Saturday, February 25, 2012

The Big 3 Sell Sporting Life




Chevy ad-men tell us in 1949 that the De Luxe Sport Coupe has an array of colors like the Autumn woods. Their car also "takes to rough going like a field trial champion" and is "smooth as a bird in flight." This promotional piece showing cars afield reminds me of my Grandfather's stories about the days when you could take a drive, pull up to a farm and politely ask the Farmer's permission to chase some cockbirds in his corn fields.
Plymouth makes it clear that their 1949 Station Wagon, with real wood body panels ,easy to clean removable seats,will safely take 8 fans to the stadium and should still have room for tailgate equipment as well.If you wreck one of these rigs...do you go to a body shop first..or a carpenter.
Lincoln uses a sturdy fellow in captains hat and deck shoes to convince buyers that you can drive your drop-top 1955 capri right on the dock to collect your trophy swordfish...which miraculously was taxidermied only moments after being dragged from the surf. This Lincoln was engineeered for "Americans on the move who demand the finest."

These ads from National Geographic were spied and snagged by your faithful sporting correspondent at a little antique mall in Tannersville,PA. I was killing time between Monroe County court appearances and wandered in to walk the packed isles.Whenever I see this type of pop-art depicting Madison Avenue's pandering to the sporting set, I reach for the bill fold almost immediately.

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