Several years ago, as I was pawing through someone’s unwanted stuff at a garage sale, I came across this unique little book. It may be the only book of its kind–a collection of cartoons and humorous essays by the eminent satirists of the time, intended to be given to customers at Volkswagen dealerships. There’s a lot of good material in here, and looking back on it more than 50 years later, it probably says more about that time in history than even its authors intended.
You have to remember that Volkswagen was the cool, iconoclastic “hip” brand which was rocking the industry with its straight-talking, sly humor advertising–breaking all the unwritten rules about what car advertising should be. And a large cross-section of the Volkswagen clientele were people who considered themselves to be the trend-setting intelligentsia–the literate cognoscenti who were more car-wise about what real value is; “above” a typical guy who bought the Insolent Chariots from the Big Three. It is clear that this book was made for them–the VW Believers.
So let’s look over some of the highlights. A lot of these authors and creators were major cultural influencers of the 1950s and ’60s, but their names are less recognizable by most people today. And a lot of the essays have a nostalgic tone–reminiscences of cars remembered from youth–a little like certain Curbside Classic posts, but from 1967.
First we have an essay by Harry Golden, “Rearrangements: from the Winton to the Volkswagen”. He begins: “I am 63, but I remember the first automobile I saw and touched . . . I was eight years old and lived on the Lower East Side of New York.”
1910 Winton
The son of a neighbor was a chauffeur who wore a light blue uniform with black boots and drove for an uptown doctor. “He was always carrying big, heavy bear rugs with which to cover the feet of his employer.” Young Harry was fascinated by the car, a 1910 Winton: “Once he appeared we threw a barrage of questions at him, imploring answers, pleading for a chance to touch the car, investigate it, ride in it maybe.”
1921 Essex Super Six
When he got to be driving age, Golden describes the folly of being one of four owners of a 1921 Essex, each of whom chipped in $40. “Who has the car?” “Murray must have it.” “We issued schedules as detailed and solemn as a White Paper, and no sooner were they issued than abrogated.” Splitting the cost of gasoline was a problem “even the New Math couldn’t solve.”
He concludes that “the automobile has an utter fascination for the American male, for the male everywhere in the world.”
The longest essay was written by Jean Shepherd, who is famous for creating and narrating the movie A Christmas Story (“You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!”) However, I knew of Shep long before that. I remember being with my dad in our basement workshop, working on projects into the night. The radio was always tuned to WOR in New York, and Shep would be on the air telling stories about his childhood, life in the army, and the foibles of mankind–in that folksy, intimate way that only he could do.
1932 Studebaker Rockne
In “My Dream Car”, Shepherd relates how, when he was a “pale-cheeked lad,” he would visit a local used car lot “HAPPY HARRY THE HUNGRY ARMENIAN” after completing his newspaper delivery route. Shep, like his “Old Man” was an avid car buff who knew all the makes, years, models, and their various idiosyncrasies. But he comes across a car he has never seen, one with a bas-relief of the head of a famous football coach, and bearing the name “ROCKNE”.
Intrigued, Shep goes back home and tells his father that Happy Harry has a Rockne for sale. The father replies, “A Rockne! Well, I’ll be damned! How much does he want for it?”
“Eighteen dollars.”
“That crook!” (The Old Man and Happy Harry were old adversaries.)
“Son, the Rockne is the second-worst piece of junk ever made! Next to the Essex Super 6. It’s got a transmission made of balsa wood. The only time I ever saw a Rockne do over 25 on the flat was the time I saw one get smacked in the rear by a Western Avenue streetcar going full tilt, and then the guy couldn’t get it stopped for two full blocks because it didn’t have any brakes. Eighteen bucks for a Rockne! Well, you gotta hand it to old Harry for trying.”
After that, Shepherd never saw another Rockne car again. No one ever made mention of such a car in the years since. Which caused Shepherd to wonder, “Was it all just a dream?”
Lawrence Goodridge expresses his frustration with contemporary car magazines. He can’t make sense of Letters to the Editor like:
Dear Sir:
I recently came across a 1924 Packard V-16 engine in virtually mint condition. What special difficulties might I encounter in adapting it for my 1949 Crosley?
Goodridge has been driving for several years, but he has never heard of “wheel hop” and asks, “What is ‘rear spring windup’?” He says that what we need is a magazine called “THE BEFUDDLED CAR OWNER’S GUIDE–for the man who doesn’t know what an oscilloscope is, much less own one.” He thus prophesizes the ” ____ For Dummies” books which appeared much later.
Lastly, Roger Price describes a hypothetical case study of the Bobbit-8: a poor-selling car of obsolete design. The Bobbit company turns to a new ad agency for help. The agency suggests that Bobbit appeal to the “youth market”. Thus a new model is conceived–the “Psychedelic” (later renamed the “Cutthroat”): “For Cool, In, Hip, Swinging Swingers Only!” It features “a nylon-fringed top which hung down over the sides like a Beatle cut. A Pop-Mod color scheme (green, purple, and red), and instead of steering wheel it has motorcycle handlebars. Standard equipment included a 12-speed stereo record player, a coke and snack bar, Bell-bottom Fenders, and Mini-Bumpers. And with each car, the dealers gave away a dozen sweat shirts with the sleeves torn out.”
Here’s a sample of the cartoons:
Cartoon by Barney Tobey
Cartoon by Virgil Partch
Cartoon by William Hoest
This guy was immediately fired and escorted off the property by GM (uh…that is, UM) security personnel. Cartoon by Bob Weber
Batman trading in his Lincoln Futura. Cartoon by John Gallagher
I wonder how many people today would get this one. Cartoon by Henry Martin
Success is the greatest revenge. Cartoon by Charles Saxon
Cartoon by Eldon Dedini
Whenever I have to drive through the Holland or Lincoln Tunnel, I get a little creeped out. This is why. Cartoon by Charles Addams.
When putting together this post I wondered, “Where is the modern equivalent?” Would any car manufacturer today publish a book with humorous essays and cartoons for its dealers to give out? Of course, anything put out by major corporations today would have to be so “politically correct”. Political correctness is many things, but it isn’t funny. And is the idea of an actual book obsolete? I don’t know if brochures and owner’s manuals are even offered in printed form anymore. And if they are, they probably won’t be for long (“It’s all online”).
So what we have here is a fascinating artifact from a lost time. It is a time that is very familiar to me, and seems “normal” because that’s what I grew up with. It only seems quaint from the perspective of 2021, just as our present day will seem old-fashioned 50 or more years hence. And so on and so on. The universe never stops moving.
Christmas is coming, and I hope all readers get the present they really want! Cartoon by Bob Weber
The “thrill of the chase” cartoon looks like it come out of a Playboy……just saying.
Actually, it looks like it came out of the New Yorker, where this cartoonist (and this theme) was a regular.
Probably because Dedini was a Playboy regular.
This is a fairly recent (2001) radio drama series centered on a Metropolitan. It has a Jean Shepherd flavor, with maybe a bit of Updike.
https://archive.org/details/test-drive-by-dave-carley
Excellent find. Humor seems to be one of the things that has gone the way of the dodo as
of late.
I used to have this, or maybe still do. Yes, it’s a reflection of the higher literary standards of the times, and the demographic with which VW was so popular with then.
What Subaru is doing right now is equivalent. They tie their vehicles to helping adopt pets. Genius. Still won’t own a Subaru again, but that is genius. Beetles had a completely different image in Germany than it had here. As a kid growing up with Beetles, I found them about as enticing as a kid’s beach bucket, cute but not legit. They were decent used cars until you were able to afford something better. Yet, as I understand, a decade earlier, these were desirable cars, buyers actually wanted. This book is from that era and it is quite a find!
Harley-Davidson could do a book like this. It has the right image and following. Sixty years from now, a Harley-Davidson book would have a similar dated sociological feel to it.
So much humor is generational, that it is fascinating to find this kind of stuff. Jean Shepherd is very much like Garrison Keillor in that it is in his telling that made his stories work.
Please note the difference between the timeless humor of “The Andy Griffith Show” to the dated humor of its spin-off, “Mayberry RFD”. Or the timeless humor of “I Love Lucy” to the dated humor of “The Lucy Show”. Even though the spin offs are newer, it is the older shows that are still beloved generations after their first airing. The key, I believe, is the story teller or lead characters having universal and timeless character flaws that still connects.
So, a story about Madison Avenue advertisers no longer works, but Bob Newhart’s “Abraham Lincoln” about a Madison Avenue ad man’s phone conversation with Lincoln before Gettysburg, is still perfect. A company is not funny, but a need to challenge a famous man by an ad copy executive overwhelmed by the task, is relatable and hilarious.
Jack Benny presented himself as an egotistical miser, which is relatable, so he is still funny, while Cliff Arquette’s Charlie Weaver bits, newer than Benny, aren’t. We can related to a husband in love regardless of his wife’s issues, as played by Dick York in “Bewitch”, so his performances are still funny – yet when Dick Sergeant played Darren Stevens, it all fell apart since Sergeant couldn’t play a loving husband.
Humor is very interesting – don’t even get me started on the differences between what I discovered between German and US humor.
In front of the supermarket yesterday was a ’60 Ford police car with “Mayberry RFD” on it.
Some friends gave us this book after they got a fastback in ’68. I remember these cartoons but didn’t remember there were essays in the book because I never read them.
“So, a story about Madison Avenue advertisers no longer works[…]”
The critically acclaimed (and often quite funny!) six season series [i]Mad Men[/i] would like a word.
On the other hand, I’d actually like you to get started on the differences between American and German humor!
Please name a time in the six years that Mad Men was on television that it had a moment of unstoppable hilarity. I can’t think of a single one.
The lawnmower incident.
Roger Sterling firing Burt Peterson.
Salvatore’s “I guess you’re worth every penny they’re paying you.”
Most anything related to Zou Bisou…
Almost ANYTHING involving Roger Sterling…
“Mad Men” and “The Sopranos” worked both as dark comedies and dramas.
Time for a rewatch…
“Wah, wah, wah!”
“Not great, Bob!”
“Mr. Campbell, who cares?”
I definitely have laughed harder at the comedic moments of shows like The Sopranos, Mad Men, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Deadwood than I ever have at comedies. The combination of breaking tension in a serious drama, combined with top-flight writing, I think is the reason for this.
If you didn’t laugh at Mad Men, I’m not sure what to tell you.
Humor is a funny thing ~ some just don’t get it, other’s are simply obtuse .
Long ago in the theater I was watching ‘Fargo’ when the police chief opened the car door, the *instant* hear a wood chipper going full tilt boogie in the snow I began to belly laugh ~ others didn’t quite get it for several minutes more then then grumped and said ‘HUMPH ! that’s not funny’ .
The best humor is often very subtle .
-Nate
On the other hand, I’d actually like you to get started on the differences between American and German humor!
Well, here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBWr1KtnRcI
“Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!”
“… the timeless humor of “The Andy Griffith Show” to the dated humor of its spin-off, “Mayberry RFD”. Or the timeless humor of “I Love Lucy” to the dated humor of “The Lucy Show”.”
The way I put it is that the 1970 “Rural Purge” was a mercy killing for a lot of scripted shows that had lost their original creative teams or worn out their premise (one can only be a ‘fish out of water’ for so long before going native or going home, I’m looking at you Jed Clampett…)
I wonder if another brand has tried something similar but tailored to their own demographic: you’d think Jeep or Land Rover could put together a collection of outdoors-adventure writing, for instance.
“I wonder how many people today would get this one?” Not many. It is in reference to a song and dance number called “Shuffle Off To Buffalo”.
Yessirree –
Shuff, shuff shuffle
Shuffle off to Buffle
Shuffle off to Buffa-lo.
That little snippet from the tune backed many a Warner Brothers cartoon as a character exited the scene.
Not surprising, seeing that song goes back to vaudeville – when the live acts were the entire show, and now in between movies.
It is from the hit Broadway musical “42nd Street” by Cole Porter and became a huge hit movie in 1933. It comes after live vaudeville theater by about 15-20 years.
Right except for the composer. “42nd Street” was written by Al Dubin and Harry Warren.
LOL!
I got 42nd Street confused with Anything Goes!
I got it. And while I’m old, I did come along about 50 years after the heyday of Vaudeville and 30 years after Cole Porter and the Great Depression. I think that this points to the ever-shrinking window for many of the vernaculars of pop culture. In the early 1970s, we still understood connections to something that had come 40 – 50 years before. In the 2020s, we seldom understand something that has happened 10 years before. This definitely makes it more difficult to create much that reaches into a collective cultural memory (since there isn’t such a thing so much any more).
Vaudeville predates movies and radio, so it peaked 125 years ago. Musicals aren’t vaudeville. The musical age begins with “Showboat” in 1929, (after radio and talking movies), and is still going today. “42nd Street” was a huge hit movie, (earning what would today be around $42,000,000), in 1933.
I was born in the mid 1950’s and TV shows and especially comedians like Milton Berle, Red Skelton, and Jack Benny made frequent allusions to the past. I suppose that it would appeal to the Grand Parents, if they were watching. My Grandfolks came from Mexico, didn’t speak much English, and hadn’t been in the U.S. before the 1920s. My Mom was born in 1930, and would patiently, well most of the time, explain to me what the punchline meant. Growing up in the ’60s I was pretty aware of pop culture way back into the 1920s, and a bit before. That would only be about 40 years before now, the late 70s and 80s!
I used to work with a lot of twenty year olds and was considered the old Sage. Once an earnest young fellow asked me seriously. “Before google, how did you find the answers to your questions?”
I told him that you would have to look it up in a book! ( provided that your parents or other adult couldn’t supply the answer) Sometimes you’d have to write it down so that you’d remember what you wanted to know when you finally got to the library.
Millions got married and took a train to see Niagara Falls. Shuffling off to Buffalo means doing the newly married honeymoon “trot” on a train to see the Falls. The overnight coaches on the Buffalo train was filled with newlyweds doing the “Buffalo Shuffle”. Instead of the “Mile High Club”, couples bragged about doing the “Buffalo Shuffle”.
As Paul Harvey would be saying:
“And now, you know, the REST of the Story!
This is Paul Harvey – GOOD DAY!”
My 33 year old self got it – but my grandfather (born in 1934, sadly passed away in 2006) was always using phrases like that around me, and I soaked them up like a sponge.
He also loved talking about old radio shows like “The Shadow”, Major Bowes Armature Hour, and Henry Aldrich – “Hen-ree! Henry Aldrich! Coming, Mother!”
Off to eBay to find a copy of this book for the collection…
I vaguely remember this book (thank you for rejogging a long forgotten memory), although I never owned a copy. There’s a good possibility that the copy I thumbed thru (I read all the cartoons, didn’t have it long enough to read the articles) was found on some salesman’s desk (John Boyarski for some reason comes to mind) at dad’s Chevrolet dealership.
The only firms today who I could see doing this are Subaru (who, as noted above, is coming as close as you can to this kind of advertising, not bad considering no Subaru is as iconic as the Type 1) and possibly Tesla, assuming they find the need to advertise sometime in the future.
Probably not a bad idea for the first Chinese car maker who finally tries breaking into the American market to go over this and DDB’s advertising campaign and copy, copy, copy. They’ll need it to get over the ‘Murican resistance.
The “We’re cool, we get it, but you are not cool because you don’t” advertising campaign will only ever be successful with an upstart, niche product. Someone like Honda could have gotten away with it in the 70s, but certainly could not now.
VW was big among imports, but was still a scrappy small fry in the overall US market of the 60s, and stuff like this shows it.
Toyota tried this sort of ad campaign with Scion, trying so hard to be hip and on-trend; guess it didn’t work.
Uh, I think (the modern BMW) Mini follows the VW Beetle advertising example pretty faithfully… whether they are/were as successful I leave to you to judge.
https://www.pinterest.com/miniofpgh/mini-advertising/
MINI’s initial advertising push in the USA during the early Aughts was interesting. For years, they did not advertise on television here; I am not sure if that was the case elsewhere at the time.
I was in college at the time, working on a BS in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing. I remember doing a pretty lengthy exploration and presentation on MINI’s advertising campaign for an advertising class. I wish I’d saved my materials and PowerPoint presentation – it would be helpful so that I could remember the details and specific advertisements so I could provide more interesting details and example ads.
The one that sticks in my mind was a small booklet, about the size of the liner notes in a CD (remember those?) called “How to Motor.” The most memorable bit for me exhorted new MINI drivers to park shallowly in parking lots, so that the relative shortness of the MINI wouldn’t make it look like the spot was empty right up until someone was about to pull into it.
The overall campaign was by Crispin Porter Boguspy, who did some other fairly unconventional campaigns at the time, and seemed to to be the spiritual successor to DDB.
Finding the booklet I’m talking about has so far been challenging; I’m sure I’ll find it online somewhere, but I just don’t have time at the moment. In the meantime I’ve linked to an article where an ad exec calls out this campaign as particularly memorable.
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/07/19/marketing-moment-118-mini-usa-breaks-convention-2002-let-s-motor-campaign
I never did end up in advertising, which is suppose is just as well; I’ve been doing healthcare IT for the last 20 years. It’s not nearly as glamorous, but judging by the conversations I’ve had with my contemporaries that did go into advertising, I heard enough horror stories about incredibly long hours for incredibly little pay that I am happy my career went where it did.
I’m on my 3rd copy of this wonderful little VW book, the first 2 having mysteriously vanished from my shop’s automotive library. The third copy, on the inside cover [in big letters] “Stolen from Bill McCoskey, please return.” So far it’s remained in my possession almost 25 years now!
What an excellent find! I’ve not seen this VW book before, but am loving it.
The whole effort reminds me of the MINI “Manual of Motoring” that I made much fun of in my COAL about the MINI.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-2002-mini-cooper-s-just-dont-call-it-driving/
Now I maybe know where they got the idea for that. ‘Cause there’s really nothing new under the sun.
Lord how I miss listening to Jean Shepherd on the radio ! . I vividly recall that story and the one about his father spitting on the neighbor’s Pontiac….
Some folks can tell a joke or story and it’s riveting .
I got that hard cover book at the Boston Auto Show in….?1967 ? maybe 1968 ? I still have it, one of the few things I had & still have from the 1960’s .
I remember that Mini book too, in the Los Angeles Auto Show you had to get in one line to get a brass token with “MINI” on it then go get into another line and drop the token into a machine to get the ‘Lets Motor’ book so of course I went back to the first line so I’d have the token and book…
Advertising is great ~ pop psychology at it’s very best .
-Nate
From a time when a car company had class…