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I’ve always enjoyed the healthy dose of nostalgia which accompanies old advertisements. This is doubly so when any of them are car-related. The style, the jingles, pricing, long-dead nameplates – it’s all there. And through an accidental YouTube discovery, hundreds are in a single location.
YouTube user Betamax King has collected and uploaded a playlist of 200 automotive ads from the 1990s. The list starts off with Bea Arthur during her Golden Girls years, driving a Ford Escort through a drugstore. Surely many more treasures await within this playlist, so get to watching.
[Image via YouTube]
20 Comments on “Video Time: Where One Can Peek Into the Car Ads of the 1990s...”
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Wow, what a find! It was very strange that American actress Bea Arthur did ads for Shoppers Drug Mart (a Canada only chain) but I guess they were trying to appeal to older Canadians and their love of the Golden Girls.
Those freezing old people could only dream of tropical Miami, eh?
Bea could’ve probably pick up that Escort and threw it over the traffic jam.
An intimidating lady, though she was only 5’10”.
I swear I didn’t recognize her in the title pic. I thought it was a man in drag. I’m still not convinced that wasn’t the case.
Pretty sure that’s Bob Lutz in a wig.
In a boxing match between the two, my money is on Bea, God rest her masculine soul.
She has the deeper voice of the two.
I like all of these comments.
Then there’s Maude!
Volga ad, 2005 (car is based on 1971 bones)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWn7RWEVXrk
“Well, how is it?”
“Just like the couch at home!”
Launch of the 3110 in ’97, replete with classy sax at the end:
youtu.be/yn0fZ66Iecc
Launch of the 31029 in ’92:
youtu.be/nZpvkoE86i4
“Volga, a Russian automobile for Russian roads”
I prefer the Lada 110!
https://img.favcars.com/vaz/lada-110/pictures_vaz_lada_110__1.jpg
I think it was nicely styled and had a Peugeot look about it.
Well it had probably 1/3 the build quality of a Peugeot lol. These days they are basically in the J-body Cavalier space. Modified and driven to death by young guys as they simultaneously rust into oblivion.
Well shucks, there was even a nice wagon one. I read up on them once, one of the first “modern” style sedans from Lada, IIRC.
My uncle in Moscow bought one of the wagons back in ’00 as I remember it, one of the 16 valve upper trim ones in aqua. I think he paid $5700, currency was fluctuating a lot at that moment so everyone was trying to hit the right moment to snag a deal. Within the context of Russian-made cars, it was indeed some hot stuff. Quite practical to boot both in terms of cargo space, and the high clearance and long travel suspension as is standard on Russian-engineered stuff. I remember thinking the “euro” shift pattern with reverse engaged to the right of 1st was downright exotic. From pictures and from afar it seemed like very much an up to date car for the mid 90s (if not early 2000s), but closer examination revealed extremely poor quality of both materials and assembly. I distinctly remember the rear cargo area upholstery being attached with staples (from the factory like that).
Man that is some big time corner cutting with the staples.
*to the left of 1st
How awful, with those hearse curtains at the back.
Volgas were like the B-bodies of Russia. Sturdy old beasts of burden, but after the Soviet collapse quality went down the toilet big time. Prices came way down too, by the mid 2000s you could buy a Volga for the same price as a econobox FWD Lada 2110. A few of the 3110s were even exported to Germany IIRC. The 2000s ones rust like crazy, the older 80s ones at least had thick sheet metal going for them. They’re really popular for “tuning,” but less so in the sporty sense and more in the VIP direction. Installing power accessories, lux interior trim and seats. There were outfits building slightly stretched Volga mini-limos with RWD Toyota engines and automatic transmissions.