[Another oldie from our earliest days that many of you might have missed]
Wow! Leave it to the Australians to outdo anything Madison Avenue ever came up for the Pinto Cruising Wagon. These ads for the Holden Sandman were sent in by reader Davo, and they needed to be…passed around. Truly amazing period pieces. There’s plenty more dazzling goodness, including Ford’s (Update: and Chrysler’s) answer to the Sandman:
Big Thanks to Davo!
Mad Max’s wife had of those in the first movie.
“Here’s your passport to a good time.”
“105 cubic feet of party room up back.”
If you say to girl: “Do you wanna have a good time up in my party room?”, I think she knows what you mean by that… And it’s fantastic copy…
Did I ever tell you my Dad’s nickname in the early 1970s (graduated high school in 1973) was “Moondoggy?” He called my mom “Skinny.” I think if these vehicles had been available in the US I might have been conceived in one.
I failed to mention Chrysler Australia also making a competitor to the Sandman and Sundowner called the Drifter. It apparently used the Chrysler A-body. Photos are at the following links.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiefordadverts/5253492038/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiefordadverts/5253491974/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugo90/2104987782/in/faves-50415738@N04/
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3351/3489317451_a770d77451.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carsaroundadelaide/3489317451/
Thanks; I’ve added one of the Drifter pics. Of course Chrysler couldn’t be left out of the fun.
Oh Yeah Owned several panel vans in OZ used for travelling not the neat paint job versions though. Holden started it with the HQ series {purple} and Ford and Chrysler climbed on board later. Ford also did an Escort and Transit to cover the whole market. Pretty hard to find any now rust and abuse eat the Ford and Valiants and there was a thriving industry removing the roofs from Holden PVs and converting them back to utes or cab chassis 1 tonners. Ford kept building PVs into the 90s but gave up on the sundowner theme.
WE ARE SO CLEVER IN AUSTRALIA
It’s amazing tome what was available in OZ when we in the states were suffering with Ralph Nader and smogged down emissions loaded cars with the 1973-on huge 5 MPH bumpers and down under still had 351-clevelands, Falcon GT’s. (we never had a Falcon GT) utes up thru the 90′s. (our rancheros and el caminos) and nice smooth stylings. With the exception of the steering wheel on the right, they had some sweet cruisers.
I think the difference is the safety and emissions regulations didn’t really start to bite in Australia until the early 80s. Unleaded petrol/gasoline wasn’t required until 1984, versus 1975 in the US.
These were also known as “Shaggin’ Wagons” or “Finger Bowls”.
The Pinto Cruising Wagon was cashing in on the conversion van craze, Econolines/ChevyVans/Tradesmen which were basically mobile bedrooms.