clean.
Lots of acquaintances who keep turning up dead or getting accused of murder, so your life is never boring.
Dammit! Where’s my Time Machine? I need to get to 1967 asap!
I’ve found the best Coke today is the Mexican stuff, it’s made with cane sugar instead of corn syrup and tastes like Coke did back when that ad was printed.
I actually have a Lear Jet “Stereo 8” as shown in the left-hand picture of their ad!
I’m not sure what the big deal is on the Hurst automatic shifter. Manufacturers had been providing manual control for automatics for some time. (There was a radio ad circa 1965 for Rambler Shift Command – “For mom and dad it shifts itself but I can shift by hand!”)
Totally agree on the Mexican Coca-Cola! It’s hard to find, though. For a while they carried it at a Costco near us, and we stocked up. Sadly, I’m down to my last few bottles… and I’ll probably buy online just to keep ’em coming.
I’ve found that at least some Big Lots stores carry Mexican Coke. Mexican grocery stores would be another likely source.
I often find it at Home Depot, I always stock up when I go
Shoprite in new jersey sells mexican coke
Hurst could be moved to a separate gate where only forward gears can be selected in a line, it’s impossible to accidentally overshift into neutral or worse.
And it looks cool.
I had no idea Lear had a side business making 8-tracks. BTW Lear is now a subsidiary of Canadian conglomerate Bombardier, which also makes 50-seat feeder airliners. A pilot told me Learjets are pretty “sporty.”
Floor mats: Funny how we feel compelled to cover not only our cars’ carpets, but now our dashes. We don’t even protect our homes as well. Maybe it’s about Resale Value.
Lear Siegler is an OEM supplier for various automotive components, it’s odd to see the 8-track branded Lear JET though.
They also made battery chargers. I have one, with the original box, and it still works just fine.
“Funny how we feel compelled to cover not only our cars’ carpets . . .”
Have we noticed that they started with metal floors. Covered them with rubber mats. Which they covered with carpet. Which they covered with rubber mats. Which they then put carpet on. Which we now feel compelled to cover with rubber mats. Hey carpet, it’s your turn.
Lear INVENTED the 8-track tape format. It was originally conceived as a high-end mobile audio format for aircraft. (Though the starting point was the earlier 4-track format which was an adaptation of radio broadcast carts.)
I had a chrome Muntz “Blue LIght” four track tape player under the dash of the ’65 Impala.
I had one as well. I thought it played 8 tracks, oops. The cartridge was exposed and slid on top of the unit. I put it under the dash of my ’65 C10. It eventually was stolen. I did find a few 4 track tapes to play at a thrift store.
I know it’s heresy if you love Coca-Cola, but look for Pepsi Throwback in the 12 pack. It’s made with actual sugar. That and the Mexican Coke taste like the stuff I drank when I was a kid. I don’t know if it’s just my biased perception of it, but there’s a weird aftertaste with the HFCS that real sugar doesn’t give me.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/07/coca-cola-taste-test_n_1324282.html
Dad had a 8 track recorder/player that looked like the Lear Jet “Stereo 8” sitting on top of the console stereo/AM FM radio at home. Brother came home from the Navy in ’67 and had a great collection of LP’s. I recorded a lot of albums on that 8 track recorder, and ran old under dash 8 track players (those things must have weighed close to 10 lbs) into the mid’s 70’s before finally upgrading to cassettes. As I recall the blank tapes were not cheap, and finally went obsolete. Automotive audio (and home) electronics in those days were very expensive.
These old ad’s are great fun to read. The muscle car race was in high gear around this time, how things would change in just a few short years after this. Engine displacements would be stated without mentioning the pitiful HP in ad’s coming a few years down the road.
The Renault ad admitting to selling you a problem child car in the past was surprising to see. Were the new models really that much better?
You could actually buy blank 8-track cartridges at Radio Shack into the 1990s!
Did not know that they were still available as late as the 90’s. As I recall the recorder finally quit working, and the bulky 8 tracks took up a lot of storage space. RIP Radio Shack.
I used to look forward to reading the “People write to Pennzoil” ads. Hot Rod ran ’em too. Also remember STP’s “please don’t swipe our decals!” print ad. I think I wrote to them and got one…which was swiped!
Yes JP, I did read the fine print at the bottom of the ad. I think the original metal cans had “MAGIC” in cursive over the STP logo. But they had discontinued that before 1966.
Renault had great courage to market themselves that way in the “admit no wrong” ’60s.
Interesting how Chrysler positioned themselves back them. I remember the tag of a radio spot…”if you can afford a Ford, you can afford a Chrysler.” Today, however, the Ford is likely to be the more premium car. 50 years ago it was clearly the other way around.
“Command Performance…Camaro.” Need more be said? Ok, my Chevy bias is on full display. The 350 was Camaro-only in ’67; the 396 bowed later in the year. A print ad called it “Camaro the magnificent.” No argument here.
I think I figured something out with full-size Pontiac vs. Chevy fastback rooflines. Even as a kid I thought the Chevy side view was more cohesive and pleasing. The Pontiac, not so much. Looks to me like either the Pontiac roof is longer or the curve on the rear quarter commences more toward the front on the Pontiac. The Chevy roof meets the quarter at the top of the hip, the Pontiac, slightly behind. Subtle, I know…but I noticed this stuff even as a kid when these cars were new.
The copy of the Renault ad is amazing even by today’s standards. We forget that, in the late 1950s, the Renault Dauphine was extremely popular.
Renault actually knocked VW out of the number-one spot for imports for a few months in either 1958 or 1959. Then the Dauphines began falling apart, and Renault sales fell dramatically
The ad was right about the car. R10 was superior to anything else in its class. Unfortunately they weren’t right about the dealers. Renault never solved the parts and mechanics problem.
Incidentally, the bit about ‘selling the skin before the bear is shot’ was also a common phrase in English 300 years ago… it meant shorting the market, and later generalized to Bear Market, a time when everybody is shorting.
Indeed, the Renault ad blew my mind. I never saw it when it was published, but I did once drive a Dauphine in high school and that experience permanently removed Renault from my radar. Like, forever permanent. Talk about a rubbery and vague floor shift lever and poor quality everything.
The ad is (as geeber states) amazing by all standards. I do not know anything about the Renault 10 but I can assume a few people were fooled twice.
I like the typo in the ad “… and we added another 25% of fine inspectors.” Or, maybe the copywriter did not mean to type “final” at all and just saw some “fine” French females on the inspection team. Not sure about which was the case.
Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, well, you know the rest.
Refreshingly honest sounding ad, something I doubt you’d ever see in our days (never admit you were EVER wrong..even if it can be proven to be the case. Sad commentary on what we’ve become.)
Not sure if my Dad ever saw this ad (or ever knew about the Renault Dauphine issues) but he was one of those who did go on the next year to buy a new R10 to replaced his ’59 Beetle that got run into in front of our house. I guess we have 20-20 hindsight, though he knew the Beetle was more popular and had dealerships to go with it, the R10 was roomier, 4 doors (he was a family man!) independent suspension, and don’t forget the standard disk brakes they left off the Eldorado! Also, I think my Dad made several business trips to France, though he was in Europe for the Military 17 years before, was probably influenced by those trips to try the Renault.
Well, he didn’t keep the Renault too long, it was gone by early 1974…ironically I think a victim of the gas shortage….though it undoubtedly got better gas mileage than the 1974 Datsun 710 that replaced it, the Datsun had an automatic, which meant my Mother could also drive it (my mom learned to drive on semi-automatic, and has driven manual but has never really been comfortable with it to this day)…also, he had 2 teens (my sister and I) who were would-be drivers (got my license in ’74) …and having a small car with automatic would probably be better than the small car with the manual he already had…so he traded in the Renault (only 20-some thousand miles on it). He wanted to have more drivers who could drive the car with better gas mileage (our other car was a 400CID Ford Country Sedan). I guess it worked out, my Mom is still comfortably driving her automatic cars, as is my Sister (who to be fair is pretty comfortable driving manual transmission) and me (who hasn’t owned a car with an Automatic in 35 years now and counting)….I guess those small import cars had a big influence on me…I made up for my Dad, I’ve also only owned VWs in those 35 years (can’t buy a new Renault anymore here in the US…though I could have up to 29 years ago…see no matter how hard I try, still hard to separate my actions from my Father’s, even after all these years)
Renault is in the US today, just they own part of Nissan now.
The Renault ad might as well say “Sorry about the last time, but if we can do it again we’ll use Vaseline.”
Note the skinny tie worn by A J Foyt. In just a few years they were a mile wide and ugly as hell;-)
Could you image the same add in the the mid ’70’s with A J in a leisure suit!!
Ahhhhhhh, the `70s. The decade that taste forgot.
Not a fan of frozen-Coke ice cubes, they throw the sweetness/fizz balance off. Plain water ice cubes dilute the sweetness as the fizz fizzes out and it sort of compensates so you don’t feel like you’re drinking syrup.
Funny how the Chrysler ad mentions “4 full-size Chryslers”…I think part of the brand’s sales slump was due to hanging on to the “no jr editions” policy for too long.
“Not a fan of frozen-Coke ice cubes, they throw the sweetness/fizz balance off. Plain water ice cubes dilute the sweetness as the fizz fizzes out and it sort of compensates so you don’t feel like you’re drinking syrup.”
+1
The Coke will taste even better with a splash of Bourbon:-)
Frozen iced tea cubes
Chrysler Division was setting sales records in the mid-1960s, so the corporation didn’t feel the need to bring out an intermediate-size Chrysler at that time. What the division really needed in 1967 was a direct competitor for the Buick Riviera and Oldsmobile Toronado.
That Chrysler ad is just weird. I guy in a suit, sitting in dirt under a rickety bridge, with a two-ton car sitting on it. He seems a little suicidal.
Speaking of dangerous bridges and 1967 cars, the Chrysler ad almost instantly brought to mind a certain Mr. Kennedy and his 1967 Oldsmobile…….
Of course it’s weird. It was 1967. Think Magical Mystery tour and so much else. Ad directors were of course heavily influenced by current cultural trends. These kind of settings were quite common in the 1967 – 1971 period.
Indeed it was weird. And the LTD from Ford was only one letter off from LSD…and i’m not talking limited slip differentials…. 🙂 I am grateful for having been too young for that.
That was awesome. The UHV ignition in the Olds ad is a new one to me. And I can’t believe Alcoa showcased the worst possible outboard in their ad. Chrysler (formerly West Bend) and later Force outboards put a lot of food on my table… And I still use STP for its ZDDP in my non-roller cam 302 in my Ranger.
Actually, I got my current Motor Trend subscription for $7.00 a year—part of a two-fer with Automobile for the same price (total $14). So my subscription 50 years ago (paid for out of a meager allowance) was WAY more expensive!
I’m surprised the Cortina in the ad is still a Mk I, the Mk II went on sale in the UK in October 1966, and was a far more contemporary machine.
One thing (among many) that I’ve never understood as a Brit, is why Pontiac’s stunning brand-building in the 1960s ground to a halt in subsequent decades. I’m sure that careful study of the Deadly Sins would give me the answer, but (BLMC aside) I’m struggling to think of another car brand whose equity was built up so strong and was so absolutely wasted.
For one thing, John DeLorean, who played a key role in Pontiac’s reassurance, was promoted to Chevrolet General Manager in 1969. Pontiac’s slide started withing a couple of years.
The other reason is simply this: Everyone else started copying Pontiac’s playbook. What was very fresh, original and creative in 1964 was commonplace among all the competitors in 1969. One of many examples: look at that ’67 Olds 442 ad above; dull, boring, uncolorful, very old school. Within just two years or so, Olds had the most out-there campaigns going, with Dr. Oldsmobile. (image attached)
Same goes for Dodge and Plymouth; their GTX and Coronet R/T cars in their packaging and their marketing was still rather old-school and staid (not that thye weren’t fine cars). By 1968, with the Road Runner, everything changed. And then there was the Rapid Transit System, in 1970 or so.
The other thing that changed was that Pontiac’s quality began to slide after 1969 or so, perhaps due to their large volume or just because they took their eye off that ball. And of course, Pontiac wasn’t the only one with that problem.
The bigger issue is simply that Pontiacs were sold on a successful image campaign. let’s face it, the cars for the most part weren’t really any better than most others. Pontiac was cool and had a hot streak going. Do hot streaks ever last?
Well, yes, if you’re Toyota. But that’s a very different type of hot streak.
Another situation that stolen some Pontiac thunder was the Chevrolet Monte Carlo vs the Grand Prix. Another example of other GM divisions eating into Pontiac’s share of the market.
Don’t forget that when John DeLorean (who fathered that Grand Prix) left Pontiac in 1969, he took over at Chevrolet, which he ran until 1973.
If I recall correctly, the Monte Carlo and the Grand Prix shared a roofline and other body panels, which spread the costs over greater volume.
That potential for greater amortization was one way that Pontiac management convinced GM management to approve the program that became the 1969 Grand Prix
The 70 Cutlass supreme shared it as well, just on the shorter frame
Pontiac also had something fairly unique in GM history – three really strong General Managers in a row, guys who all had a good feel for what would sell and how to build cars that would fill that niche. I think we could also say that by 1969 when DeLorean left, the centralization of GM was really picking up so that eventually the best General Manager in the company couldn’t have made that much difference. And James MacDonald (who followed DeLorean) was far from the best General Manager in the company. That may well have been John Beltz at Oldsmobile who took over in 1969 (after being Olds Chief Engineer) but who sadly died of cancer in 1972. He and DeLorean may have been the end of the line for the old-school approach where a Chief Engineer would take over and lead a Division as its General Manager.
The market changed, too. By the early 1970s, it was all about middle-class luxury. Muscle cars were passe.
Oldsmobile, particularly with the Cutlass Supreme, was better-positioned to exploit this trend. The 1970s Delta 88 and Ninety-Eight were also far more in tune with this trend than the full-size Pontiacs of that era were.
Agreed, all other forces aside the brougham epoch really did Pontiac in. Pontiac basically leveraged the brand’s image entirely on performance in the 60s, real or perceived, so as the 70s unfolded where any saleable product had to have white line tires, velour interior, puffy tops, lots of earth tones, and neutered performance, the resulting Pontiacs(with the lone exception of the Firebird) ended up as Oldsmobile Lite, or pretty much where it was in the 50s. Had the 70s been more like the 80s Pontiac would have had a much smoother transition
Only the Trans Am/Firebird and Grand Prix kept Pontiac in public eye in the 70’s. The full and mid size lines were also rans compared to other GM makes.
LeMans never sold as well as Chevelle/Malibu/Cutlass/Century, as an example. And they tried to sell them as cop cars, too.
Bonneville seemed to make a comeback in 77, but [B body version] was then dropped hastily in ’82. Parisienne was a Frankenstein car, trying to be Caprice/88/Electra all at once, but not a true Pontiac to me.
The untimely loss of John Beltz was a massive blow to GM. He was a gifted engineer who understood how to make cars “feel right.” From what I have read, he also clearly understood the emerging trend toward smaller, more luxurious cars. Though equally as talented as DeLorean, Beltz was more low-key and likable, so he could well have ascended to the top spot in the corporation (not an option for the brash, narcissistic DeLorean). Had that come to pass, GM might have been making better designed and engineered small cars in the 1980s… but sadly we’ll never know.
I worked in the library while I was in high school and spent the entire time looking through original Time and Look magazines for car ads. After I got my 65 Cutlass I was obsessed.
Thank you everyone for your responses to my Pontiac query. I guess the rest of the market caught up and Pontiac, in the very different world of the 70s, with GM consolidating, compromising and counting beans, had nowhere to go. It’s an endlessly fascinating story.
There’s a saying in the auto industry that timing is everything, and Pontiac exemplified that in the sixties. Knudson, Estes, and Delorean were the exact right guys in the exact right place at the exact right time. Their genius was in the ability to turn a division regarded as a moribund ‘old lady’s car’, best known for having a couple of stainless-steel moldings on the hood, to a performance-based juggernaut. It’s not unlike how marketing turned Marlboro cigarettes from a woman’s product to that of the macho Marlboro-man.
But, then, after a decade of stellar sales with a superbly marketed (but focused) product line, there was now a lot of competition, those guys had all moved on, the market had shifted radically (mainly due to outside forces), and the new guy (MacDonald) was more of a typical, ultra-conservative, 14th Floor, GM finance/corporate manager who simply didn’t have the same kind of vision or ability to take the division in a new direction.
Frankly, I’m rather surprised those old, stainless-steel hood bands didn’t make a comeback.
The Camaro looks so clean and so smart. Why is the first iteration of a sports car the best and later models become bloated and over priced!
The Camaro is my favorite in the entire lot!!
The ’67 and ’68 look even trimmer than the ’69, the bloat started early! 🙂
My dad bought a used motor boat with a Chrysler outboard engine very similar to the one in the Alcoa ad. Who knew that Chrysler built boat motors? Anyway, it was a Chrysler product and broke down all the time.
My father had a Chrysler built gas furnace in his house. It was built by their Airtemp Division. He changed the filters and oiled the blower a couple of times a year and replaced a few belts. It was installed in 1965 and when it finally did need significant parts replaced in 2012 they just weren’t available anymore making a replacement necessary. Had parts been available it would probably still be running.
I did. Chrysler had a full range of marine engines, never mind the outboards. From the slant six, (never saw one in the wild, but they are covered in the service manuals) the 318/340/360 small blocks, 440 big blocks, and even the 354 and 392 Hemi. Chrysler had to sell the marine division as part of the loan guarantees to save themselves. You would be surprised at the gem’s you can find in boats; Chris Craft used a lot of side oiler 427 Fords; some are even counter rotation!
Chrysler actually purchased the West Bend Outboard Motor Company in the mid ’60’s. West Bend was known for making Elgin outboard motors for Sears. Actually the West Bend and Chrysler outboards were pretty well received overall, Chrysler even built some racing outboards too. Chrysler also bought the Lone Star Boat company to sell boats under the Chrysler brand.
And Yes Suzulight you are right about Chrysler selling out the marine division. As part of the loan guaranty Chrysler had to sell off non core related (automotive) divisions. American Marine (Bayliner boats) bought the outboard division and sold the motors as Force outboards. By then the motors were cheapened and used old tech to make them cheap to buy. Then Brunswick (who owns Mercury Marine) bought out American Marine and sold Force outboards as a cheap entry level motor until they phased them out when carbed 2 cycle motors became obsolete in the US.
1967 new-car issue.. all the new cars…
..and the Cortina is a MkI?
Yes, I thought the same!
“-I’m in the Buick
*stares at huge ’49 Buick grill attached to an Encore*
“-What Buick? I don’t see no Buick”
I only know these ads from YouTube, but laughed hard at them… but that doesn’t mean they’re good
The 427 marine engines used side oiler block castings, but for a few exceptions, they were machined to run as top oilers. frankly, side-oiling is utterly irrelevant except in racing situations. And these marine engines used mild heads, intakes and cams, and a 390 cast crank. They were not performance engines; they were tuned to max at 3800-4000 rpm.
The blocks have value to those wanting to build up a genuine 427, but otherwise, they are nothing really that special. Ford sold them for marine use in order to amortize their investment in the block casting line.
Here’s a 1967 Barracuda 383 Fastback 2 door. My uncle had 1 but in a better color, silver.
The tire ads are the most laughable here. Tiger Paw, this, Wide Oval, that. Hey, look at this red stripe! All to avoid explaining why they’re still selling bias-ply tires when vastly better performing steel-belted radials had been the norm for over a decade in Europe, and would soon be in the States as well. (much confusion as to who made those Tiger Paws – I see three names and logos at the bottom (U.S. Royal Tires, Uniroyal, U.S. Rubber) – just who are they anyway?
I still have an unopened can of Studebaker-era STP we’ve had since childhood. That ‘Studebaker’ logo first used in 1962 still looks very modern to my eyes. Too bad it barely made it onto their cars.
Some words change meanings over time. I haven’t heard “swipe” to mean “plifer” or “steal” in years; nowadays, it’s usually someone telling me to “swipe” my credit card at places that still don’t accept Apple Pay.