Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Volkswagen Vintage Ads 2

Paul Newman's Insane 300hp VW Bug
 Paul Newman, the late-great movie star, possessed an independent streak that contributed to his
aura and celebrity appeal,  thus in the wake of initial Hollywood success of the early 1960s -starting with 1963's
 he went and
got himself not a new Cadillac convertible, Rolls, or Ferrari... but a cherry-red
 1963 VW Beetle Convertible.
He was soon recruited by VW's agency in the US to pose in ads with his car-
  a no-brainer for Volkswagen. 
1979 Volkswagen Rabbit print ad featuring Wilt Chamberlain.
An original vintage advertisement in black and white.

Karmann Ghia Coupe

You'd have to be some kind of car sleuth to know that concealed underneath
the Karmann Ghia's beautiful exterior is the heart of a Volkswagen. 
The Harlequin Volkswagens seem to have drawn their inspiration from this vintage Volkswagen Ad. Volkswagen of America won numerous awards for their Cheeky Advertising throughout the 60s, and this was but one of those ads.
IT READS: 

What is it?
Glad you asked. It’s a Volkswagen Station Wagon. Don’t pity the poor thing. It can take it. It can carry neatly a ton of anything you can afford to buy. Or 8 people (plus luggage) if you want to get practical about it.
And there’s more than one practical consideration. It will take you about 24 miles on a gallon of regular gas. It won’t take any water or anti-freeze at all; the engine is air-cooled. And even though it carries almost twice as much as regular wagons, it takes four feet less to park.

What’s in the packages?
8 pairs of skis, the complete works of Dickens, 98 lbs. of frozen spinach, a hutch used by Grover Clevland, 80 Hollywood High gym sweaters, a suit of armor, and a full sized reproduction of the Winged Victory of Samothrace.


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4 comments:

  1. Paul Newman definitely had a long standing affair with beautiful automotives. And his choices were not bad either. In fact his vehicles are all great, especially that cherry red VW Bug. It looks cute and adorable. You can even tell that he loved the car just by looking at the ad. But Wilt Chamberlain’s Volk Rabbit ad speaks volumes too, and definitely attracts lots of fans and basketball enthusiasts.

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  2. Thanks Tyra for looking and for the post....Paul Newman's cherry-red 1963 VW Beetle Convertible looks really cool even by today's standards. I've trying to look for VW bug celebrity endorsers/ads to post here but managed to see only 2 from Wilt and was surprised to see one from Newman.

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  3. Very interesting to see celebrity car endorsements in ads from the 70's now since I was too young to view them back then. I agree that Paul Newman's Beetle looks super cool even today; it actually doesn't look that old and has a classic appeal.

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  4. Totally agree...Thanks for looking. Do you know of other sites/ads with celebrity endorsers for the classic VW bug? I was looking for some but was able to find only the few above...

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