Retromercial: Olds Minute Movies (ca. 1948)

[sneakers55]

@smurfswacker A vehicle that smoked that much would be illegal in several states now.

[fromthesidelines]

Even though Oldsmobile adapted most of the techniques seen here to sell their future models on TV, these were indeed theatrical commercials; the name of your local Olds dealer would be flashed around the :50 mark for about 10 seconds, often with an announcer's voice-over {"See the new Oldsmobiles at Ken Johnson Sales & Service, 14 Front Street, in Pittsdale.."}.

[nlpnt]

Thank you for posting this!

Nowhere did they mention that Hydra-Matic was an option; standard equipment was a 3-speed, column shifted manual.

[HighwayCinema]

Thanks! I used to work on Olds commercials. We always had the greatest camera rigger: Kenny Phelps!

[smurfswacker]

Fascinating stuff! I was struck by the cloud of smoke the brand new Olds made each time it started...or idled, for that matter. The Photoshop artists would be working overtime to take that out of a modern-day commercial!

[Cruiseomatic]

I love your retromercials! Keep them coming! Any chance you could find the one showing a 1967 Ford flying off the Lake Placid Olympic ski jump? That one was cool!

[altfactor]

Given that the length of these spots were around or a little less than a minute each, could these ads for the 1948 Oldsmobile have been the first (or among the first) TV commercials for Olds??

[OLDS98]

WOW!! Thank you for adding this. I am a Oldsmobile owner and I appreciated seeing this video.