Original Dealer Brochures From the Seventies; It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

Maserati-powered Citroën SM: exotic in every way. When's the last time you saw one though? The European version came with headlights under glass, including one set which swiveled with the front wheels as you cornered to light your way, but US regulations demanded these less-than-svelte round fixed sealed beams. Lexus, among a few other high-end brands have recently reintroduced swiveling headlights for their cars, although today's are Xenons and are electronically controlled. All images clickable to enlarge, of course.

BMW's now-classic 1600/2002 series set the stage for Bimmer's world domination in recent years. Their recent 1-series of small cars is supposed to be evocative of the 2002 models, but I think they missed the mark a bit.

Jaguar has gone from being part of a large UK conglomerate, British Leyland, to being a division of the Ford Motor Company to being currently owned by Tata Motors of India, which also bought Land Rover from Ford a couple of years ago.

C O L L E C T I O N — When I was young, my dad always drove me around to the various car dealers in our area, and even brought me to Manhattan to see the imported cars' large dealerships. I collected dealer 'literature' or brochures, and I can honestly say that this period of marketing/advertising was the greatest influence in my later publication design career and of course, my inspiration for the way I present my car chops today.

Follow the jump for three more import car brochure covers from the '70s.

There was a Peugeot dealer in my small town of Guilford when I was growing up, in fact my first car, a used 1969 Mercury Comet was bought from that dealer, a friend of my Dad's. Sonny Lazaravich, the Pug dealer, was a pretty well-known sports car racer in the '50s, driving the also little-known Arnolt-Bristol to some of its victories. Peugeot's 504 model was prolific in Guilford, as was the 404 before it. I really loved these cars back in the day. I could get into owning one today. 

Another classic French Citroën, the DS. This phenomenally forward-thinking car was introduced in 1955, and really set the world's car aficionado's on their collective ears.  For more about this groundbreaking design, click here. Interestingly, these models were also referred to in France as the "Goddess," as DS became Diesse in the minds of the French populace. I would LOVE to have one of these today. I say that about millions of cars, lol, but in this case, the DS is certainly in my Top 10.

 

And last, but not least, was the little car company that could, Honda. Though a household name by the seventies for motorcycles, this was very early in their car-building years, and the car that put Honda on the map for most buyers. CVCC referred to the engine's design and emissions-controlling design, but this little Civic soon spawned the slightly larger Accord, and we all know how THAT turned out. When I lived in Hollywood in '79-'80, one of my friends Christie, a very talented hair stylist,  lived in her first generation Civic for a while, but went on to much greater things as so many do in Tinseltown.