The Chicane » Vintage Racing Advertising

The Chicane » Vintage Racing Advertising http://thechicaneblog.com A Celebration of Historic Motorsport Sat, 13 Nov 2010 01:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Morgan Girl http://thechicaneblog.com/2010/07/18/morgan-girl/ http://thechicaneblog.com/2010/07/18/morgan-girl/#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:35:01 +0000 Harlo http://thechicaneblog.com/?p=3546

“Speed, she likes. Comfort, she appreciates. She admires men sensible enough to choose the rather exclusive Morgan Plus Four Plus—and occasionally let her drive. 2138 c.c. TR4A engine. 110 m.p.h. Front Disc Brakes. And superb Morgan controllability. Try on for ever—this week.”

Definitely a Morgan Girl. I love that this reads like an installment of What Sort of Man Reads Playboy? but in reverse.

(found in MotorSport, April 1966)

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“I feel that the Lotus is the best attempt yet to provide the enthusiast with a competition car at a price he can afford to pay. In essentials, it is just as sound an engineering job as the most expensive sports car, and the economy is only brought about by the clever adaptation of mass-produced components.”

Sounds to me like J. V. Bolster was on to something. This Lotus 6 looks every bit as desirable today as it did when Autosport wrote this glowing review in 1953.

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“The disc brakes fitted to the Sprite were masters of the situation under all conditions and their high speed behaviour was beyond criticism”

Call me crazy, but I actually find the hyperbole of this ad copy charming. Not to mention the tremendous graphic fantasticness of the Girling “G” logo.

You can read this post in its original form on The Chicane.]]> http://thechicaneblog.com/2010/05/11/austin-healey-sprite-now-with-girlings/feed/ 1 The Latest in Sports Hornets http://thechicaneblog.com/2010/04/14/the-latest-in-sports-hornets/ http://thechicaneblog.com/2010/04/14/the-latest-in-sports-hornets/#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 20:17:20 +0000 Harlo http://thechicaneblog.com/?p=3044

This looks to me like £255 well spent. From MotorSport Magazine April, 1932.

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(Naturally this location is now a Starbucks.. typical)

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These were all from a single 1958 issue of MotorSport. The possibilities were endless, and cheap. Guess what you do if you’re bored with your compact Ford today… You deal with it. Or you glue a horrifically ugly wing on it. Yay! a big stupid wing!

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AustinHealey100Ad

Price as advertised (1955): £750
Adjusted for inflation (2008): £15,120 (US $24,169.32)

What that buys today: Mini Cooper S, Volkswagen GTI, well equipped Mazda Miata

You can read this post in its original form on The Chicane.]]> http://thechicaneblog.com/2010/01/06/racing-ads-of-the-past-austin-healey-100/feed/ 0 Build. Race. Win. http://thechicaneblog.com/2009/12/07/build-race-win/ http://thechicaneblog.com/2009/12/07/build-race-win/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:06:00 +0000 Harlo http://thechicaneblog.com/?p=2160 Knowing where to place your pressure sensitive labels is an important part of your slot racing team strategy. Now you won’t be in the dark when you’re assembling your GTO or DB5.

Remember slot racers, magnets are for wimps; and me.

You can read this post in its original form on The Chicane.]]> http://thechicaneblog.com/2009/12/07/build-race-win/feed/ 0 Vintage Racing Ad: Dunlop http://thechicaneblog.com/2009/12/01/vintage-racing-ad-dunlop/ http://thechicaneblog.com/2009/12/01/vintage-racing-ad-dunlop/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:20:13 +0000 Harlo http://thechicaneblog.com/?p=2112 What I think I like most about this ad for Dunlop R5 Racing tires is the photograph of a formula car wheel. No tire manufacturer today would have anything less than the very top-end wheels showcasing their products. They would be highly polished, and the photo retouched to absolutely scream “shiny and expensive”.

For this racing tire ad though, it’s just a simple stamped wheel with dull, dirty paint — looks like a Lotus “wobbly web” to me. Fantastic.

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