1970s provincial car adverts

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Discovered two bound volumes of Nottinghamshire Countryside magazine from 1972 and '74, a veritable goldmine of ads from the greatest Autoshite era. They have had to be photocopied (no loss of colour, since all were monochrome anyway) and scanned, but hope they come out reasonably clearly.

 

From "The Time that Quality Control was Forgot":

 

 

They occasionally had this County Motoring column:

 

 

One suspects that Mitchell's had something to do with that particular review.

 

Nice one for Ford fans:

 

 

This isn't really a car ad, but they did get an E-Type, a dollybird in a very short skirt, a man with a briefcase ("Mr Smith"), bits of a train and some slush into the picture:

 

 

Another County Motoring advert - I mean article. Jeremy Fartson it ain't:

 

 

More Scandishite with a 164 to die for (I'm imagining Metallic Green):

 

 

Apologies to all you Pork Pie & Sausages affecionadoes for not getting the whole Plumtree ad in (...they're Country Fresh).

 

Interesting subliminal British Leyland messages here:

 

 

A pity there weren't any Wolseley or MG pictures/prices, but still.

 

Mitchell's and their Triumphs again:

 

 

And here is the rival dealership for Mansfield and North Notts:

 

 

The College of Agriculture have dated that one for us with some accuracy.

 

JUST ARRIVED!

 

 

...more to follow. Hope you drool over them as much as I did.

 

PS: Will try to make the small print a bit clearer in future - not yet full size, sorry.

[Shep Shepherd]

A dealer selling both Vauxhalls and Volvos?

 

I wonder how many Viva estate owners traded up to Volvo 145s?

[Negative Creep]

Trying to market a Ford as a Rolls Royce rival? That's an, erm, optimistic business model

[Shep Shepherd]

A dealer selling both Vauxhalls and Volvos?

 

Perhaps they also did motorcycles?

 

But only Vincents and Velocettes.

 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

These are great. Anyone up for a round of Forum Golf?

 

Trying to market a Ford as a Rolls Royce rival? That's an, erm, optimistic business model

A Ford salesman during a Focus test drive told me that Ford weren't Vauxhall or Citroen rivals, rather they were equals of Audi and BMW. Nice to see they've got a bit more realistic over the years.

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Yes, I thought Volvo & Vauxhall together very, very vexatious. As for the Ford/Rolls man, perhaps they were aiming to attract Nottingham's growing multi-ethnic population?

 

Those old ads start to get even more interesting when the PRICE is included:

 

 

Presumably weird amounts like £637 and & £1868 were caused by that newfangled VAT? This was just as inflation was beginning to kick in for the decade. As far as I can remember it was greatly helped by decimalization when the price of everything more or less doubled.

 

Here's the upmarket place to go:

 

 

The wedding dress is £21.95, so it's 41 of them or a Honda 600. No doubt the blushing bride is now a hideous crone at the back of the Saga bus.

 

This page has a somewhat eclectic range of ads which kind of sum up the Human Condition:

 

 

My Mum went for that electrolysis which she (a) didn't need, and ( would insist on mispronouncing 'Electro-lie-sis'. I suppose it was the botox of its day, though perhaps a bit cheaper. I wonder if anyone ever took the advert to heart and rang Baguley Bros up at night? 'Hello, Baguley Brothers? The old boy's just snuffed it and I'd like to book a funeral for next Saturday...'

 

Blacknell's go for a whole page:

 

 

Banzai! Strange that the Honda is now £32 more expensive, the Crown has gone up by a whopping £113, but the Maza price remains the same. Strange market forces are at work.

 

Renners now begin to make their mark:

 

 

The same Mum who had electro-lie-sis bought a pretty terrible Renault 6 around this time. I well remember the tiny (and tinny) 'sun roof' that was added, using a tin-opener presumably, at the showroom. It leaked, but only when it rained.

 

Another 'truly remarkable' Frog:

 

 

Who wrote this stuff? Barry Norman?

 

And more Scandies:

 

 

Is that Distressed Gentlefolk's Association still going? Mother! I'll help you to pack, just give me the house keys...

 

I wish this was a bit more detailed, but like the idea of 'the whole range of VW leisure vehicles':

 

 

Daresay at least one late Karmann Ghia was sitting on their forecourt in leafy West Bridgford...

 

Another upmarket one, sadly without pictures or prices:

 

 

We have to be content with the badges there.

 

Those Renners from the Granary again:

 

 

Nobody would ever use that typeface today. When my Mum was buying the leaky Renault 6 I promised the mustachioed man in the showroom that I would come back when I was grownup and buy a 15 or a 17! Note the 7% interest rate in the building society one below, guaranteed until the end of 1975... Bah! Currently a scroogey 0.5 if you're lucky. Bankers.

 

Lots of nice pictures from our old friends Mitchell's:

 

 

What can we think of Borg-Warner Automatic Transmissions when their repair is trumpeted in big letters in the advert?

 

Granary determined to show the upper end of their entire range in '74:

 

 

Finally, for now, this has nothing whatsoever to do with cars, but is, as Barry and Doncaster Motors would say, 'remarkable':

 

 

Did anybody have one of these? Did anybody have a 'funny uncle' who had one? What did the neighbours think? Was this when all those irritating snippets from Vivaldi's Four Seasons were being recorded for when you have to 'hold the line'?

 

Unbelievable.

[Spottedlaurel]

Great scans and captions KG. I like the Distressed Gentlefolk thing, I feel like that myself sometimes.

 

I buy old copies of Norfolk Fair and East Anglian Magazine, they’re good for sussing out what an old garage would once have sold as well as containing the usual overly kind car review.

 

Celica’s long gone, though it did have a longer life than many Japanese cars of the era:

 

The vehicle details for ATO 800K are:

 

Date of Liability 01 07 1989

Date of First Registration 01 01 1972

Year of Manufacture Not Available

Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1588CC

CO2 Emissions Not Available

Fuel Type Petrol

Export Marker Not Applicable

Vehicle Status Unlicensed

Vehicle Colour RED

[ashmicro]

Did anybody have one of these? Did anybody have a 'funny uncle' who had one? What did the neighbours think? Was this when all those irritating snippets from Vivaldi's Four Seasons were being recorded for when you have to 'hold the line'?

 

Unbelievable.

 

 

Unbelievable indeed! My late Uncle Norman had one of those monstrosities in their front room. It was enormous and LOUD. His party piece was to shout "IT''S!" and then play Liberty Bell really fast and in a stupid manner.

 

I played with my Uncle's organ a lot when I was a kid

[chaseracer]

 

Is that Distressed Gentlefolk's Association still going? Mother! I'll help you to pack, just give me the house keys...

Fortunately for your mum, yes, it is...

 

http://www.elizabethfinncare.org.uk/Our_History

 

[Karmann Ghiaman]

ashmicro: Did Uncle Norman record irritating snippets of Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' for 21st Century use in mobile ringtones and 'hold the line' queues?

 

Mother & I are very grateful to chaseracer and Elizabeth Finn for the DGAA. Well, I am. She thinks she's just having afternoon tea with some other elderly folk, but now I'm off down the Estate Agent's to put her bungalow on the market...

[ProgRocker]

 

 

Did anybody have one of these? Did anybody have a 'funny uncle' who had one? What did the neighbours think? Was this when all those irritating snippets from Vivaldi's Four Seasons were being recorded for when you have to 'hold the line'?

 

Unbelievable.

 

Gr8 for being Keith Emerson! Just need a few amps.

 

7% interest rate @ Leeds & Holbeck BS! Mind you, the 1970s were a high inflationary decade.

[DCLane]

I remember Hooley's (my dad got his car bits for his Mk1 Escort from there) and also the garage at Trent Bridge, growing up nearby!

[revolting peasant]