Let’s go once again through vintage-land, with the joyful glamour of cars and life by the water – simulated or otherwise. First off, a 1956 Buick Century Convertible, with art direction straight out of a Gene Kelly musical.
Staying true to a Kelly musical, I could see Gene with Sinatra hopping and dancing around this ’58 DeSoto. Technically, these Navy guys are more about life in, rather than by the water, but let’s not overthink it.
Pool, golf, and a 1960 Thunderbird Convertible. And now that I think abou it, some Saturn-like polymer panels might have been good in this scenario.
A 1968 Ford Galaxie 500. I could see my cigar smoking uncle behind the wheel in such a shot; talk about someone who had that ’60s ad-swagger in every pore.
A 1967 AMC Ambassador 990; with a period-correct out of focus swimmer in the foreground.
And finally, a Volvo PV444 (’57?). Obviously, the Swedes didn’t quite have the budget to go full ‘Gene Kelly’ back then. But when it came to the idea of fun in the water, it served just as well.
I love the Volvo .
-Nate
Then there’s “Life IN The Water”–two of my favorites from Chevrolet:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/147108383@N02/42957683452/in/album-72157694224899525/
Wow, that new Chevrolet looks like it is actually going to get washed out to sea at the 50 second mark – it is actually trying to float. What do you bet they retailed it as new at some local dealership. (“Freshly washed!”)
Whenever I see cars frolicking in the surf I think of all that salt water finding its way into every nook, cranny, and wire of the car.
My biggest memory of the movie “Terms of Endearment” was Jack Nicholson driving his Corvette into the surf. The body may be fiberglass but the rest of it is steel and rubber and electrical and mechanical.
I can’t even imagine the birdcage rot on that today, if it still exists(it’s a 25th anniversary edition so maybe). Chevy didn’t do much for corrosion protection to the steel underneath the fiberglass, they might be even worse to deal with in a restoration scenario than a rusty steel bodied car.
Amazing. Has the Impala Sport Coupé lost its rear hubcaps in some of the shots?
I’m a sucker for DeSotos, so I’d take the white with red ‘58 for a test drive. Might make an offer on one in a nice rich blue.
Did that comely swimmer jump directly from the driver’s seat into the pool? Any closer and that AMC Ambassador would be right in the drink with her!
I’m with you. It’s Delightful, it’s Delovely, it’s DESOTO! Parents once passed up a white 59 ADVENTURER. Then passed up the last 61 DESOTO in our community. Following year bought a 62 Plymouth Belvedere. 🤮
The Ambassador is interesting – it always seemed that red convertibles were what were photographed by the pool. A brown Ambassador doesn’t really speak to swimming-pool-people, does it?
Another that comes to my mind is one for the 1959 Plymouth. How many boats can we count in this picture?
Looks like the Plymouth in the foreground is towing a Penn Yan dinghy.
I had one like that (about 7 feet long) and my father and I could pick it up over our heads and put it on a blanket that was on top of his 1953 Packard Sedan and then tie it up tight using lines that went through the open windows.
Sanding and varnishing the Penn Yan’s interior was a tedious job but the smell of the drying varnish was a wonderful childhood memory.
Now, the big boat looks like a 42 foot flush deck Chris Craft Constellation but the dimensions seem a bit off in the manner of some of those Pontiac ads by Fitzpatrick and Kaufman. If the two guys in the ad could get in and move the background Plymouth, I might have a clearer idea of the boat’s make, model, and size.
The CC in the ad is longer than the one you showed. It has a rear cabin that’s higher up and longer. More like 48′ or 52′?
“Aft cabin” is the term. CC Connie’s came about 32′ to 60′, Ralph Evinrude had one of the latter. Owens was #2 at the time and built in Baltimore, a friend’s dad worked there. We had a ’66 30′ CC Crusader with twin poly 318s – Dad was a Navy man and we always had boats on the Chesapeake. Her 120 gal tanks would empty pretty darn quick, can’t imagine filling that thing nowadays. Not to mention that maintaining a wood (carvel-planked mahogany) boat is not a hobby, it’s a career. They sure are beautiful when they’re in “Bristol” shape though. After living through that…ummm “experience”, we have an aluminum pontoon boat these days that needs next to no attention.
Yeah, the brown Ambassador sedan looks a bit too anonymous for a ad like this – my eyes drift to the girl in the pool, not the Ambassador. Still, the ’67 Amby is an attractive shape. What happened? Every tweak AMC made to this car’s styling made it look worse; by ’74 it was a sadly misshapen lump. Ditto the Rebel/Matador.
That all white ’58 FireFlite surrounded by white dressed sailors, all within an all white background, and that red, very red, interior, and one sailor discovering the car’s door, reminds me of a film I saw in high school health class about many sperm chasing a human egg, and how only one (usually) can “get in”.
Or maybe I’m just fond of big push button TorqueFlite Desotos, forget the sailors and the procreation symbolism.
Remember, “Hidden Persuaders” by Vance Packard came out in 1957.
Beach/water-themed car ads, appeared to… dry up, in more modern times.
I recall, a few beach-themed ads, and commercials, for the Ford Econoline and Pinto, during the mid to late ’70s. Spurred by the custom shaggin’ van trend.
I never really thought about it, but Ford was running their original ‘Built Ford Tough’ graphic, as early as the Summer of 1976. Effective graphic, and tag line. The message and design, aged well. The guy holding the surfboard in the ad, is definitely channelling Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli, in 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
In 1979, I welcomed the Econoline’s switch to square headlights. But I have a new appreciation for the looks, of the early round headlight versions.
The guy in the foreground is channelling Jay Ferguson. Who the h*** is Jay Ferguson, you ask? Lead singer of the band ‘JoJo Gunne’, that gave us early ’70s stoner rock classic, ‘Run, Run, Run’.
Hm, I just noticed all of the ads pre-dated the Chappaquiddick incident… coincidence or was such advertising indeed seen as unsavory from that point forward?
Inflation, austerity, and cynicism made lifestyles of the rich, like yachting, fall from favor in the 70s–yet more people had or had access to pools, so they lost some cachet.
Who can forget the fake VW ad in National Lampoon.
Make it the Chrysler Norseman and it would on the mark!
The Ambassador ad would look just right in a period issue of Playboy. But without the Ambassador. Something more sexy on wheels needs to be behind the gal in the pool.
Here is a mighty ’59 Imperial, at a fancy yacht club. This image is from the Russian – language brochure produced for the 1959 US National Exhibition, held in Moscow’s Sokolniki Park in the summer of 1959 as part of the US – Soviet Cultural Exchange Agreement. About 20 of Detroit’s latest models were on display for the several million Soviet visitors to ogle. Link to the brochure:
https://www.web.imperialclub.info/Yr/1959/59Russian/index.htm
Real VW ad
Surfin with the Met!
M. C. Escher’s little-known dabble in advertising photography – the girl in the pool in the foreground seems to be holding up the far-side rear wheel of the Ambassador in the background!
Squelch.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/saaboombxr/32724856048/in/photostream/
Cars at the beach ads. This is one I always think of. HR Holden Premier
Pepsi not refreshing enough on its own? Get an Amphicar.
LBJ drove an Amphicar.
Even the modest East German Trabant used nautical themes, here from 1966:
The appropriately-named Austin/Morris Marina.
Long time collector of ads and sales brochures. Great way to enjoy all of your favorites. Also seem to be highly collectible! Have a 4 drawer full. Suppose when I am gone they will all go to trash. For now, I am enjoying them.