It has been a while since we delved into our treasure trove of ads from the program of the 1964 New York International Auto Show. We’re jumping back in with both feet today with a neat collection of ads featuring a few car companies that have long since passed by the wayside. MG, Triumph, and Simca, have been in the grave long enough that their bodies are cold but Saab is the freshest victim of the auto industry and we have an ad for them in here, too.
What’s interesting about these ads for us are the Simca and Opel Kadett examples. In the case of Simca it was Chrysler importing these cars and of course Opels were brought in by GM to sell. It speaks to that time in the auto industry when it wasn’t even worth the domestic companies’ time to develop their own small car. Regulations were comparatively lax to today’s so there wasn’t anything stopping them from simply making sure the steering wheel was on the correct side and loading them on a boat for our shores. This attitude ended up being one of the domestic auto manufacturers major flaws as the 1970s multiple gas crunches had buyers seeking good quality small cars. Because foreign companies had been engineering and selling them for years and the domestics treated that category like gum on the bottom of their shoe, they were behind the eight ball from the start and it took them years to even begin to close the gap.
These ads are automotive time travel and we love to check them out. Sure today’s marketing may be more slick and polished, but we think that the ads of yesteryear were miles cooler!
Scroll down to see today’s collection of ads! CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE!
