Those Amazing Psychedelic Pontiac Ads by Fitzpatrick and Kaufman

by Paul Niedermeyer

Published: January 7th, 2010

those amazing psychedelic pontiac ads by fitzpatrick and kaufman

A good window into someone’s soul is their screen saver/wallpaper. You’re looking at mine. I don’t reveal my innermost secrets everyday; except, of course, all over the pages of my Auto-biography. This ad crystallizes my psychedelic experience as a seven-year old arriving in NYC from Austria on a hot summer night in 1960. You can read it here. But let me just say there really was a 1960 Pontiac parked at the curb as we stumbled out of the International Terminal after our twenty-four hour trip.

The Grand Prix CC reminded me of all these wonderful Fitzpatrick and Kaufman print ads that graced our optimistic early sixties. They worked as a duo; Art Fitzpatrick rendered the cars, wider than reality by a long shot, and Van Kaufman filled in the backdrops and the happy people. Does this seem like a different world?

Wide Track Pontiac’s just got that much wider, as the two master painters took on Pontiac’s new image with a vengeance!

They captured the times perfectly, as long as those times lasted. Their style was still working fairly well onto the middle of the decade, like these GP ads of 1963 and 1965.

By the latter part of the decade, their version of surrealism wasn’t working quite as well anymore, despite the counter-culture’s embrace of a new version. Ads had to become more realistic, so you’ll note that the the exaggerated widths are out by about 1969.

This ’69 GTO ad even featured snow!

The FK style petered out about this time; photo-realism and new photography techniques ruled the seventies. But the fact that Pontiac’s golden decade corresponded with the legendary art work of Fitzpatrick and Kaufman is probably no mere coincidence.

#BestCarAdsEver #Wide-trackPontiacs #WildPontiacAds

Paul Niedermeyer

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2 of 38 comments

Mark MacInnis on Jan 12, 2010

This is what made me realize that euthanizing Pontiac is a good thing. This division of GM has been a shell of itself for nigh on 3 decades......and rather than letting the proud Pontiac name continue to be sullied by the weak-ass vehicles which Gummint Motors chose to throw out there, letting Pontiac die a dignified death is the right thing. Thanks to sites like TTAC and others, the best of the proud Pontiac tradition will continue to live (in limited numbers) on the road, and in our memories and that part of our hearts which all American males reserve for our favorite cars.... These ads were always prominent in the scorebooks and programs at Tiger Stadium in the days of my youth. I remember lusting after the late-60's Pontiacs between innings while watching Al Kaline, Willie Horton and Mickey Lolich rock the ballpark..... RIP Pontiac.

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Joeaverage on Jan 12, 2010

VW did the same thing with their advertising either right before or after WWII. Lots of Loooong VW vans and swoopy Beetles. Somebody ought to build an aircooled van or Beetle that actually resembled what the ads showed. LOL! http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/ http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/ads/ http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/lit/12_51deluxe_german/page1.jpg

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