From 1959. May your Christmas be wonderful!
Richard beat me to the punch, but please accept our best wishes from myself and the whole CC family. PN
Merry Christmas To All!
– Posted on December 24, 2013
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Curbside Classics Archives
Can anyone identify all the Fords…and what is Santa Flying?
Santa is in a Pontiac American Trans Air Sport, aka a Flying Dustbuster.
Merry Cristmas to all !
It kind of looks like a Scion iQ to me…
Santa is flying a Ford LevaCar, it was a Worlds Fair display thing, it ran on a cushion of air, or something like that.
You beat me to it. My wife got me a car book for Christmas, and I as flipping through it, there was a write-up on the LevaCar.
Merry Christmas everybody!
Interesting to note that the “Mach 1” script on the tailfin is very similar to that used on the 1969 Mustang Mach 1.
A very good year, if I do say. Does this have the look of Richard Scarry to anyone? Guess I didn’t know he was a Ford man. A very merry Christmas to all!
That’s TOTALLY Richard Scarry, none other. His work is permanently etched on my brain from my own childhood reading and that of my children. His son Huck Scarry is a far better illustrator IMHO, but this brochure is pretty sweet. Great find!
Wow, I didn’t know Richard Scarry did commercial work like this. We’ve got his large format books which the kids just love. Thanks for the hint on Huck, nice watercolours. Fomoco were still willing to feature an Edsel at this late stage. Merry Xmas.
Well it’s Christmas morning as I type this, just before I head off to a relaxing family Christmas day. The Christmas Book picture above indicates that Santa was a Ford man, and I can confirm that down here at least, his sleigh was an XC Ford Falcon ute, named RRN Reindeer. The bonnet’s up not because it broke down, but because ever the perfectionist, Santa is tweaking the a/c to blow really cold!
All the best to all of CCdom from here in New Zealand! May you all enjoy a day that’s special to you. 🙂
Merry Christmas from a wet and windy UK.
I love advertising like this from the era.
The diagonal line up from the lower left corner of Lincoln, Mercury, Edsel and Ford appears to represent the hierarchy for 1960.
The Falcon four door hardtop is a surprise ;).
Merry Christmas!
It is not well known that the Falcon line was to include 2 and 4 door hardtops, as well as a convertible and even a retractable hardtop. These were all killed (along with the Teletouch pushbuttons for the Fordomatics) once McNamara got wind of it all.
Ford Australia built at least one retractable hardtop Falcon – it stayed at prototype stage sadly.
…and speaking of things that were killed, the 1960 Edsel had become a thing of the past by Christmas of that year.
This artwork was likely commissioned in the summer of ’59, before the 1960 Edsel started production. These booklets may even have been printed (although possibly not yet distributed) before Edsel production stopped in mid-November.
I agree that this is almost certainly the case. Most car brochures that I’ve seen from that time that are dated have August or September dates.
Merry Christmas to all! I noticed most of Scary’s animals are riding in the Edsel . . .
Merry Christmas to all from the BC Rockies, where it looks a lot like Christmas!
Here’s my best CC Christmas photo. My ’63 Standard Microbus last year hauling three Christmas trees to their respective homes.
Wow, that’s quite a stance on there
Thank you Paul and a Merry Christmas to you all that celebrate it!
As a young kid I remember going to the Rotunda at this time of year more than once. We would go to see the Christmas decorations and, of course, Santa. I remember being disappointed finding out that we were not going one year because it had burned down – guessing around 1962? Very fond childhood memories Thanks for the memory nudge. Have a great holiday.
I think you’re right, the Rotunda burned down in 1962, while they were preparing for the Winter Spectacular, only 3 years after this, taking several 1963 Ford models on display as well as some “dream” cars and Christmas decorations. Sorry to hear that its burning caused your family tradition to stop.
My Grandfather bought a ’63 Fairlane that year, he was 50 years older than I (almost to the day) so I guess by that math I should have bought a Ford in 2012 to keep things symetric…whoops, didn’t buy any car in 2012.
Merry Christmas to everyone checking in as well.
The Dearborn area seems to be well represented here.
I too, checked out the Christmas display at the Rotunda every year, and ducked into the theater to watch the Humphrey Bear cartoons.
Dad and I went by the site a couple weeks after the fire. All the wreckage of the round, actually gear shaped, building had been removed. The theater wing was still standing.
The Wiki article says the fire was November 9, 1962
Did you have Humphrey Bear in the US?
“Did you have Humphrey Bear in the US?”
Humphrey was a Disney creation, but was only featured in a few cartoons in the 50s. The Rotunda was the only place I remember seeing his films.
According to the Wiki entry, he has appeared in other Disney shows since the 80s, and had a cameo in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”
Hmmmmm…. In Australia, we had Humphrey B Bear as a TV show with a man in a costume. It ran for years and was THE iconic Aussie kids character. The show was cancelled a while back and the creators tried to sell of all rights for about AUD $500,000. What really surprises me is that Disney would have allowed this character to exist without a massive legal barrage. Personally, I thought Humphrey B Bear was lame and preferred the Cookie Monster. Still do.
Phooey. Not a Chevy in the bunch. Bah. Humbug!
Oh, Mr. Zackman, found this outside… 🙂
Ahhh… That’s more like it! Thank you!
The giraffe piloting the Edsel works for me.
What about those snobby bears and their Lincoln….
I cant get the one behind the Anglia and yeah Guys Merry Xmas as its already afternoon on the 25th here
That’s a German Taunus 12M behind the Anglia. Merry Christmas from icy southern Ontario!
I bet that giraffe was really ticked when he traded the Edsel in on a ’64 Galaxie 500 convertible and found out what its trade-in value was 🙂
That said, I’d have a hard time deciding between a ’60 Edsel, Mercury or Lincoln. Or a Squarebird…
Merry Christmas everyone!
Yeah but he would have had a coupon to redeem. 😉
Wow a ’60 Edsel Convertible and waterskiing…must be the good life.
You’re probably right, the giraffe didn’t get much when he traded the ’60 Edsel on a ’64 Galaxy…but he didn’t have much choice, I don’t think they had many cars with (opening) sunroofs back then, so he would have had to stick his neck out (bad pun) and make a good deal on the ’60 to a fellow giraffe down on his luck….and he kept the rare 60 Edsel long enough to sell it for a good price years later…
that is if he could figure out how to put the top up (when he wasn’t driving it)…wonder if he could reach the top up switch from outside the car (his neck would be in the way if he tried to put it up sitting in the seat)…otherwise it
probably ended up as an unfortunate rusty shell, like so many convertibles…Darn!
Merry Christmas, everybody!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night…
Merry Christmas to All from not-so-snowy Ypsilanti, Michigan, which isn’t all that far away from Dearborn!
Hey! The gangs all here for the Ford Christmas party, of course, by the end of the night the Edsel will be passed out drunk and the Thunderbird would have given it up to the Lincoln…
The Anglia and Taunus will spend the whole night in the corner, no one talking to them…
I’ll bet the little tractor is a Ford too….
Honestly though the picture does have this acid trip quality to it, Mice on tractors…owls driving Falcons, Foxes directing traffic,
Is there a Panther in there somewhere? Foxes? Panthers? Predicting the future?Oooooooooooh………….
… and a very panther Christmas to you
Maybe the weird relatives, Meteor, Monarch and little Frontenac will show up and talk to the Anglia and Taunus!
They were invited but were out ice fishing and drinking beer and didn’t make it back in time for the picture.
I saw Santa in a flying Chevy Suburban…hey I had to boost the GM contingent!
True story. When I was 14, I had a dream that Jesus returned to earth and was driving a red 1970 Corvette.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! And thanks to Paul and all who contribute to CC!
Now you just made me think of the Ray Stevens song about TV preachers: “Would Jesus Wear a Rolex on His Television Show?” 😉
In 1957 when Christmas break started at Grand View College in Des Moines, Iowa, I rode with a college friend in his 1940 Ford 2-door sedan toward Detroit, to stay with another college friend and his family. The other friend, less adventurous, had decided to ride Greyhound instead. A few miles east of Marshalltown, Iowa, the Ford’s hood came open and wrapped itself over the windshield. We pulled over and while we were standing there in the cool Iowa breeze, along came this Greyhound bus. We flagged it down, and our other friend who was riding helped talk the driver into letting us board and ride to Detroit. I had lots of fun, got to see a lot of the Detroit area including Windsor, Ontario, but Eric had to borrow his dad’s truck and a towbar and retrieve his slightly battered Ford, which ended up staying home the following semester. I rode back to Des Moines with a third friend, getting a good chance to learn to drive in snow with his 6-cylinder overdrive 1953 Ford Customline 2-door sedan.
Merry Christmas to everyone, and a special thanks to Paul and the rest of the CC gang!