Classic Car Commercials of the 50's & 60's - Part 1of 4

[tigerboy1227]

car commercials actually showed stuff about the product visually, instead of showing them sliding around a closed course

[mmmmhonda]

WHOA AMERICANS TAKE PRIDE IN THINGS???? WOW! AMAZING!!!

[aby9005]

the age of christine

[54rein]

Thanks for the keen insights. Nice stuff!

[fordroad]

Master Guide Power Steering was introduced mid way through the 1953 model year.

The next model year was the start of the power race with the introduction of the 5 power assists , Power steering, power brakes, power lift windows & 4 way power front seat. The first year the new Y Block V8 replacing the much loved flat head V8.

Yes Sir ball joints were introduced in 1954, Ford's engineering dept were at the top of their game. Yes Mame, the race was on in the low price field. 5/5

[zabylurt]

2 different horns huh? ok

[54rein]

@zabylurt ha, ha...I know, and agree with you....now there's a reason to buy a car

[lousteven]

the days of the big cars are gone,

[54rein]

@lousteven Sad but true, mainly due to gas mileage considerations

[cockyhemi]

Ahhhh, the beginning of the consumer age. Where everyone just wanted to buy shit and more shit and more shit. Banks loaning out ten dollars for every dollar they had in their vaults, what a way to go down the toilet. Beautiful cars though!

[LilAbproduction]

Thanks for sharing this.. Ah the old times......

[54rein]

@LilAbproduction you are welcome! I agree....yes, the old times weren't so bad after all

[TheSRalston]

ha, ha, love the music they placed on documentaries and simple commercials, sounded like movie orchestral music, dramatic, pompous and cimrcumstancial, the kind you would hear on "Gome With The Wind", lol...

[smushguy]

Goodness I wish I lived back then everything was so simple every kid wrode his bike no electronics no personal relationships jeez 2011 is super lame

[The9thstreet]

Damn in 50 years we still havent made far past 40 mpg

[54rein]

@The9thstreet sad to say that there was real no incentive for this if you think about it. When times were good up until 2008, and gas was relatively cheap...no one really seemed to care about how many mpgs they got. Look how many people drove around in vehicles like the Hummer But now, we are feeling the pinch, so they are finally addressing the miles per gal thing

[4gasem]

@The9thstreet weight is a real killer too. Cars are getting heavier and heavier to stay safer and safer.

[SxTHUNDERxG]

wow. i really hope that last chevy had power steering. Such a giant hunk of steel and glass. Haha

[wokeupthismorning100]

If it weren't for all that "NIGGERS SUCK!" bullcrap this would have been the best era.

[spainoner]

Damn i wish i was back in the 50,s my father came to new york in 1955..he said it was one of the best times ever..doowops and cadalacs and diners resturants was the bomb..this video makes this generation look like garbage..we in the future the way i see it but these days from the 50,s is never comming back

[MrSammyesparza]

I was born in the wrong generation :(

[54rein]

@MrSammyesparza lol! Well, you still have youth on your side, and thanks to the magic of youtube you can at least go back in time and see how things were.

[lamppost904]

this beats todays commercails by a long shot!

[CoolConejo]

Lol wow , 40 mild per gallon? That's more than current hybrids. But I think that's due all the electronics and extra power of engines now days.

[AlexanderACDC73]

Oh God its a Ford

[JoeC7711]

commercials were like a fucking show back then lol cool.

[54rein]

@JoeC7711 absolutely true! The norm was to run for around 2 minutes. They weren't as costly back then, and they spoke to you in a way that didn't usually insult your intelligence like today

[JoeC7711]

someone make fucking time travel already!

[lswain1]

The Renault Dauphine was pretty small. Smaller than most economy cars on the road today - maybe a bit bigger than a Mini. And we would never accept the slow acceleration of those old economy cars.

[myshinywagon]

I had a `56 Ford Vicky exactly like that first one. Mine was black over yellow/yellow top and skirts and man-you could see it coming a block away! `56 was Ford`s first stab at interior safety and featured a deep-dish steering wheel, and yes-SEATBELTS! They were very rudimentary and lasted about 2 wks before they permanently disappeared between the seat cushions. Mine lacked power steering, however, and was like a Mack truck to turn. lol Sure was a beauty, tho! thnx for great mems, 54 rein!!

[horsycos88]

the renault did 40 mpg in the 50's ?? and now a car is ''advanced'' if it does 45 mpg???

[54rein]

@horsycos88 Makes you wonder about the claims. I don't think that they were scrutinized back then like they would be today

[zero2blur]

@horsycos88 I read a story about "What happened to the 50mpg car?" and one thing they said was because of crash standards, etc.. and the cars got heavier and bigger for safety, thus more weight and less gas mileage...But I'm just quoting what I had read.

[54rein]

@zero2blur Interesting comment. I would think that the cars have gotten lighter through the years.  In the old days, those cars were built like tanks, and had big heavy bumpers, too. I don't think that the size of the average car is any larger than what they had then

[zero2blur]

@54rein Yes, but we must add luxury items: pwr win, seats, mirrors, heated seats, A/C, abs, and also reinforced side panels for side crash AND air bags and the equipment to run all of these items. All for luxury and safety. But of course, the oil companies would find and squash the 200mpg car if that came out (which it probably did), so there is the political crap involved with all of this as well...I mean GM bought the electric street cars... GM eliminated all of those...

[54rein]

@zero2blur great points made by you!

[h3e44]

how did they build the tailfins

[54rein]

@h3e44 To the best of my knowledge, back in the 50's they used molds as they do today. But, to build a mold that accounts for tail fins....probably got expensive what with all of those angles and everything. I remember those cars and they were beautiful to look at! So, you would think that they would keep building them that way.

But, the more boxy cars you see today are a product of better economics in production, and possibly better gas mileage without the fins

[54rein]

@h3e44

[Immortalcheese]

7:18 even old chevys had problems with their door hinges messing up!!!!

[crusher1944]

ya thanks to the ripoffrepublicans if they hand there way there would be no regulations on anything and your would be working for $1.25 an hour.

ASS HOLE

[noacronym]

It was a better time in the country before the Liberals of the Dim-o-crat Party destroyed it.

[1952kid]

A better time in America , for most of us. If things get really bad , these days my come back, gas stations checking your oil and pumping your gas to get your buisness. I do miss these days,when i was a kid, everything felt ''OK'' then.

[battisa]

40mpg wtf!

[HEMAS13]

back then people dressed like smart people with jobs.

nice mickey mouse music though

[54rein]

@HEMAS13 people dressed up to go just about anywhere. Check out old baseball games: everyone was dressed in their Sunday best

[WhenToysSpeak]

This commercial is bullshit. Women don't know how to drive. That was a male stunt double!

[crusher1944]

@WhenToysSpeak YOU SHOULD KNOW YOU ARE A CROSS DRESSER .IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE

[dylanBBE]

the Chevrolet at the end had an balcony?

[dimeable]

As I see Chevrolet had the least amount of car-related information in their commercials.

[FURY1958]

The Renault Dauphine also known in Spain as Gordini too, was called the "widows car" because they overturned very easy.

[Auggie56]

Ann, buy a Chrysler.

[GenericGene]

Superb -

[the2014]

lol fucking awesome!

[TheSmithinator]

I remember when my power steering quit on me. Parking was quite literally i.m.p.o.s.s.i.b.l.e

[54rein]

@TheSmithinator Interesting comment. You don't hear about that happening today. But with generally smaller and lighter cars, one could probably park if the power went out. I'll bet that Toyota wishes that that was their problem instead of what they've got.

[Blurredman]

Both of my cars do not have power steering. However, they're not as big as the Ford on this advert :D

[Tunnelfish]

@TheSmithinator I know what you mean, I call it "Steering by Armstrong".

[drbill15]

I enjoyed seeing the old car commercials. I lived that era. Thanks for the memories.

[54rein]

@drbill15 you are welcome. We both lived through era which included gas ...in my case at 29.9 a gallon! I remember my dad buying a dollar's worth of gas...and it lasted for a few days!

[02chevyguy]

@54rein I remember going to KC on a family vacation back in '65 (I was 9) in our Chevy station wagon, and when we hit OK and KS, there were "gas wars" going on. They were selling it at 0.17 a gallon!

[54rein]

@02chevyguy I don't recall it that cheap in the Chicago area...for some reason 19 cents seems to stick in my head. I can still remember my dad saying to gas station attendant...."I'd like a dollar's worth of gas" Today, that's not even enough to run my snow blower for the winter.

[Vincek88]

I've always been fond of these old cars and I always will, but I recently saw a crash-test video where a new Chevy Malibu met a '59 Chevy Battleship head-on - both cars were totalled, but the Malibu's passenger compartment was basically intact, while the '59 had all that gorgeous sheetmetal surging into the interior. Nostalgia's fine but it has its limits.

[bushtrimmer69]

HOMER SIMPSON???????? DUMB ASS.

[Tony1584]

Is that Homer Simpson singing at 2:11?

[54rein]

lol! Wow, that does sound like Homer doesn't it?

For those who wouldn't know, these commercials aired between 20-30 years before the Simpsons were created.

[11094DEREK]

@Tony1584 yeah lol

[bombaya85]

@Tony1584

Hahahaha, wtfXD Your absolutely right! haha

[gbling88]

@Tony1584 haha



[pat555x]

disturbing

[GrilledAngus]

I will admit, some cars today are really nice, but why cant they make cars like the 50s did?

[54rein]

Sad to say, it all comes down to money. Today's cars ...sort of boxy looking, cost less to produce. Look at all of the beautiful grill work, fins, etc. But, I agree with you, there is probably a market that would buy these cars if produced now...in a heartbeat. But, no manufacturer is willing to take that risk, especially in today's market.

[LwaziOfItaly]

This would have been the ultimate era if everyone was treated equally. We love this era but as a Black man, it wouldn't have been so cool (Buckwheat, Steymee). But if it wasn't a White Only world, this era would be the best. Hope it returns one day refurbished.

[54rein]

You are exactly right about this. As a white person, I cannot imagine the pain that others must have felt...as if they did not count.

I think it was the late 60's when a black was first cast in this commercial or that...that seemed so unnatural. But we were making progress. Julia hit TV and it was classy. "All in the Family" helped break the door down for many minorities. And I cheered as Archie looked more and more like the fool he was.

We are getting there, slowly but surely.

[LwaziOfItaly]

That would be the ultimate realm. To go on classic car cruises with our fellow man without worry of color. We have a 1959 Impala ourselves.

[DamnStraightM35A2]

3:02 there is a black man

[54rein]

Hopefully, we will recapture some of that optimism one of these days. Things tend to move in cycles. We will never see these very innocent commercial types again though. Sad!

[canine2]

Yeah, that '59 Chevy ad was probably the best American car commercial of all time...summed up the outlook of postwar America: upbeat and positive.

Now all ads are the same: smug, cynical and terminally hip.

[rocketsauced]

Nostalgic, too bad these cars kinda sucked when it came to quality.

[jimspy1001]

God, the way we were. I loved the last Chevy ad, it was so "Norman Rockwell's America."

[54rein]

That's a perfect description, I had not thought of it that way.  Thanks for commenting.

[ViNTAGExLACE]

I love this! I wish I had a car from the 40's or 50's :(

[54rein]

Those cars, especially the ones from the 1950's were beautiful. As the 60's passed, auto makers realized that the fancy fins, etc. were too costly to continue making. So we started getting the "boxy" shapes still more or less around today.

I'm with you. I wish I had one, too.

You know what's funny. Sometimes you still see some old cars from the 50's being driven around in Cuba! The nice weather there doesn't take a toll on the body like it does in the Northern US

[VanClifton]

Back in the day car design was an art. What really killed car design is aerodynamics. The more aerodynamic the cars became the less unique they became. Now every car looks just like every other car on the road.

I do miss tail fins, white wall tires, vinyl roofs and lots of chrome!!

Today's cars are much better but not as beautiful! :(

Thanks for posting.

[54rein]

You are exactly right! I would add that it also is faster and costs less to design and build the boxy cars we have today than those glorious one's of yesteryear.

Thanks for commenting.

[hebneh]

@54rein The cars in Cuba are there because of politics, of course, not nostalgia. While some of them might look good in photos, 50 or more years of use has totaled their engines (which have been replaced as best as they can be) as well as their interiors.

Castro confiscated most private property, but he allowed car owners to keep their vehicles, and to pass them to descendants. The '50s cars that survive are therefore treasured as transportation.

Someday I'll get there to see 'em in person.

[54rein]

@hebneh Fascinating comment by you, thanks. And, I would assume that some of those cars are still there, because there are few opportunities to buy new ones?

[hebneh]

@54rein The only people who've been able to get a new car in Cuba for decades have been people with government connections. The average person could not, and cannot, buy one.

That's why anyone who was fortunate enough to own a car as of Jan. 1, 1959 (and now, their descendants) have kept their vehicles running as long as possible. They can't be replaced.

Whereas we in the USA, where the cars were manufactured, long since trashed nearly 100% of the cars we had 50 years ago. We can get new ones.

[hebneh]

@54rein For decades, the only people who've been able to get a car in Cuba have been those with government connections. Average people cannot do so.

That's why anyone fortunate enough to own a car on Jan. 1, 1959 (and after them, their descendants) have kept their vehicles running as long as possible. They can't be replaced.

Meanwhile, in the USA where these were manufactured, we've long since trashed all our '50s cars because we could get new ones.

[54rein]

@hebneh Don't forget that the harsh weather up in the northern part of the country contributes to the decay of automobiles, too

[cputb1]

A City horn "and" a Country horn. Now that's French engineering at it's best!

[54rein]

I know, isn't that wild? How many times were people getting up to leave a dealership, wanting to think things over....when the salesman pulled out this "ace in the hole?" I'm sure this helped them close many deals on the spot! lol

Thanks for watching and commenting.