About Old Chevy Ads

2010-01-01T11:29:00.002-05:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have added to the Chevrolet ad story. Lots of other things have been happening and I'll try to do better in this New Year. Happy New Year Everyone.

This ad from 1982 that I came across seemed like it just had to be seen again. Government spending has always been a concern of Americans and here was an ad for Chevy Nova that addressed the subject head on. It was true too. Lots of communities had been using the less expensive Nova as Police Cars and here was the proof of less spending. The Nova not only cost less to purchase, but less to operate too. The ad copy goes on to make the point that the Nova would be a good choice for anyone wanting a great car that costs less. The Chevy story that has for ever been true. This ad also ran as a full page newspaper ad in black and white.

2009-10-09T16:57:00.002-04:00

I just found this old ad and I'll bet nobody has seen it for years. It ran in Hot Rod, Motor Trend, Automobile Topics, and Car Life for April of 1962. I always liked the '62 Chevy and especially the SS version of the convertible. The styling was and still is exceptional in my opinion. So why not show how great it looked? By April there were already lots of Impalas on the road and lots ads that showed it's beauty. The assignment here was an ad for the buff books with emphasis on performance. I began to think about that pedal called the accelerator and the idea of acceleration with our impressive SS models. So I looked up the word "accelerator" in the dictionary. And there it was--great copy with no effort. The visual was a given and to my surprise the ad sold. I think either David E. Davis Jr. or Ray Clark finished the copy for me. It was very unusual back then to see a car ad with no product illustration. Unusual today too.

2009-08-31T14:27:00.002-04:00

This is the cover of the Corvette Catalog Folder for 1961. It was shot at the GM Proving Grounds near Milford, Michigan. Shooting there was a real challenge because there was so much security involved. Arrangements to shoot there had to be made far in advance and approved by about a hundred people--or so it seamed. Each person to be there had to have been cleared in advance. There was always a wait when everybody arrived at the gate office and had to have their identity checked and approved once more. Then you had to have a special driver to get you around the facility. Only these guys knew all the regulations and could keep you from trouble. Your pre- selected location had to be cleared and closed to other traffic. Someone from Chevrolet had to be with you and responsible for all you did. You were not allowed to see into any of the other divisions buildings.

Our location was a good one in that it didn't look like the proving grounds. It could have been almost any smaller road in America. The person standing with the camera is Warren Winstanley's assistant. Warren was the photographer for this and all the other shots in the catalog. The two fellows in the car were models. The rear view was on the cover because it represented the newest thing about the Corvette. Not only was the styling new but there was a real trunk for the first time. The rear styling gave a good look at what the Stingray would be like in a couple of years but nobody knew that at the time. The car isn't really moving but the illusion of some dust was created by throwing some cement powder at just the right time. I even helped with that on occasion. I had all the fake rally signs made back at our office along with the '61 sign that eliminated the need for other cover copy. This and the picture to follow are often used in publications about Corvettes. I wish I could remember who wrote the copy--maybe Vic Olsen.

2009-08-31T14:01:00.002-04:00

This is page two of the '61 catalog and a nice transition from the rear view of the Corvette on the cover. Not much changed here except for some detail in the grill. Our model doing the driving gives a good impression of really moving but once again a little cement powder thrown on each side of the car helps with the illusion. This was a very modest catalog by todays standards. It was really only a folder and cost little to produce. Still, if you have one it is worth quite a few bucks and if you have the Corvette it is worth a ton.

2009-08-22T13:11:00.002-04:00

This is an ad about a 1973 TV commercial. As I recall it ran only in Life magazine--maybe the Saturday Evening Post too. The commercial was a repeat of one done years before in the same location with pretty much the same result--great impact and recall. The original was called "Pinnacle" and was a real stopper at the time. There were reports of airline pilots doing a double take as they saw a car on top of the 2000 ft. high rock as they flew by. Both commercials were leadership statements about Chevrolet and it's position at the time. I made the recommendation to Chevy for the second version represented here. For lots of reasons advertisers seem reluctant to repeat ideas even when they are very good ones. Or maybe it's the creative people in the agency that feel they just can't use a concept thought of by someone else, at another time, even if it was a great idea. All of us making the ads want to do the next great one and the credit that goes with it. This is the only time I can remember asking Chevrolet to redo an idea and now that I look back I think I should have done it more often.

I didn't go on the shoot for the commercial because all the pre-production and production needed were obvious when we viewed the original spot. I did however ask for a bunch of stills so I could put together an ad later. At the time there were very few ads and commercials that worked hand in glove together. The pictures in the ad kind of tell the story of how it was done and the copy tells the story of how Impala had improved over the years. There is more to tell about how it was done. The engine was removed along with the transmission, doors and trunk lid to lighten the car as it was lifted by the helicopter. Reassembly took place on top of the rock where it was discovered to be very windy and kind of dangerous especially for the young lady model. There wasn't a lot of extra room around the car for the model unless she was close to the edge so Doug Mahoney hid in the trunk of the Impala and held on to a rope wrapped around the young lady's waist as she waved to the camera in a helicopter. Doug is seen in one of the pictures helping the model into the helicopter. He was in charge of our LA facility where we prepared cars and trucks for ads and commercials--a jewel of a guy who could make things happen.

When the shoot was all over and the commercial and ad in the works Doug presented me with a memento of the shoot--a small piece of rock from the top of the location mounted on a wooden base with an inscription that dated the event. I still have the "trophy". Thanks Doug.

2009-08-04T10:58:00.002-04:00

This is an interesting ad to me because of the people in it. The ad itself is pretty good and was shot by Warren Winstanley. I think we were at the Metropolitan Beach parking lot near Detroit. We used that location often when we needed a plain background. Chevrolet saved a little money when we used our family as models. The young lady in the car is Warren's daughter and the young man, I think may have been her boy friend. The "younger brother" in the back seat is my oldest son Tom. They were paid and had to sign a model release but didn't earn what real models would earn. It was fun for Warren and me to have our kids see what we did for a living. It is hard to see at this picture size but Tom is being offered a dollar to get out of the car and let his sister go alone with her boyfriend.

Another interesting aspect of the ad is that Tom, the little guy in the back seat, got into the ad business too. He did pretty well and is now World Chairman and CEO of Leo Burnett

No bad assignments--only bad solutions

2009-07-31T15:47:00.007-04:00

When you work for an ad agency you quite often get assignments that are not to your liking. They come about for a variety of reasons beyond your control--- sometimes beyond anyones control. I have always tried to cope with these situations by taking the attitude that there are no bad assignments only bad solutions. And, I have found over the years

that it is very true. If you can bring a positive attitude to every assignment the chances are you can do something better than was expected. Make a silk purse out of a sows ear... so to speak. There are always sales going on for all car accounts and today even more so than ever. It's easy to just do what is expected---show a couple of cars and some big type and get it over with. But then every once in a while maybe something different can be done.

In this case we had Double Dividend Days to deal with. I had been in the meeting where the slogan was born. Bob Lund was the Chevy Sales Manager at the time and he was convinced that Chevrolet needed some kind of event to boost sales. The ads that had been shown were not to his liking and as he made his his comments he became more and more animated. Back then our account guys always made sure each client had the proper cigarettes, mints and chewing gum in place at their seat. Bob began talking about needing something like "Dividend Days" only better. Then he noticed his Wrigley Double Mint Gum and he stood as he nearly shouted that the event should be "Double Dividend Days!!!" Thanks Mr. Wrigley.

You don't win awards for ads like these but you know you have done the best you can with the problem at hand. Mr. Lund and Chevy wanted some retail- like nearly full page newspaper ads that would support the new theme and work with other promotional material for the dealers.

Bill Graefen did the copy for both ads and I put together the layouts. We were a little surprised at the good reception they received. They were very visible in the newspapers and did the kind of job Chevrolet needed at the time. The headline for the lower ad is pretty small as shown here but says---Shhhh.....don't tell your Chevrolet dealer it isn't August. Back then August was always a big car sale month to get rid of inventory and be ready for the new models.

2009-07-25T15:43:00.002-04:00

In 1962 the Bureau of Advertising of the American Newspaper Publishers Association said that this Chevy ad achieved the highest ad noting among all ads for that year. The research was conducted by Starch-MMN.

Now that's the kind of recognition you like to get when you are a young ad maker. I made the layout with the four cars because Chevrolet had been asking for multi car ads to show off the all they had to offer. David E. Davis Jr. wrote the wonderful copy to go with it. That was the way we worked back then. Sometimes I came up with a picture idea and David E. would write copy to go with it and other times he would write a headline (sometimes copy too) and I would make the visual to go with it. What fun we had and what good work we did. We were pretty much beginners and just wanted to do good stuff. We weren't making a lot of money and David E. sometimes did some writing on the side. If you ever come across some good stories in an old buff magazine by a fellow named W. Frank Street that will be David E. Davis Jr. I used to pick him up on the way to work when he lived on West Frank Street in Birmingham MI.

Times were much different back in 1962 at Campbell-Ewald and maybe other agencies too. David and I didn't get invited to the luncheon for the presentation to Chevy and we didn't get our picture taken with the Chevy ad manager. In fact we didn't know about the award until we saw the story in the local paper. No matter we were happy for the ad and for Chevrolet. Like I said we just wanted to do good stuff.

Jose Calvillo did the art for all the cars and background. I think it was Jim Jackson that did all the people. It was not unusual back then to have more than one artist work on an illustration. At the time newspapers were where Chevrolet spent the most money. To quote Ted Little, our Chairman and CEO, " We're convinced that is where we get the most results for our money".

2009-07-24T16:15:00.006-04:00

I have won a bunch of awards over the years for ads I made but this is the best of all. I present it now because I finally came across the above letter. It isn't an award from some bunch of ad guys but from a fellow that saw the ad and bought the Corvette. The letter went to The New Yorker magazine and they sent it on to the agency where it made the rounds. David E. Davis Jr. wrote the copy and Warren Winstanley shot the picture looking out over the Pacific Ocean. I guess it isn't really an "award" but the kind of recognition that counts even more. I have always been very pleased with it. The ad has the kind of simplicity I always thought was important and a warm human touch in both the picture and the copy that seems to be missing in so many ads today. If you can find a copy of The New Yorker for July 7, 1962 or Sports Illustrated for June 11, 1962 you can have the ad Mr. Nelson saw. And if you happen to have a Corvette like the one in the ad you have something even better and worth a ton these days. I wonder if Mr. Nelson was a bald guy? I'll bet he was.

You can see many more old Corvette ads from this campaign way down near the beginning of my blog.

2009-07-14T14:40:00.003-04:00

This is one of the announcement outdoor boards for the 1969 Chevrolets. It was shot on one of our experimental shoots at the GM Proving Grounds in Mesa, Arizona. Warren Winstanley was the photographer. We had been shooting all day but looking for one last shot before the sun went down. We set up at some distance with a long lens that I liked to use. This was made with a 35 MM camera. At the time our powers that be back at the agency had forbid us to use anything that small. They thought it wouldn't produce a sharp picture. I and Warren liked shooting with the small camera and Warren even bought a special long lens that we called the "big eye". My way around the problem was to go ahead and use the 35MM camera and then have the shot I wanted to use transfered to an 8x10 sheet of film. The powers liked to look at large pictures and didn't ever catch me. We went back to the 35MM film for reproduction. The thing I liked best about this shot was the way it illustrated the little styling bulge above the wheel wells. In regular light this styling feature was not very visible but surely made a fine contribution to the good looks of this Chevrolet. Chuck Felt may have written the copy. He was the Chevy creative director at the time and the author of the very aggressive copy we were using. One last thought on the picture. This is a very honest depiction of the car. You can tell by the vertical oval on the wheels that we didn't use a stretch lens. Everyone, including us, used a stretch lens to make the cars look a little longer and more like styling illustrations. When used the wheels were perfectly round or slightly oval in a horizontal direction.

2009-07-13T12:24:00.002-04:00

This is a fine example of the importance of newspapers to Chevrolet. It is four consecutive full pages that ran in every major paper in the country. And the following black and white ads shown below are follow up ads. Newspapers do not represent the major communication media today that they did back then when nearly everybody got their news from their local paper. My how things have changed. These were all what was called "run of press ads". All that means is that there was no special paper used or anything done to help the ads appear better. Later we would run four page units printed on better paper and in full color.

The aggressive and competitive nature of the copy was the concept of Chuck Felt who was Chevy creative director and my boss at the time. It was a major shift in Chevy communications. Chuck wrote some of the ads himself and was very demanding that all the ads follow the format.

The photographs for the Caprice and Impala ads were shot on the Wabeek Farm just off Long Lake Road in West Bloomfield, Michigan. The area is full of condos and large homes today but back then it was farm land with cows roaming the pasture where we did the photography. At the time I lived on Pine Lake and the location was only about a mile from my home. Warren Winstanley was the photographer I worked with and he lived way over near Lake Sinclair. Usually I had to go to a location he found but this time it was my find. To do the pictures required everyone to be on location before dawn with plenty of time to get the shot set up. The cars had to be brought in by covered vans and all the models there on time. It is amazing the number of people it took to make a major photograph. There had to be a number of police on hand too. They were usually off duty officers that had permission to act in our behalf to keep the onlookers away and help with security. We made several pictures at this location. The Caprice newspaper ad and the Impala ad shown above plus a follow up magazine spread and a couple shots not used. Warren was always happy to oblige me in shooting extra pictures because quite often they would be turned into ads and he would receive the going rate for them. I always thought it was a good deal for everyone because all the major expense for trucking the products, getting the models, renting the cops, and using the photographers talents had already been paid for. Film was the cheapest thing we had and a little extra time paid off for everybody. One last little thing, the model in the Impala ad is one of out art directors. I thought he looked better than any of the models we looked at and we used him in this shot and a magazine spread too.

I had a small extra expense while we were on location at the Wabeek Farm. I had driven my 1966 Corvette to the location and while we were busy shooting one of the Wabeek cows decided my radio antenna looked like pretty good eating and tried to bite it off.

The Chevelle and Camaro ads were photographed by Dennis Gripentrog with Tony Longo acting as art director. They were shot on location at a gravel pit in Oxford, Michigan. The Camaro ad is a good example of what can happen when you get good people together. While they were making the ad they also made another shot that produced the follow up ad that I like so much-"Ask the kid that owns one." If you look close at both pictures you will see it is the same young lady in both ads. She is wearing the same outfit too. Most likely the same situation I described above with Warren Winstanley. Tony got Dennis to do an extra shot that turned into a great ad.

2009-07-12T16:38:00.003-04:00

This is one of my very favorite ads. For me, Chevy ads don't get much better than this. The version above is for newspapers and the same ad ran in all the big magazines of the day. The magazine color ad is even better than this with a bright red car. The copy was by Jim Hartzell and he goes right to the youth market we were looking for with Camaro. Jim produced a ton of outstanding work for Chevy including the very memorable "Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet". That theme continues to come up in references to Chevy today even though it received very little play back then. Tony Longo did the art direction for the ad. He and Hartzell worked together to produce many of the best ads ever done for Chevrolet. We called Tony "Captain Pops". I don't remember why but Tony was one of those talented people you just had to like. Jim is still with us but Tony went to that big ad agency in the sky many years ago. For this ad I think Tony used Dennis Gripentrog for the photography. Dennis did lots of wonderful work for us over the years and was a leader in understanding how to make great shinny product illustrations. He had a way with lady models too.

2009-07-12T15:50:00.002-04:00

This is a really fine headline and copy for the newly restyled Nova. It looked a lot less like an economy car and offered lots that other competitive makes didn't offer. I especially like the double meaning in "You won't clutch at its price." The new Torque-drive transmission was being offered and it eliminated the clutch pedal. And Nova was a real Chevy value. This was shot on a prototype model at the GM Tech Center across the street from our office on Van Dyke in Warren Michigan. I think the art direction was by Tony Longo and if that is so the photographer was Dennis Gripentrog. I am always surprised today at how many people are fixing up Novas from around this period. I see some with very special engines that could compete with just about anything. I always liked the way they looked too.

2009-07-11T13:44:00.004-04:00

The key word in the headline is competitive. That didn't mean all other GM offerings. But it did mean Ford and Plymouth. Newspapers were used for much more than rebates back in the '60s. The ad content was much more like that of magazines. In fact some of the ads ran in both newspapers and magazines. There were times when newspapers were used to support sales events like "Red Tag Days" or "Double Dividend Days" but rebates had yet to be invented. This Chevy could wash it's headlights, apply liquid tire chain,defog the rear window, and keep you warm or cool automatically. Not much compared to what nearly all cars do for you now. But sometimes I kind of wish for the very old days when I could lift the hood and actually do something to the engine. My first car was a 1936 Ford and I could remove the transmission in exactly 20 minutes. That's because I had to do it so many times after removing some gear teeth trying to beat somebody at a light. I loved that car and wish I still had it. Someday I'll show some pictures and tell the story of it. The art direction was by Tony Longo and the photography by Dennis Gripentrog.

2009-07-10T16:20:00.003-04:00

Chevelle was on its way to becoming the car enthusiasts of today like to show off at old car shows. Enthusiasts back then liked it for the same reasons. Performance, and..... performance! It was a very good looker too. With the SS 396 package it was really something. I think this ad may have been shot by Dennis Gripentrog with art direction by Tony Longo.

2009-07-10T15:00:00.003-04:00

The facts in this newspaper ad were things you could order on the new Impala or Caprice like headlight washers or liquid tire chains. Perhaps not the strongest available options but presented in a very forceful way. Another good example of the aggressive posture Chuck Felt had established for Chevrolet for 1969. I think the picture was done by art director Tony Longo and photographer Dennis Gripentrog. Copy was most likely by Jim Hartzell.

2009-07-10T13:45:00.002-04:00

This is not an ad but something of interest that was happening back in 1969. Yes, the OJ is that OJ Simpson. From time to time, Chevrolet was interested in using sport celebrities to promote their cars and trucks. OJ had just graduated from college after an outstanding football career and was the next big name to join the Chevy effort. He would appear in at least one magazine ad. I have a copy somewhere but for now I can't find it. He and his first wife were just standing beside a car--probably an Impala. I never thought much of using celebrities that way but they may have been of use in other ways. The painting above was one of three. Another was of Knute Rockney of Notre Dame fame and the third had something to do with baseball, I think.

I and a couple other agency guys had lunch with OJ at the Recess Club in the Fisher Building, next to the GM building, in Detroit. He was very easy going and agreeable but was also making some big bucks for his trouble. We had a few prints of the painting with us and I had him sign one for my sons. We still have it and I had it framed after he became even more famous. Don't know if it is worth anything but if you happen to have a copy it is certainly an interesting piece of Chevy history.

2009-07-10T10:48:00.002-04:00

I wish I had a color version of this ad but the black and white will have to do. What a wonderful way to tell the wagon story. The copy begins--We call them "walk-ins" because they are so easy to get into. Financially. And bodily. It then goes on to tell the story of what you get in even the least expensive model. We could have shown each wagon in a separate picture or placed them all in a row in a field with no people but that would not have had the impact and warmth of our picnic scene. These were the kind of people that were buying Chevy wagons and this was what they sometimes did with them. It was with ads like this that, over the years, we were able to build the relationship with America that Chevy continues to enjoy today. Look at the little boy standing on his head in the upper right hand corner. This shoot with real people turned into a real event with real food and enjoyed by all.

2009-07-09T17:10:00.002-04:00

I was very pleased with this newspaper ad for the new Chevy wagon. It is a full page ad although it doesn't look it. The ad space was spread across the lower half of two pages in the paper. Special instructions were given to make sure we got two pages that were joined rather than separated as most pages are in a paper. Chevrolet ran so much advertising in newspapers back then that they were able to make it happen. Here again we are playing to America and the special relationship we were able to build over the years in many different ways. Chevrolet popularity gets a nice plug with all the people lined up to take a seat and with the copy line-"Chevrolet's Sit-in is on". Uncle Sam at the end of the line waiting his turn is a nice warm touch too. I also like the very big type for the headline. I find it odd that art directors doing the ads now have chosen to use small type headlines for such a long time. I'll bet the copy guys would love their headlines big and bold. A good headline shown big and bold commands a lot of attention.

2009-07-09T17:03:00.002-04:00

This is the newspaper version of the magazine ad seen below for the announcement of the new Chevy wagon. The same photograph was used simply by making a black and white print from the color shot and adding a little retouching.

2009-07-07T11:02:00.003-04:00

This is an interesting comparison between a station wagon layout ad concept and the final version that actually ran in all the major magazines in 1970. The top ad picture was shot on the Screen Gems movie lot in California during what we called an experimental shoot. There were no approved ads to be shot but we had all the new prototypes to photograph using a few pre determined directions for each car. The wagon for '70 was all new with a very nice feature that made entering the rear seat easier than ever. We called it the walk-in wagon and made the above experimental shot with all the ladies as a demonstration of the capability. The picture for the layout is made with an inexpensive print of not great quality that has also faded some over the years. I presented the ad to the Chevrolet clients but you can guess why I didn't get it sold. The ad that ran was shot in the parking lot at the GM Tech Center in Warren Michigan. Our office was across the street on Van Dyke and when the wagon became available I called Warren Winstanley who shot the original picture in California. He arranged for a pretty young lady to meet us there and we took the picture you see below the layout. No trouble selling it. I still think the picture with the real looking ladies would have made a more memorable ad but when you are making ads you sometimes don't get to have things go your way. I am happy to get to show you both versions now.

This is for Tony and his comment on the '59 ad layout shown below this ad

2009-06-15T16:15:00.004-04:00

This 1956 Chevy ad ran in a load of top magazines for April of that year -- Collier's, Holiday, Look, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News, Sunset, True, and National Geographic to mention a few. I wish I could show it in color but the black and white is the best I can do. Tony remembers the ad so it must have had quite an impact on him at the time. The theme for '56 was The Hot Ones Even Hotter with lots of emphasis on the new high performance engines available. What better way to get across the idea of top performance than to show Chevy as the tiger that leads the fire engines to the fire? I don't know who did the art but chances are it was one of Jim Hastings favorites from San Francisco. Maybe Stan Galli. The model is the "Two Ten" Sedan and one not usually shown as the principal illustration but in this case the hero. The Bel Air Hardtop is shown as the small illustration near the logo.

2009-04-01T16:11:00.002-04:00

This is a layout for a 1959 Chevrolet newspaper ad. It was most likely done by a studio artist in Detroit or San Francisco. Jim Hastings who was the head art director at Campbell- Ewald at the time could have done it but he was much too busy to have spent the time required to render a comp layout. This was typical of many of the ads that were shown to Chevrolet for newspaper production. Back then most ads started from a copywriters headline idea and were then passed on to the art department for development and visualization. The art director would make a rough layout and if it met with the approval of the head of copy and art along with the head of the account group (often the Chairman, a man named Ted Little) the ad would be shown to the Chevrolet Advertising Committee. The committee usually consisted of the General Sales Manager and his assistants, the Advertising Manager and his assistants or about seven or eight people. Later on Chevrolet got a Marketing Manager to add to the approval process. Looking back at the rather complex approval system it is a wonder the ads made it to the publications. This particular ad may have started with an art director or even an artist because the visual idea is so strong it seems to suggest the headline. No reason the art director or artist couldn't have written the headline too. Below you will see other comp layouts of a different nature as photography began to take the place of illustration.

2009-03-17T11:48:00.005-04:00

Shot on the Screen Gems movie lot in LA, this 1970 Chevrolet Impala ad layout looked good but never ran. The car is a prototype with no engine. Looks real enough to be real. This is the way we got most new Chevy products early enough to shoot and turn into ads in time for announcement. Announcements were a big deal back then with all kinds of glamorous promotions. A company named Bill Sandy did the Broadway type show and movie for the dealers. We did all the advertising. All the people in this picture are real people not models. Most of them are the truck drivers that brought the cars from Detroit to LA for us as well as other helpers of Alex Nicholas. Alex is the fellow on the far right. I cant tell you how helpful he was in every way. He was the Chevy executive in charge of the cars and where they needed to be. He didn't have to pose in our pictures or have any of his people in our pictures but he was always most accommodating. We tried to treat him and his people as part of our team and it paid off for us. This ad is another that got only as far as this faded layout but gets to be published these many years later. Warren Winstanley was the photographer. The Vic Mills in the sign was one of the truck drivers. Everybody had to sign a model release and was paid a little but not as much as regular models would have been paid. The welcome home thought tied into the return of our soldiers from Vietnam if you chose to think of of that way and if not it was simply a welcome home message.

2009-03-17T10:40:00.004-04:00

This 1970 Chevrolet Impala layout didn't sell but was shot on the Screen Gems movie lot in LA. It was made during an "Experimental" shoot when we had a fleet of Chevy prototypes to work with. This particular car had no engine and was made of plastic or whatever they used at Chevy Styling back then. We could turn it into a Caprice or an Impala as needed with a little retouching or emblem changes. The fellow with the plump lady is Alex Nicholas, a Chevrolet executive in charge of all the prototype cars and who could use them. He managed to get the cars to locations all over America when they were needed and on time. There were ads, catalogs, and television commercials to shoot for us and all kinds of film and stills for a company that did the Chevy Announcement films for the dealers. Alex was always agreeable to fill in as a model or have others on his staff help us any way they could. I wanted people to look real in our ads rather than the beautiful people we often used but Chevrolet didn't always agree. I think this would have made a memorable ad for Chevy but this is as far as it got. Faded some over the years but I am happy to show it now. I hope Alex is still with us and sees it. Warren Winstanley was the photographer. Another point. Back then art directors and photographers went to great pains to make sure the models were doing something interesting in the picture. A pretty girl just standing by the car we called a " fender polisher" and we all did plenty of those. They were usually brought about by the need for a quick picture and the lack of a strong visual idea for the ad. Photographers generally were reluctant to have the models look at the camera but I had no problem with that as you can see in the above shot. Later on we would do a complete campaign with all the models looking at the camera and getting their picture taken. That is another story.

2009-03-17T10:08:00.004-04:00

This 1970 Chevelle experimental photo was shot on the Screen Gems lot in California. The location is on one of their streets with small town stores. The fellow looking out the door at the "Police"car is Bill Graefen, an outstanding copy writer I worked well with. We had a fleet of new Chevy prototypes to shoot but no client approved layouts. It was a wonderful way to work. We had a specific direction in mind for each car line and only crude layout ideas to shoot from. This was an easy one to set up. Borrow a "gum-ball"from Screen Gems prop department and install big tires on the rear of the car along with a police star. This was going a little too far for Chevy at the time. Or maybe it was that we had so many other shots they liked better. Warren Winstanley shot the picture along with the others on this "Experimental" shoot. I am happy to have saved the picture and to show it now. Chevrolet was very trusting of us to allow this kind of creative effort. It had taken several years to build the trust with smaller shoots of a similar nature. I'll bet some of these ads could make it through the approval process today. I don't understand why most of the auto advertising being done now shows only bright and shinny sheet metal with no attempt to make the picture contribute more to the communication. I'll bet it has something to do with computers and the ease of putting an ad together that looks very finished and slick. The problem is that all the ads look pretty much alike. A bunch of the cars already look alike too, so some ads with bold ideas in the illustrations could be helpful in making somebody stand out from the pack.

2009-02-11T14:01:00.003-05:00

This 1967 Chevrolet ad and several that follow are part of the same campaign in newspapers and magazines. The magazine ads can be found in old publications but the newspaper ads have long ago gone the way of yesterdays newspaper. This series of newspaper ads also represents some of the last ads that were illustrated with art rather than photography. Art would continue on for a time but the days of great art campaigns for Chevy were coming to an end. Rightly or wrongly photography was becoming more important. Some of it had to do with our art directors, probably including me, that wanted to be more of a participant in the ad making process. Going on location with the car and a photographer seemed like the way to go. The clients were inclined to like photography too. Change is always wanted by most clients, sometimes when when staying the course would be better. Newspaper reproduction was improving and photography looked pretty good. The line art we used, as shown above, still gave great reproduction in most papers. Gerry Edmison was watching over newspaper ads at this time and he had been working for me from the time we were in the experimental group. I still got my hand in when I could and did ads like this while developing the format for subsequent ads regardless of who did them. Making the ads was the most fun I ever had in the ad business.

2009-02-11T13:41:00.003-05:00

It was fun to find little things in the new Chevrolet that would allow us to demonstrate how competitive it was with higher priced cars and how much you got when you bought a Chevy. Sure we mentioned the ash tray but the car had a big car ride like the more expensive cars too. I wish I could tell you the name of the artist but I just don't remember after all these years. Could have been Jim Jackson but then maybe not. All the things in this campaign supported the overall idea that "Chevrolet gives you that sure feeling". You could be sure when you bought it that you were getting the most for your money and you could be sure when you owned it that you would enjoy the experience. And when you sold it you could be sure you would get a very good return. Newspaper ads from this time are nonexistent today. Most were used to wrap the trash or start a fire in the fireplace, so I am happy to be able to show these along with magazine ads that are still available in old publications.

2009-02-11T13:18:00.003-05:00

This is a 1967 Chevrolet Newspaper ad.

You will see a number of Chevy ads that compares Chevrolet to higher priced makes. Especially big brother Cadillac. Value has always been a Chevy selling proposition. This car had lots to offer anybody looking for a big car with all the features of a more expensive make. The headline is especially good in that hardly anybody would guess that Chevy had the big car with the most room. And what a nice memorable way to illustrate room and at the same time give the car a little snob appeal. I don't remember who did this ad--could have been Gerry Edmison as the art director. I set up the format with a couple other ads so that we had a strong campaign feel.

2009-02-10T15:45:00.003-05:00

We were using the theme line--Chevrolet gives you that sure feeling-- for all the 1967 ads. It was an idea of Ken Jones who was the new creative director on the Chevy account. Ken had been in charge of the Chevy TV commercials before his promotion to creative director. It was a move on the part of management to begin to integrate TV and print. Today the idea that print and television could be two different departments seems crazy but it was back then. Crazy too. Ken began to try to integrate the two groups but not with a lot of success. There were still TV writers and print writers. Print art directors and TV producers. The print guys were not very good at TV and the TV guys were not good at print. It would take several years and a several more people to get it turned around. I think I may have done this ad. I like the big type and I think todays art directors will soon come around to see the value of it. Most current art directors seem to be hiding their headlines with tiny type. I bet most copy writers would like to see their headlines big and bold.

2009-02-09T15:46:00.003-05:00

Our Chevrolet client loved to tweak big brother Cadillac. With the 1967 Caprice it was possible and reasonable. The Chevrolet story has always been "more car for the money" and this was a great example. Lots of Chevy buyers were moving up to the Caprice and as the copy says some luxury buyers were moving down to Chevy. Cars were big back then and luxury was in style. There is a layout shown below that tries to get at the same point but in a different way.

2009-02-09T15:15:00.003-05:00

This ad ran in Automotive News as I recall. It was produced by Jim Hartzell and Tony Longo. One of the most memorable leadership ads we produced. Too bad it didn't run in consumer magazines. Jim Hartzell was a copy writer with unusual talent and is better known as the creator of "Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Chevrolet". He and Tony worked well together and produced some of the finest advertising for Chevy. Jim is retired now and spends his time at his home near Detroit. Tony died many years ago before we retired. It was a real pleasure to be associated with people like them.

2009-02-08T14:27:00.003-05:00

This is an idea and layout for a magazine ad intended to run for the '68 Chevy. I don't remember the package of advertising it was shown with but it never ran. The big Chevy was quite the car in those days and could compete with more expensive cars in many ways. I say big Chevy because the industry had yet to begin the down-sizing trend and our Chevrolet client liked to compare their top of the line with Cadillac in anyway they could. I made this ad with a primitive type setting machine we had that was used to help us make comp ads. It could have had body copy and probably should have had it. The car picture was one we had in our file. I felt pleased with the effort and still think it would have made a memorable ad for Chevy.

Most of the ads that follow are a collection of old layouts I made at various times. Some ran as magazine ads but many did not. I have had them for lots of years and thought they might be of interest to those of you interested in old Chevy ads.

2009-02-07T17:08:00.003-05:00

This ad layout for the new Caprice, Chevrolets most luxurious car was never approved. It was an idea I had that was presented to our Chevy client along with other ads. It says all the right things about the car but doesn't show the car itself. I had one of our art directors shoot the gentleman holding his cigar while he was shooting another ad of the whole car. It is easy to see that the fellow is in the back seat and imagine he is probably being driven by his chauffeur. Just like our big brother Cadillac. It is fun to finally get to show this ad and others below that were not chosen for publication. I am happy that I saved them and can show them now. Making advertising is not for the thin-skinned. Many of the ads you create are discarded for one reason or another. Some never make it to the client because your boss doesn't like it or someone in the agency objects to it. If it makes it to the client or clients it is often passed over for something else or rejected outright. That is the way it was back then and I know it is the way it is today. I always felt the most fun was in making the ad in the first place and if it sold that was icing on the cake.

1969 Chevrolet Impala Photo

2009-02-03T14:27:00.005-05:00

This was shot at the GM Proving Ground in Phoenix on a short trip there with David E. Davis Jr. -- that is him cooling his feet in the water. We had Warren Winstanley there too and he shot the picture for me. There was another view we did at the same time but neither made it into an ad. David E. and I had been working together for a long time--off and on that is. When we first met we were in a think- tank kind of thing at Campbell-Ewald. I used to pick him up in the morning on the way to work. He lived in Birmingham, MI on North Frank Street. I mention that because if you have some very old buff books you may see a few stories by a guy named N. Frank Street. Yep, that's David E. when he was doing a little work on the side. We called "sore leg work." David has done it all and most people interested in cars will remember him as the editor of Car and Driver, Automobile, and Winding Road magazines. Not all at once of course. David E. started Automobile magazine from scratch and built it into perhaps the best of the lot. He also started Winding Road on the Internet--the first of it's kind. You can still get a free subscription and it is very worth while. David E. and I made a bunch of very good Corvette ads together and a lot of other stuff too. He knew more about cars and what they could do than anybody I ever worked with and I missed him a lot when he left the agency to start his magazine. I think it was good for him because he liked the editorial business where he could express himself as he saw fit without the constant editing of the ad business. One of the great characters of our time.

2009-02-03T12:34:00.005-05:00

The new Monte Carlo for 1970 was a real departure for Chevrolet. It was a personal- luxury kind of car with a longer hood than anything around at a Chevy price or any price for that matter. The styling was exceptional with not a lot of chrome. John DeLorean had just come to Chevrolet as general manager and took an active part in the advertising. His influence would be felt to a much greater extent in the next years advertising. We went from a sales department dominated approval process to a one man approval situation--John DeLorean. When we reviewed ads with him for the first time we were very close to the magazine closing dates. He liked the way the cars looked but wanted to know where we got all the hard looking female models in some of the pictures. He said they all looked like ladies if the night and had to be changed. The only one he thought was OK was this one in the Monte Carlo ad layout. At the time John was dating Kelly Harmon who was a very beautiful blond young lady. She was even better looking than the model in the ad and John would have her come in after hours to review the ads because he thought she represented the youth market. We just did not have time to shoot new models and strip them into the ads in question so I went through all the out- takes from this shoot and had the pretty lady above stripped into the other ads. Nobody noticed that we had the same model in several ads. The headline for this ad became the line for the outdoor announcement ad too. I take a little pride in the authorship and it fell right in with Chuck Felt's highly competitive stance for Chevrolet. Chuck was creative director on Chevy at the time. This ad did run in all the major magazines of the time. I am a little surprised that you can still buy nice examples of this car at reasonable prices. It wasn't a muscle car but it was something unique from Chevrolet and I think the best looking of all the Monte Carlos.

1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Magazine Ad Layout

2009-02-01T14:07:00.003-05:00

Monte Carlo was something very new for Chevrolet and new for the industry at the time. It was a luxury car with one of the longest hoods around that gave it a special look. It would stay that way through several body changes. It had wonderful styling that said, without a doubt, if you owned one you were somebody special. We had several other good pictures that would run as announcement ads and follow up ads so this idea was supposed to take us a step farther. It is a better idea than the execution shown here. Warren Winstanley and I were in LA and had been shooting on the Screen Gems movie lot. Some of the pictures below were taken there. For this one we had to find a good looking boat large enough to park a car on if you were rich enough to do that. The boat should have been larger so we didn't have to have the poles cutting through the car and the view or the car needed to be better to show off the styling. The car was shot back on the Screen Gems lot and stripped into the boat picture. Something that would be no problem today but a serious undertaking back then. The boat owner is too much of a character in his short pants and black socks--too much of a cartoon. He should have been a good looking rich guy. He was in reality one of the GM truck drivers. The lady beside him is the only paid model in the picture. The crew is from left to right--Bob Ovies, Warren's assistant, Bill Graefen, and me. Bob and Bill were writers on the account. If I could have sold this as an idea we would have done it over again and fixed it so that Chevrolet would have liked the car view and the people would have been better. Oh well it was an experimental shoot and most of the pictures turned out better than this. I show it anyhow along with other ideas for pictures. It could have made a great ad for Chevrolet.

2009-02-01T13:37:00.003-05:00

For 1970 Chevrolet had some really great things to advertise. Their walk-in-wagon was especially interesting. The idea that you could actually step up into the rear seat and just sit down was very special and we made several ads later on the subject. This one didn't sell. I'll give you three guesses why and the first two don't count. I never could understand why all the people in ads had to be slim and beautiful rather than looking like real people. These delightful ladies would have been a real memorable attention getter back then and probably today too. But it was not to be. Warren Winstanley shot the picture on the Screen Gems Movie lot. The ladies came from a local church group. The reason for the rain gear you will find explained in some detail on an ad below. I am happy to have saved the layout and to show it now along with several others that didn't run.

1969 Chevrolet Impala Magazine Photo

2009-02-01T12:13:00.004-05:00

This is a very nice picture of the 1969 Chevrolet Impala that was never made into a layout for an ad and was never used in any promotional material. Still, I show it here because it represents an attitude we were using at the time. Chuck Felt was the creative director and my boss at the time. I was in charge of all the Chevy print advertising and Richard George Petachini was in charge of the broadcast. Felt had sold Chevrolet on a very aggressive ad stance that was bold and kind of in your face or at least in the face of our competition. I thought it was very good and lots of fun to work with. The copy headlines did most of the work---One of the best was a line Chuck wrote for a picture I made of a Corvette and a Camaro in a barn. Front views with a rope across the open barn doors. A nice picture but the power of the ad came from his headline--We'll take on any other two cars in the magazine. Chevrolet was the sales leader back then and this was leadership advertising without the boastful number one claim. We went straight at the competition in a very aggressive way. The picture above was made at the same time as other pictures to be used in the announcement newspaper and magazine advertising. Warren Winstanley shot it after we had finished the mandatory shooting. I always wanted extra pictures and Warren was always happy to shoot anything I wanted. We were on location and the only extra cost was a little more film. Quite often I was able to use the extra pictures in ads and Warren would be paid the going rate for the new ad. It was good for both of us and for Chevrolet. If you enlarge the picture you will see that the pretty young lady is sticking out her tongue. With the right headline maybe....well probably not. Anyhow it made a fun picture and I get to show it now after all these years.

2009-01-31T10:08:00.006-05:00

This is a layout of an ad that ran for the new 1970 Impala. We had come to LA with two photographers(Warren Winstanley and Dennis Gripentrog), two art directors (with me as one), two writers, and a bunch of assistants. Also we had several account guys to make sure we ad makers stayed legal and to manage a large security detail. Then there was a group of Chevrolet people in charge of the prototype cars that had been trucked in two big covered vans from Detroit. Lots of people staying in nice hotels with lots of day to day expense. The day we arrived it started raining. Then it rained the next day and the next and the next. Not just showers but real heavy rain. I became so worried about all the money we were spending without having taken one picture that I began saving the local paper with all the headlines about the unending rain. One morning I went down to the loby of our hotel and found water running down the steps leading to the desk. Out in the parking lot the vans with the prototype cars had water up to the middle of their wheels. The rain lasted nearly a week but it finally stopped and we went to the Screen Gems movie lot to make arrangements for the next days shooting. Warren Winstanley and I chose a brownstone location for an ad idea we had and made arrangements for the car, the models, the account guys, and the photographer with his assistants to be there. Finally we were going to get started. Bright and early the next morning we arrived at the location to find that it had rained again and the location was flooded. Everybody was there including the lady models all ready to make the planned picture. We all just stood around kind of stunned. Then I said we'll go ahead and make a picture anyway. What have we got to lose? I asked Dick ONeil, one of our account guys, to go back to the hotel and put on his suit and tie. While he was gone we pushed the prototype Impala (it had no engine) to a parking place in the water in front of the brownstone. Dick came back and we made the picture you see. It ran in all the major magazines of the day as a spread. The print you see here was layout quality not reproduction quality.

Below you will see another picture situation made possible by all the rain. Sometimes it pays to take advantage of what circumstances give you. Making ads can be and should be lots of fun. This whole shoot in LA turned out to be one of our very best.

1970 Chevelle SS Magazine Layout

2009-01-29T14:28:00.002-05:00

This was one of those unexpected delights that sometimes can be found if you keep your eyes and mind open for picture opportunities. We were on our way to a location at the Disney Ranch in LA when we were confronted with a washed out road. It had been raining for several days and we were way behind on our schedule. It looked like we were not going to make it to our location but it didn't matter because here was something nobody could have imagined. I told Warren Winstanley, our photographer, that this was going to be the best picture we would make of the Chevelle SS or anything else on this trip. The Chevelle, with it's big new engines, you might imagine could leap across this road like Superman going over a tall building. We made three versions of the situation. The one you see here and two others with that featured the front of the car with the washed out road in the background. We did the one you see here first and I was satisfied that we had it but Warren argued for the other views. We often had disagreements about pictures and solved them by doing two versions. Because I was the art director I usually won out in the end but not always. Warren and I were very good friends and had grown up together in the business. I tried my very best to sell this ad to Chevrolet but we had too many other good, more heroic views of the car with good situations that they chose to use. The other views of this situation are available from the GM site and are very nice. I bought both and am happy to have them. Probably could have sold the one of the others but this one would have made the most memorable ad. This is an ad that I wish had run but I am happy to have saved the layout and to show it now. The colors in the print are faded and the retouching on the tire marks is crude but would have been made right for the finished art. Win some, lose some.

1970 Chevelle SS Experimental Photo

2009-01-28T11:32:00.002-05:00

This was shot near the location of the rope ad below. It was on one of the movie back lots where we had good security for the as yet to be announced cars. The car is a prototype Chevelle SS--and we could have it be a 396 or a 454 both of which were incredible engines for their time. The muscle car era was in and this car was one of the very strongest. Before we went to California for this "experimental" shoot we agreed upon the general positioning of the cars in the market place. This one was easy with the big stripes on the hood and the big available engines. I had the idea for the picture before we left Detroit and made the cut outs you see on the door. They represent the other muscle cars one might sit next to at a stop light and be tempted to out muscle. WWII had not been over all that long and it would be easy to recall the victory flags painted on the fighter aircraft of that war. We could even offer a package of decals to buyers of the car with the biggest engine. Warren Winstanley shot the picture for me and it was all I had imagined it could be. With the kind of things being done today for ads this idea may have had a chance to run but back then it was pushing the envelope a little too far. Nevertheless, I always felt you should go as far as possible in suggesting what the product could do especially when we were prevented from showing real high performance situations.

2009-01-27T15:48:00.004-05:00

This ad was shot during the same trip as some of the ads below but not on the Screen Gems movie lot. Warren Winstanley was the photographer and the concept was mine. The new Chevelle SS was available with two big engines--the SS396 and the SS 454. We were not allowed to show the cars in high performance situations in those days so we had to come up with other means of telling how it would perform if you bought one. This was done on an "experimental"shoot as were most of the other ads shown on this car. What that meant was Chevrolet gave us the prototype cars to photograph without any ad approval. They were shipped from Detroit to LA and we could do anything we wanted with them. Before we went on a trip like this we had meetings to make sure we were all on board with the kind of image we wanted to project for each car. I tried to insist that each art director, writer, and photographer put picture concepts on pads of yellow paper and show them to me before we started shooting. This worked pretty well and did not eliminate having an idea as a result of seeing something not thought of before. I still have the crude yellow paper for this ad. Warren Winstanley had one of his assistants go to the dock in LA and buy the great big rope you see in the picture. We took two views of the situation, this one and a look strait on the front end of the car. Both were used and can still be found in Chevy materials from back then. In fact you can buy a poster- size reproduction of this ad from GM. Just go to their site and look at their collection of old car pictures. A fine young writer named Dick Wingerson wrote the copy for this picture. He did many great ads for us but got away to Florida at a young age. I know he looks in on the blog now and then to make sure I get the credits right. Thanks Wings!

2009-01-27T15:07:00.003-05:00

This is the single page actual ad that is shown in spread layout form below. It did run as a spread too. The colors are much better here than in the layout. Please see the copy below the layout version for the story of the ad.

2009-01-27T13:57:00.005-05:00

This looks just like the real ad but is a layout made with what we called a C-print (a color print that was inexpensive and of good but not great quality). If you look closely at the copy you will see that it is not real and is meant to suggest what the ad will look like when the actual copy is written. This picture was made on the Screen Gems Lot in California. The location was on one of their residential streets where many movies had been filmed. The photographer was Warren Winstanley. Warren had made arrangements to allow us to shoot on the lot. It was perfect for us because the security was great and there were all kinds of locations we could use within a block or two. I had the idea for the bright red light that was put under the hood so that it glowed bright red on the pavement. Chevelle SS had huge engines available for 1970-- a 396 and 454 cubic inch that made it a muscle car and then some. I think Bill Graefen did the copy. He was an excellent writer and later left us to become the creative director on the Toyota business. The ad ran in many magazines and is often shown as an example of muscle-car advertising of that time.

Wrong again about the copy. Dick Wingerson wrote it one Sunday morning when the idea popped into his head. Just goes to show how much fun we were having when some of the best ads were written on days off. Thanks for the fix, Mr. Wingerson.

1957 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2009-01-27T11:05:00.002-05:00

MORE CHEVROLET CARS WERE BOUGHT IN 1956 THAN ANY OTHER CAR....THE 17th STRAIGHT CAR PRODUCTION YEAR THAT CHEVROLET'S BEEN FIRST IN SALES.

Still another leadership ad so popular with the Chevy sales group back then. But very nicely done in a disarming sort of way. The USA was in love with Chevy then and would be for many more years. The art could have been done by any number of artists but my guess is Dan Romano. Jim Hastings was more than likely the art director and the one that had the idea for the tree carving. He was very good at solving a tough assignment in a very unique way. Given the time he could have done the illustration himself.

It nearly brings a tear to your eye to think of the situation Chevrolet and General Motors find themselves in today. I wish they could run this ad or one like it now.

2009-01-09T17:09:00.002-05:00

THIS EXCLUSIVE COLLECTION CAN BE YOURS !

What a great way to get into a feature story. When is the last time you saw any feature advertising for a car in any form? Maybe nobody collects stamps anymore but they did back then and this idea used stamp collecting to feature the collection of fine attributes on the new Chevy. Things like Outrigger Rear Springs--Anti Dive Brakes--Body By Fisher--6 Engine-Drive Choices--and more. Very inventive thinking for making an ad. Come to think of it, there are a bunch of stamps of various kinds available at my post office so people must be collecting them. It's more expensive now like everything else. I don't know who did the art for this - Dan Romano maybe? Whoever did the art did a fine job and whoever had the idea did an outstanding job.

'55 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2009-01-09T15:10:00.002-05:00

BLUE-RIBBON BEAUTY that's stealing the thunder from the high priced cars!

A really nice ad idea to promote the notion that Chevy was as good as they come. The illustration by Fred Ludekins is beautifully done and very much in keeping with the brand image being constructed by Jim Hastings for Chevrolet. And it's fun to see all the non-GM cars in the background even if they are mostly very high priced foreign makes. Chevy liked to compare itself to Cadillac but couldn't except in a round about way like this. Jim Hastings and his copy partner Pete Booth were beginning to change the brand image of Chevy in a very important way. More car for the money had always been a Chevrolet theme and now new and more memorable ways were being used to make the point. The color on this old slide does not give the illustration the credit it deserves. An interesting detail is the Chevrolet logo. It has undergone numerous changes since this ad was produced. Today the word Chevrolet does not appear in the bow tie. If you watch in other ads you will see lots of little changes to it but not to the bow tie shape.

2009-01-02T15:57:00.003-05:00

Punch-line to the years hottest power story-CHEVROLET"TURBO-FIRE V8!

This art was done by a San Francisco artist from Patterson and Hall studio. Probably Stan Galli but I am not sure. You can see the Goldem Gate bridge in the background and the mountains beyond. Those mountains were to become famous as the years past. As I recall the big one just the other side of the bridge is Mt. Tamalpais. Later on as art began to give way to photography for auto ad illustrations Mt Tamalpias became a location destination for just about anyone shooting car ads on a beautiful twisting and winding road. It had everything--you could have the ocean in the background if you wished or just a fantastic road. There was even a tunnel as you approached the mountain. And up on the upper level was an old WWII gun emplacement-a very large structure that was used to house coastal defense artillery. I don't even remember the number of times I used the mountain but it was a bunch over the years.

1955 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2009-01-02T15:38:00.003-05:00

THERE'S EVEN MORE TO CHEVROLET STYLING THAN MEETS THE EYE!

Not the kind of ad you see anymore. Probably because so many cars look so much alike now and that is because of all the government mandates for fuel economy. At the time, this was a big leap forward for Chevy. This is a delightful way to show styling details with the high fashion looking ladies holding numbered cards. The art may have been done in Detroit but I don't know for sure. Much of the art from this time was done in San Francisco at the Patterson and Hall studio where Jim Hastings once worked.

'55 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-09-09T14:57:00.002-04:00

CHEVROLET'S SPECIAL HILL-FLATTENERS ! 162 HP V8 180 HP V8

This illustration by Charles Allen was among the first newspaper ads produced using the line technique that would make Chevy ads famous. Many of the newspaper ads from this time were produced with photography which was the latest thing in advertising. But when the reproduction results were reviewed by gathering tear sheets from all over the country they left much to be desired. Newspaper printing presses were nothing like those being used today. They tended to wobble some and the ink distribution was usually too heavy or too light resulting in a very unsatisfactory look at the product. The line technique Jim Hastings began using for newspaper ads came from his experience when he was with the Paterson and Hall art studio in San Francisco. Hastings himself had made illustrations using the technique and knew first hand the quality that could be produced. His other contribution to Chevy ads of the future was the relationship with America and the endless highways that would appear in ads yet to come. The double perspective for highway performance illustrations allowed for great views of the cars and great views of the roads they traveled.

'55 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-09-09T14:31:00.002-04:00

IT'S MAKING '55 FAMOUS ---FOR FUN!

This illustration by Fred Ludekins shows one of the lower priced Chevrolets. Still the sub head copy says that Chevrolet is stealing the thunder from the higher priced cars. And they were doing exactly that at the time. The new Chevy styling and new V8 engine were very popular. The story played to what has always been the Chevrolet advantage--more car for the money. Fred Ludekins didn't do many more illustrations after this one and I am not sure why. It is interesting to notice the Chevy police car with the officer waving to his friend in the Chevy convertible.

'55 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-08-06T15:58:00.002-04:00

"OLD RELIABLE " INTO A FLASH OF FIRE !

Doug MacIntosh was the art director on this ad and Warren Winstanley was the photographer. At the time Warren worked for Cle Clark who was one of the pioneer car photographers in Detroit. Mickey McGuire also worked for Cle Clark and would go on to establish Boulevard Photographic with Jimmy Northmore. Jim Hastings was the agency head art director at the time and was in the process of creating an art style for Chevy that would last for years. Why this ad and several others were illustrated with photography rather than art I do not know as I didn't start at Campbell- Ewald until Jan. of 1958. My guess is that Doug MacIntosh was pushing for photography and was one of the best art directors Hastings had at the time. Doug was helpful in getting me an interview with Jim Hastings. We had worked together at Kenyon and Eckhardt on the Lincoln - Mercury business. Chevrolet really had in all going with the great looks and hot performance of this new car. This headline said it all.

1955 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-07-31T16:51:00.002-04:00

HOW TO LOOK YOUR BEST WHEN EVERYBODY'S LOOKING

The '55 Chevy styling was really something special. It was a tremendous departure from anything Chevrolet had offered. And with the big new V8 engines it was a home run. This wonderful illustration was by Bruce Bomberger. Bruce was one of several outstanding illustrators from California that Jim Hastings knew and used to bring a new vitality to Chevrolet print advertising.

'56 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-07-09T10:40:00.002-04:00

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL THING TO HANDLE !

And look a little closer and you will see just a touch of a Corvette. Then too you might wonder why a performance and handling story like this didn't have an illustration with the car in one of those wide open road illustrations Chevy was noted for. But then the boat carrying the car was perhaps a beautiful thing to handle too. This illustration was by Mel Brindle who was paid $2,500 for the effort. The ad ran in the July issues of Holiday,Time,Outdoor Life, Saturday Evening Post, and Field and Stream. It was in color but I do not have a color example to show you.

'56 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-06-28T16:27:00.002-04:00

GIVE IT AN INCH AND WATCH IT TAKE THE MILES !

I am not sure about the artist on this one. It most likely was by one of the California guys Jim Hastings was using during this time. The signs say the car is in the eastern part of the country but that does not mean the illustrator was not on the west coast.

Still, the artists Hastings was using from there usually signed their work and this is not signed so it could have been done by a Detroit illustrator. Hastings was bringing along some of the local talent and getting good results.

'56 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-06-28T14:59:00.002-04:00

IF YOU HEAR A THUMP...IT'S ONLY YOUR HEART !

Illustration by Charles Allen. He was with the Patterson and Hall studio in San Francisco at the time as were several other artists that did illustrations for Chevrolet. Among those were Stan Galli, Bruce Bomberger, and Hains Hall. What a collection of talent in one place. Jim Hastings, my boss at Campbell-Ewald, worked at Patterson and Hall as an illustrator before he was hired by C-E to be the head art guy. That explains the reason so many illustrations from this time were done by illustrators from San Francisco. If Jim Hastings was not the actual art director for this ad he most certainly approved the layout before it went to the Chevy client and was the one that sent it to Patterson and Hall for the finished art.

'56 Chevrolet Corvette Magazine Ad

2008-05-23T15:01:00.003-04:00

PEBBLE BEACH

The 1956 Corvette is proving--in open competition--that it is America's only genuine production sports car. The first sentence in this said it all but then went on to tell about all the good stuff you could get to own a car that could race or one that could compete with the Ford Thunderbird as a personal luxury car. The photo is one that was actually taken at the race and the art director was probably Doug MacIntosh. Doug had been a proponent of photography for the regular Chevy and most likely argued that photography was the only way to go for an ad like this. And he was right. The copy was getting very close to the theme that would last for years--America's only true sports car. Barney Clark was probably the copy writer. This ad appeared in the August issues of Hot Rod, Motor Life, and Motor Trend.

'56 Chevrolet Corvette Magazine Ad

2008-05-13T17:19:00.003-04:00

CORVETTE SIZZLES WITH A NEW HOT V-8 ! (that any Chevy dealer can service)

Sports cars of the day were a little expensive to service. Still true today. But, then as now you could get your sports car serviced at any Chevrolet dealer. And there were a bunch of them. Corvette was well on the way to becoming Americas only true sports car but the ads had yet to make the claim. This ad ran in Car Life, Hot Rod, Motor Life, Motor Trend, Road and Track, and Motor Sport all in May of 1956.

'56 Chevrolet Corvette Magazine Ad

2008-05-13T16:27:00.003-04:00

LOVE SEAT YOU'LL NEVER WANT TO LEAVE !

It is kind of hard for me to understand how this ad came about. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing Barney Clark would have written and I know David E. Davis couldn't have had anything to do with it. Corvette had a bigger engine with more performance stuff and was even doing a little racing. The only thing I can think of is somebody thought there was a need to be more competitive with the Ford Thunderbird. They were both two-seaters but the T-Bird was more luxurious and had an appeal different from the Corvette.It was more of a personal car than a sports car and Corvette was going the way of the pure sports car. It is hard to imagine the T-Bird going racing. Anyhow, the ad was done and ran in the May 19, issue of New Yorker and the May 14, issue of Sports Illustrated. Nothing wrong with having an animal in the passenger seat. I did an ad a few years later with a very big dog along as the passenger but the car was really moving and David E. Davis Jr. wrote a great headline that said "More kicks than a sack full of jack rabbits."

'56 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-05-09T17:13:00.003-04:00

SEEN ONLY ON HIGHER PRICED CARS AND CHEVROLET

The meaningful emblem of Body by Fisher

A nifty way to relate to all the other GM higher priced cars and still stay true to Chevrolet's value position. Body by Fisher was very important to Chevy and all of GM back then. Fisher Body even ran some advertising. There was also an annual contest for young people to build a coach in the image of the logo. All the entries were displayed and judged in the lobby of the GM building on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit. The coaches all looked pretty much alike to me but the judges always came up with a winner. There was some some scholarship money for first, second, and third place as I recall. Later the contest was changed. Rather than build a model coach the young people were to design and build a model car. This was an even better contest and more related to GM products. Mac Namara Studio produced the art for this ad. They were located in the Penobscot Building in Detroit. Two brothers owned and operated the studio-Emit and Jack Mac Namara.

'56 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-05-09T12:27:00.002-04:00

THE "PASSWORD" IS CHEVROLET!

This is an interesting illustration in two parts. It was a concept used often in Chevy ads and almost always to show performance. There were a lot of two lane highways back then and the Chevy 225-V8 engine made for safer passing. Notice all the little things that make the illustration successful--the car has moved past the truck in very short order and the oncoming car in the distance has hardly moved down the hill. The cow nearest the viewer has raised its head but not moved. Fun stuff. This illustration was by Bill Fleming of the La Drier Studio in Detroit. Local artists and studios were beginning to understand what Jim Hastings was trying to do.

'56 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-05-09T12:08:00.003-04:00

HOLDS THE ROAD LIKE IT LOVES IT (and Chevy does!)

Drivability and performance were always near the top of Chevrolet ad priorities. Chevy had a record-breaking performance on Pikes Peak and was doing just fine at Daytona. The view on the car taken here nearly hides the face that it is a 4-door sedan. Back then they sold pretty well but the hard-tops and convertibles were the glamor cars. This illustration is by Haines Hall. Haines was part owner of a San Francisco studio named Patterson and Hall where Jim Hastings once worked before joining Campbell-Ewald. The studio still exists today but is more like an ad agency than an art studio. They do very good work that can be seen on their web site. They call themselves P&H Creative Group and you can see what they do at www.phcreative.com--a very nice fellow named Bruce Hettema runs the place now.

'56 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-05-08T15:09:00.000-04:00

CHEVROLET PUTS HILLS BEHIND YOU AND PLEASURE AHEAD !

This is a newspaper version of the magazine ad directly below. The magazine ad was done first and ran in May while the newspaper ad ran in July. The magazine ad was by Fred Ludekins and this newspaper version was produced by Bruce Bomberger. The reason for two artists was that Ludekins was not particularly good at the line illustration needed for newspaper reproduction. This was true for other great illustrators like Austin Briggs and takes nothing away from them. Jim Hastings knew exactly what he wanted and how best to get it. The two illustrations are very similar and Bomberger most likely used the same drawing for the car and people. There are some interesting differences. The license plate is gone on this version and the background has been condensed to fit a vertical format. The ladies dress takes on a vertical pattern and the guy now has black hair with his hand gone from the roof. Lots of other small things too. Not much research was done on ads back then but when a client liked an ad the agency was ready to run it in magazines and newspapers.

'56 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-05-08T14:19:00.000-04:00

CHEVROLET PUTS HILLS BEHIND YOU AND PLEASURE AHEAD !

This ad was in color but I do not have a color version at this time. Still, a very nice illustration by Fred Ludekins. It ran in the May issues of Saturday Evening Post, Life, and Look magazines. I'll bet the information on the signs is correct. With the kind of exposure these ads got fake information would have generated considerable mail.

'56 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-04-30T17:15:00.000-04:00

WHY PEOPLE WHO USED TO BUY HIGHER PRICED CARS ARE CHANGING TO CHEVROLET

Chevrolet has always offered more car for the money. Back then as well as now you really don't get much more when you spend more for a higher priced car. And looking at another way --if you have one of these Chevrolets now it is worth lots more than most other cars that cost a bunch more back in 1956. Real value! The art for this ad was by Paul Nonnast and he got all of $1,500 for his effort. Look at the airplane about to land at LAX. It is not a jet but a four engine prop driven Constellation. A really great plane at that time.

'56 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-04-30T16:54:00.000-04:00

NOTHING TAKES TO THE ROAD LIKE A CHEVY !

This is a terrific illustration by Bruce Bomberger and a terrific idea for an ad, probably by Jim Hastings. The thing that makes it so nifty is that the outdoor board the guy on the ladder is putting up is an actual board timed to be up all over America when this ad ran in newspapers all over America. The young lady on the adjoining board with the word "WOW" is a nice touch too. It was ads like this supporting the great cars Chevy was offering that helped make Chevrolet America's favorite.

'56 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-04-26T16:12:00.000-04:00

NOBODY SPARED THE HORSES IN THE '56 CHEVROLET !

This is another illustration by Bruce Bomberger. He was in California as were most of the artists Jim Hastings was using at the time. Hastings had been hired by Ted Little the new Chairman of Campbell-Ewald and was in the process of bringing a new look to Chevy advertising. Most of the artists that could make the kind of illustrations he wanted lived in the San Francisco area near where he had come from. It would take time for Detroit artists to understand the specific kind of thing he wanted. This ad also ran as a Sunday Supplement ad but with a different headline. The street car is in San Francisco as were many of the Chevy illustrations of this time. Sometimes the little things contribute greatly to the success of an illustration. In this case notice the forward slant of the wheels. It gives the car a feeling of motion.

'56 Corvette and Chevy Newspaper Ad

2008-04-21T17:16:00.000-04:00

TWO CHAMPIONS OF THE ROAD...BOTH CHEVROLETS!

Back then Chevrolet had only one line of cars and Corvette so Corvette often got attention in ads for the regular car. The Corvette had been given a strong mechanical upgrade and the styling was some of the best ever. Today Corvette almost never gets to be in ads with other Chevrolets. This art was produced by Paul Nonnast. He was paid $1,500.00 for the art. Not much in todays dollars but important money back then.

'56 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-04-21T16:37:00.000-04:00

MORE CHICKENS CROSS THE ROAD IN FRONT OF CHEVROLETS THAN ANY OTHER CAR.

This leadership ad for newspapers was done by Bill Tara. Bill did the art for the chickens but probably not the car. The whole ad was most likely his idea as he was part of an outside group from the west coast that contributed regularly to the Chevy ad effort. Several years later he was the art director for the first series of photographic ads for magazines. A very nice way to tell the story of Chevy leadership without sounding boastful.

'56 Chevrolet Leadership Magazine Ad

2008-04-21T16:12:00.001-04:00

MORE PEOPLE NAMED JONES OWN CHEVROLETS THAN ANY OTHER CAR !

(Are you keeping up with the Joneses ! )

Chevrolet loved to run ads that claimed leadership and this was one of the very best. Too often claims of leadership are that and nothing more but this is done in such a disarming way it leaves you with a nice warm feeling for Chevy. The art is by Austin Briggs and is beautifully done. This ad ran in the September issues of many national magazines. Austin Briggs got $2,500.oo for the art. Imagine that.

'56 Chevrolet Convertible Magazine Ad

2008-04-13T14:04:00.000-04:00

QUEEN OF THE SHOW....AND THE ROAD !

The on going theme for this year was " The hot one's even hotter". And it certainly was hot back then. Sales were great and the car was great. The new small block engine was great too. Kind of a neat little dig at the competition if you think they may be represented by the young ladies that didn't win the beauty contest. Chevrolet always loved to promote their leadership even if it was in a scuttle way. This fine illustration was by Bruce Bomburger. Bet you wish you had one of these cars today.

'56 Chevrolet Station Wagon Magazine Ad

2008-04-13T11:35:00.000-04:00

SEATS A WHOLE BASEBALL TEAM BEAUTIFULLY !

What a nice and strong way to tell a seating story. No background but no need for a background in the illustration. Has all the warmth and feeling for America that Chevy was becoming known for. It would be quite a few years before baseball would become the theme for perhaps the most famous car commercial of all time. I think this illustration may have been by Charles Allen. A nine passenger wagon that looked this good and had a Chevrolet price was something pretty special back then and if you have one now it is still pretty special and worth a ton.

'56 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-04-07T15:07:00.000-04:00

YOUTH, BEAUTY, CHEVROLET, ACTION !

Austin Briggs did this illustration. During this period he was at the top of his form and it shows here. I don't know who had this idea for a Chevy ad but it is a beauty and not the kind of situation that easily comes to mind. In '56 Chevy was the "Hot One" that was even "Hotter" and this played to the idea that it was a hot seller as well as a hot performer. This kind of story telling illustration for advertising has all but disappeared especially for car ads. It may be that computers have something to do with it. It's much easier to do some kind of abstract background and tack on a headline. Too bad illustrators are out of style and no longer play an important part in ads today. Some great artists are still out there but they are painting for themselves. A good example is Jim Dietz. He paints wonderful war situations with lots of emphasis on people. I bought one of his paintings a few years ago. He is as good as any of the illustrators from the '50s and better than some. Charley Schridde is an illustrator from back then that is still painting and doing very well at selling stuff. Harry Borgman is still around too. And there is a whole school of artists illustrating the Civil War. The capability is out there just waiting for someone to figure out how to use it. You can check out all these artists on the internet.

'56 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-04-07T14:44:00.000-04:00

NOTHING WITHOUT WINGS CLIMBS LIKE A '56 CHEVROLET !

This is a really fine illustration by Bruce Bomburger. I especially like the way the car leans slightly forward giving more of a feeling of speed. Look at the wheels and notice the forward leaning ovals used to show them. Bruce didn't invent this illustration device but kind of lifted it from older illustrations that did the same thing usually in race car situations. It is very much in keeping with what the ad is saying in the headline. This was the year the "Hot One" got even "Hotter". Jim Hastings, the top art director, was using several west coast artists at this time and they almost always showed far west backgrounds in the illustrations.

'70 Chevelle SS 396 Magazine Ad

2008-04-02T13:33:00.001-04:00

CHEVELLE SS 396. OTHER CARS WISH WE'D KEEP IT THIS WAY.

This was quite a car with the big 396 engine and I thought this would be a great way to show how powerful it really was. We were on an "experimental shoot" in California. Chevrolet gave us the new prototype cars to photograph without any layout approval. We took two creative teams--I was one along with Bill Graefen for copy and Warren Winstanley for photography. Tony Longo was the other art director I took along and he had Jim Hartzell for copy and Dennis Gripentrog for photography. I insisted we have as many ideas for photographs as possible before the shoot began. That was important because we had a lot of expense going on with the two crews, the guys from Chevrolet with the vans full of cars, and a whole bunch of account guys that were responsible for the security. This was one of a bunch of ideas I had sketched out on letter size yellow pads. They were not layouts but in this case a box like car with ropes around it. Warren had one of his assistants go to the shipping docks and buy the biggest rope he could find. We fashioned the stakes from fence posts and looped the rope through the car, Then we messed up the earth behind the rear wheels to make it look like the car was trying to get away. That doesn't show very well but it doesn't matter. Two views were made, this one and one from dead ahead. The other view was used in some promotion material. I have seen this ad in most every book that deals with Muscle Cars or high performance cars from this time. You can buy a beautiful copy of this picture as well as the front view from the General Motors site. Go to Chevrolet and then to photos of Chevelle. I don't have some of the other pictures with me but there are several more done this way. One was done on the Screen Gems Lot with a very big bright red light hidden under the hood and glowing down on to the pavement even though it was parked in a neighborhood. Also available from GM. Another had a guy as the driver that looked like a WW One fighter pilot and on the door just below the drivers window were a bunch of cut outs pasted like planes shot down. There were several Mustangs (the horse not the car), the Plymouth Barracuda (again not the car), and a few Cobras. I made the stickers before we left Detroit. It made a terrific picture but I couldn't get it sold. Still have a print of it and I'll show it to you when I get back to Michigan. Dick Wingerson wrote the copy for this ad. Thanks for the correction, Dick.

'70 Corvette Magazine Ad-Art By Ken Dallison

2008-04-02T13:03:00.000-04:00

"70 CORVETTE. WHAT ELSE.

Ken Dallison gives his illustrations a different look. A little looser than most artists and no pretense of being photographic. It brought a nice fresh look to this ad. Ken worked in a different way too. If he didn't like the look of, lets say the wheel area, he would simply cut it out and do it over again and glue it in place. He didn't do it often because he nearly always did it right the first time. Ken is still working today doing both commercial and fine art. I think the copy here was by Dick Wingerson and the art direction by Bob Forlenza or Don Gould.

'57 Corvette Magazine Ad

2008-03-29T11:36:00.000-04:00

" UND SO HELP ME MIR, HERMANN, I WAS HOLDING 5900 R.P.M. AND HE CAME PAST ME LIKE A STUKA....AND PLAYING THE RADIO, TOO !"

What a nice ad this is. Kind of gets us into racing without really doing it. Corvette did get to go racing but not in the ads at this time. This car really did make Corvette, Americas only true sports car. The copy was by Barney Clark and the art direction probably by Bob Hungerford. Todd Wright was probably the photographer and it was most likely shot in California. The fuel injection option made ads like this possible. If you can find a March 23, 1957 copy of New Yorker or a March 11, 1957 copy of Sports Illustrated you can get a copy of this ad or the next time you are at a car show visit the guy selling old car ads.

'57 Corvette Magazine Ad

2008-03-29T11:03:00.000-04:00

"FANTASTICO ! EVEN IN TURIN NO ONE HAS FUEL INJECTION !"

And that was right. Fuel injection turned Corvette onto a real sports car. The '57 Corvette today is one of the most expensive older cars out there. Especially if it has the fuel injection option. I had my first ride in our chairman Ted Little's all black one. I got the car for the weekend and what a thrill it was. No 4-speed and no injection but a Corvette. I have always thought the '57 was one of the best looking of all Corvettes. It even stands up well to todays car. I was a little disappointed in '58 when the duel headlights were added. But that was what everybody was doing then. This ad was written by Barney Clark and the art director may have been Bob Hungerford. This ad ran in Sports Illustrated on May 6, 1957 and probably the May issue of New Yorker.

'57 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-03-29T10:33:00.000-04:00

'57 CHEVROLET ! SWEET, SMOOTH AND SASSY !

This was the announcement magazine ad for one of the greatest cars Chevy ever produced. You can think about it that way if you consider what one of these is worth today. What happened along the way to make this particular Chevy so desirable over 50 years later ? It was very popular back then but if I am not mistaken it lost the sales race to Ford for the first time in years. Not by much but a loss none the less. Who knows about that for sure ? Anyone out there that can confirm that or maybe correct it ? I wish I still had my '57 Bel Air Hardtop and if you had one I'll bet you do too. Even the ads torn from old magazines are worth quite a bit. How about that ? Dave Lindsey may have done the art and Pete Booth may have done the copy.

1962 Chevrolet and Harry Borgman

2008-03-29T09:27:00.000-04:00

This is a page from a self promotion piece Harry did for himself some time ago. The interest for us is his illustrations for the '62 Chevy. The convertible on the left is for a newspaper ad and the coupe illustration next to it is for a magazine ad. The others are for various other assignments he received around this time. Harry is one of the most versatile artists ever to pass through Campbell-Ewald, Chevrolets ad agency. He continues to work today and is doing commercial art as well as fine art. He has written many books on art and how to do it, among others. Harry's latest art adventure is with his computer. He sent me his latest book Digital Dreams--Exploring the computer as an art medium. It is beautifully done and I recommend it for anyone that may want to do more with a computer. Even if you don't want to do more you will enjoy seeing what an artist that did Chevy ads back in the '50s and '60s can do with something that didn't exist then. And, if you have a friend that fancies himself or herself an artist you will put them in your debt forever by giving them Harry's book Art Therapy--the funny world of art. It is a treasure of many of the things Harry must have experienced as an artist. We are lucky to have Harry and a few others still with us. Art the way it was done back in the '50s and '60s is pretty much gone forever. But, if called upon for something like that I'll bet Harry would be pleased to supply it. For his books and a look at all he is doing go to harryborgman.com

1957 Chevrolet and Harry Borgman

2008-03-28T15:45:00.000-04:00

Harry Borgman was my first boss at Campbell-Ewald. He was the head art director in the sales promotion group in 1957 and he and his assistant Paul Sameulson did all the Chevrolet sales promotion material. That included the catalogs for Chevrolet and Corvette that you see here in a visual history Harry put together as a self promotion piece. He also did the promotion for Dinah along with all the direct mail and zillions of other things Chevrolet required in 1957. There was so much stuff that a fellow named Tom Clark and I joined him at the beginning of 1958. Harry is a remarkable guy that has had a remarkable carrier in the art business. He is still active and is working for both fun and profit. When he left the sales promotion group he became the head art director for all Chevrolet magazine ads. After that, and all you Corvair enthusiasts will enjoy this, Harry left the agency to devote his efforts to illustration but was secretly re-hired to develop the announcement ad program for the introduction of the Corvair. He was hidden away in special office away from the agency and there did the first Corvair ads. It was all so secret that when he ordered type he ordered it from two or three type setters each getting only a portion of a headline. Then he assembled it so the headline made sense. If you have some of the first Corvair ads you have some of Harry's work. But Harry was just getting started in the art world. He did newspaper illustrations for Chevrolet and others as well as magazine and catalog illustrations. Then it was off to Paris, France where he did illustrations for all the major ad agencies and devoted the time not needed for commercial work to painting. He was there for six years and exhibited his work in the major galleries of Paris. Back in New York he was doing illustrations for the big ad agencies and exhibiting his paintings and sculpture in some of the best galleries. During this time and a little later he managed to publish more than a dozen books. Most are out of print now but he has two new ones in print. One is Digital Dreams-Exploring the computer as an art medium. If you have an interest in art and own a computer, you will want this book. If you have an interest in art, or even if you don't, you'll enjoy Harry's other book now for sale---Art Therapy-the funny world art. You can order both of these books at Harry's site harryborgman.com

1957 Chevrolet Full Line Catalog

2008-03-26T16:50:00.000-04:00

This catalog was designed by my first boss at Campbell-Ewald, Chevrolet's ad agency, Harry Borgman. Harry is still very much alive and working. When this catalog was produced the car industry wasn't spending much on this kind of thing. By todays standard this is a pretty small book. The paper is not nearly as good as that being used today and I am sure the printing wasn't as good. Still if you have one of these I'll bet it is worth a bunch. I haven't seen one for sale in a very long time. Catalogs were always started long before any advertising had been decided upon and were close to going to the printer when ads were finalized. There was considerable lead time involved because of the tremendous number of books involved. It took a train load of paper to print one of these. Remember there were about 6000 or so dealers and each one needed a good supply to give away. Sometimes the art from the catalog would be used in an ad but for the most part the catalog art was to simply show what the car looked like and what colors it came in.

If you came to this post first be sure to check the information about Harry Borgman. It should be right above this.

'57 Chevrolet Outdoor Poster

2008-03-26T16:36:00.000-04:00

MORE TO BE PROUD OF ! CHEVROLET

What a great illustration by California artist Charles Allen. And look--the people are in front of the car. I wonder how that got through. The car looks wonderful and the message is right on. Anybody that has one of these now feels very proud indeed. This is the kind of advertising that helped Chevy become America's car.

'57 Chevrolet Outdoor Poster

2008-03-26T16:25:00.000-04:00

AMERICA'S STUCK ON CHEVY...CHEVY...CHEVY...CH

Chevrolet always liked to remind America of the leadership position it enjoyed and ads like this did it in a very charming and memorable way. The original color was much better than this old slide shows.

'57 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-03-26T16:08:00.000-04:00

MOUNTAINS AND MILES ARE A BREEZ IN A CHEVY !

Another fine example of Chevy moving right along with some other craft--in this case a very fast speed boat. I wish I had a count on the number of times this was done. The checkered flags with the logo tells us that Chevy has been racing and doing very well. A nice reminder. In many of the ads you will see a reference to Chevrolet being No 1 USA.

'57 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-03-26T15:56:00.000-04:00

VELVET SMOOTH AND FULL OF SPUNK !

I don't know who did this illustration but it has all the warmth and feeling for America and the good life that are in most Chevy ads. Notice the type face. It is not a standard face but one designed just for Chevrolet ads. As you look at the ads from this time and a little later you will see the type is nearly always the same. Another feather in a cap covered with feathers for Jim Hastings. It is very hard to keep a bunch of very creative people on the same track and using the same type but Jim did it.

'57 Corvette and Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-03-26T13:05:00.000-04:00

SWEET (Just look) SMOOTH (Ah, that Turboglide) SASSY (Just drive it !)

This was a later version of the announcement ad with a similar headline. Also, the Corvette gets major attention and as a Sports Car in a real race. The Corvette was dramatically improved with new fuel-injection. I think the fuel-injection may have been offered in the Bel Air too. The art was probably done by one of the west coast artists that were doing much of the work at this time. Boy, a convertible like this one would be worth all the money in the world today. I am so pleased that old cars of all makes are being restored and enjoyed all over again. Every model of the '57 Chevy is a collectable car. Nobody back then would have guessed that this Chevy would become so heroic. The '58 Chevy was just around the corner and it was an all new car.

'57 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-03-25T17:10:00.000-04:00

SPUNK TO SPARE !

A newspaper ad with the car not out on the American open road but on a bridge. The emphasis in some way is usually on the great performance you got from the new Chevy Small Block V8. If you look closely you will see a Corvette just to the left of the Chevy. This was a time when Chevrolet offered only the regular Chevies and the Corvette so the Corvette often got into the illustrations. I have no idea who did the art but it does not look like any of the west coast guys.

'57 Chevy Goes Racing Newspaper Ad

2008-03-25T16:27:00.000-04:00

CHEVIES SWEEP GRAND NATIONAL 100 MILER

1- 2- 3 AGAIN !

Chevrolet has always been interested in racing but sometimes other considerations prevented them from doing what they wanted to do. Not the case in 1957. One thing you may notice is that even though this is a newspaper ad photography is used rather than the very successful art. In this case art could not have delivered the same reality as a photo. This was more of a news event being reported and it was not important that the car look it's best. It was what it had lust done that was most important. Doug MacIntosh was the art director. I especially like the crossed flags with the Chevy logo--a real nice touch.

'57 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad--Wins At Daytona

2008-03-25T15:35:00.000-04:00

CHEVY TOPS ALL CARS AT DAYTONA -- OFFICIALLY !

Yes, Chevy has been at Daytona for a very long time and was winning back then too. The cars at Daytona in 1957 were nothing like the ones that go there now but it was fun and exciting. Another dimension of Chevrolet that helped make it The Heartbeat of America. I am pretty sure the art director for this ad was Doug MacIntosh. Doug and I worked together at Kenyon and Eckhardt on the Lincoln- Mercury account a few years prior to this and he put in a good word for me with Jim Hastings who was the top art guy at Campbell-Ewald.

'57 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-03-25T15:16:00.000-04:00

CHEVROLET PUTS THE NICEST THINGS TOGETHER... and in the nicest way !

Whoever had this idea for a Chevy ad may have put their finger on some of the elements that have made the 1957 Chevrolet one of the most collectable cars in America. The '55 and '56 cars are very popular too but not like the '57. Why has this car become so important to Americans ? At auction a first rate convertible can bring way over $100,000. I saw an ad that offered a complete '57 convertible body new and ready to be assembled from available parts into a car. No need to restore one anymore.

'57 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-03-25T14:47:00.000-04:00

CHEVROLET'S GOT A CORNER ON THESE FINE THINGS !

Another fine illustration for Chevy by a west coast artist. I am not sure which one but it is hard to imagine a Detroit artist doing a road like this. The Detroit guys didn't have the understanding of what the really big mountains looked like. Jim Hastings had developed several artists on the west coast that could do this kind of illustration. Among those were Charles Allen, Bruce Bomburger, Stan Galli, and Gordon Brustar. Fred Ludekins did some Chevrolet illustrations too but not for newspapers as far as I know.

'57 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-03-25T14:33:00.000-04:00

NO DEAD WEIGHT TO MAKE IT DRAG ITS FEET !

The art for this Chevy ad was produced by Charles Allen. He and several other west coast artists were doing much of the newspaper ad art for Jim Hastings. Jim was the one that developed this art style for use in Chevy newspaper ads. He was a very good artist and could do illustrations like this himself. The reason he didn't do any art was that there was way too much to be done for him to be tied up doing one illustration.

'57 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-03-25T14:22:00.001-04:00

CLINGS TO THE ROAD LIKE A STRIPE OF PAINT !

This has to be one of the steepest roads you have ever seen. Neat turns too. The art was done by Charles Allen. He was doing a considerable amount of work for Chevy at the time and illustrations like this show why. Not only is the art done in line as all newspaper art was then but the composition is great. He lived on the west coast and I have often wondered how Jim Hastings got such fine work from artists so far away.

'57 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-03-24T17:13:00.000-04:00

YOU GET BETTER LOOKING IN A '57 CHEVROLET !

When is the last time you saw an instrument panel as the main illustration in a car ad ? I remember this view from behind the wheel of my '57 Bel Air. When I got mine the '58s had just come out but I had been wanting a Chevy like this since I had started work at C-E. I had been driving a '54 Studebaker coupe that I bought when I worked at Benton and Bowles, the Studebaker agency. It was a car I should have kept too. The Raymond Loewy coupe is still a great looking car today and hard to find if you want one. The Chevy I got came through Chevrolet and had been driven by an executive. The price was right and the color was perfect. I bet everybody that ever owned one of these wishes they still had it . They are worth a ton now in any kind of condition.

'57 Chevrolet Newspaper Ad

2008-03-24T17:00:00.000-04:00

IT GIVES YOU MORE TO BE PROUD OF !

What a great looking car. And what a nice ad. It has that little bit of Chevy warmth that had become so important to the image being built. Chevrolet was well on the way to becoming America's car, and this kind of thing along with the open road illustrations was paving the way. Dinah Shore singing about Chevy was working too. Lots to be proud of.

Jim Hastings did many things to make the Chevy advertising consistent. One that goes pretty much unnoticed is the typography. The headlines were made from a type face developed just for Chevrolet and you can see it used in nearly all the ads from this time.

'57 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-03-24T16:00:00.000-04:00

SMOOTH AS QUICKSILVER... and quick as they come... the '57 Chevrolet

This was the time of art illustration for nearly everything being advertised. Photography was just beginning to be a factor. Film at the time was nothing like it is today and I don't mean it was about to disappear as it is now. It was very slow and you needed strong light to get acceptable results. Young art directors wanted to use it because it was new and offered realism and variety. Still, when I look back at this stuff I think we have lost something. Not that todays ads are not doing the job but these ads have a lasting value that much of todays ads may not have. I like to think of things like this as being kind of like what Norman Rockwell did for magazine covers. They should be saved for what they represented to everyday viewers back then.

'57 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-03-24T15:27:00.000-04:00

FULL OF SPUNK....

A really delightful piece of Chevy art. When you think about what these cars are worth today it kind of it makes you wish you had saved yours. I had one this color but the hardtop version. It got totaled on Telegraph Road one evening when I was turning to drop off a fellow worker. I had stopped in the left turn lane with the blinker on when another car didn't see me, pulled out to pass and hit the rear with great impact. A fellow in the back seat had his shoulder broken and I bent the steering wheel nearly in half. It was a great Chevy and I loved it.

Gordon Brustar was the artist for this ad. He was on the West Coast as were several other artists that Jim Hastings liked to use. It is rare to see such a string of outstanding illustrations for an advertiser and much of the credit goes to Jim Hastings. It wasn't long until he developed artists in Detroit that could do similar things.

'57 Chevrolet Magazine Ad

2008-03-24T14:41:00.000-04:00

IT LIKES TO FLEX THOSE BIG NEW MUSCLES !

There is an ad below that is like this but prepared for newspaper reproduction. Jim Hastings may have been the art director but if not he had a lot to do with the way it turned out. Notice the moving train that is similar to moving things in most Chevy ads done at this time. Sometimes the moving thing was a plane or boat near the Chevy. This concept for Chevy art was most likely the direction of Hastings. He was the head art guy at the time. I heard Jim tell about this ad on several occasions. The original idea and art had a steam locomotive in the picture with smoke streaming back to give the feeling of motion. When the art was going through the approval process someone decided that since General Motors made locomotives there should be a GM Diesel in the picture rather than the steam engine. This was changed as directed but those that decide such things thought the engine as presented was not a GM engine. So this ad had to go to the General Motors Diesel Locomotive Division for final approval. Sometimes one wonders how so many good ads made it through all the sieves.