Automakers have been creating promotional sales videos since the advent of the moving picture, right? To us, they are great because even in the darkest of times, they were all talking about how fantasticly grand their products were. Now the 1970s was not a bad time for trucks.
It may have sucked for cars, but trucks did not suffer as bad as the cars did for a multitude of reasons. They were chasing a different customer base, they were not “performance” vehicles, and the government standards did not set them back as far as the cars did.
This film, likely made in 1973 to promote the awesomeness of the 1974 Chevrolet truck line over the compared Ford trucks is great. It is filled with the kinds of wacky tests that make little sense to anyone outside of the marketing department. Strap a big snifter looking thing to the hood of the truck, put ping pong balls in it and drive around? Yes!
Lift both of the trucks into a wheelie with a crane and look at the front suspension? Not just yes, Hell yes! Talk about the engines and pretend like they’re muscle bound beasts? Oh, you know we will! Perform a bizarre test of illuminating light bulbs for a period of time to show how much better the factory installed battery is? Brilliant Mr. Edison!
The truck war rages on today with more spit polish on the promotions. We miss these down and dirty ones.
