Spannerhead Dot Com

Dug these up recently from an old hard drive. I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m interested in a car (I don’t even have to actually own it), I’ll create a new folder on my computer simply as a repository of noteworthy pictures and documents. This post illuminates the contents of one such folder. It’s neat to see Toyota’s advertising change over the years, and to a slightly lesser degree, the emphasis of the ads. Enjoy.

Interesting that neither of the Mark 2 Supra ads feature the nose of the car…

Have I mentioned lately how much I miss my old ’88 Turbo?

Editor’s note: This post is part of an ongoing series chronicling interesting automotive advertisements and brochures. Read the other installments here:

• Car and Driver, March 1984 issue
• 1995 Nissan 300ZX brochure

I recently bought this issue on eBay. It has a fantastic review of the then-new Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE, an uprated variant of the first-generation car powered by larger 13B rotary engine. Between that and a road test of the contemporary Audi 4000 quattro (which I have owned and loved), I decided it was time to be able to turn the pages of the issue for myself.

Reading it was a delight. The road tests seemed to be far more detailed then than now, with fewer pictures and more involved descriptions of the driving experience. And then there were the advertisements, nearly worth the price of admission alone. I’ve scanned a few notable ones.

At top is great spread beautifully detailing Audi’s new quattro AWD system, and below is an ad for the Mercury Cougar, a car whose looks have not aged quite as gracefully as its (now defunct) manufacturer might have hoped:

Mazda purchased the centerfold spread of the magazine to bring the buying public up to speed on the intricacies of its newest flavor of RX-7:

Chevrolet’s ad is a bit of a head-scratcher, juxtaposing jaunty Southwestern enthusiasm with words like “synonymous,” “vernacular” and “refined:”

The angle of the photograph in Ford’s spot for the Mustang SVO cleverly disguises the fact that the aero headlights intended for the car were not okayed by the feds until the middle of the following model year:

Only a couple of pages apart, contrast Alfa Romeo’s wholehearted embrace of the emotional sell…

…with BMW’s resolutely serious approach to advertising their 533i:

Finally, we have a couple of non-car ads; first, one for Kenwood’s cutting-edge tape deck audio system with “wings” that swing out:

And one featuring Recaro seats, examples of which many enthusiasts would pay dearly for nowadays:

My automotive history sweet spot exists somewhere around the mid-’80s, so having the issue on hand to peruse was a real treat.

Editor’s note: This post is part of an ongoing series chronicling interesting automotive advertisements and brochures. Read the other installments here:

• Toyota Supra
• 1995 Nissan 300ZX brochure

Dug this one out of an old stash during a recent visit to my parents’ house. I can’t remember if I got it from the dealership or from a local car show; regardless, it’s a nice snapshot of Nissan’s last turbocharged Z-car during one of its final years here; it would depart our shores after the 1996 model year. I’ll let the pictures (mostly) speak for themselves.

Editor’s note: This post is part of an ongoing series chronicling interesting automotive advertisements and brochures. Read the other installments here:

• Toyota Supra
• Car and Driver, March 1984 issue