Teh Car Blogz

Mazda is known for, if anything, doing things differently. They single-handedly brought about the resurrection of the 2-seat small convertible, a previously dead market, in 1989 with the MX-5 Miata. Which has been a resounding success. They made a production road car with a Miller Cycle supercharged engine, pretty much just because they could. (Remember the Millenia S? Yeah, 2.3L V6, Miller Cycle, supercharged. Why? I have no idea.) But the biggest gamble that Mazda ever took was the rotary engine. And when they came out with it, they needed some unique advertising to get the word out. This is what they came up with.

“Piston engine goes BOING BOING BOING
But the Mazda goes Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm”
The ad was for the RX-3 wagon.  Although it’s cute, I’m not sure that a country song and the message “Buy this car and a pretty girl will steal it from you” was what they were aiming for.

Editor’s note: this is the start of a new column where i will occasionally feature some of my all-time favorite automotive ads, whether print or video. I hope you enjoy!

-James

Deep down, i’ve always had a soft side for the 1994-1994 Impala SS. It was the performance version of Chevy’s lame duck Caprice model. Fitted with a 260-horsepower 5.7L LT1 (with cast iron cylinder heads as opposed to the aluminum ones in the Corvette and Camaro/Firebird models), a 3.08 limited slip diff, and lowered and stiffened suspension, every Impala SS that managed to sneak out of the factory was dipped in a sinister coat of gloss black paint. The story behind the SS was that public reaction to the new Caprice in 1991 was so negative, many people took to customizing the cars to make them less ugly. Some time in late 1991 or early 1992, a GM executive saw a modified Caprice drive past in Detroit, and was so impressed by the new look that he followed the owner home and asked him about what had been done.

Anyway, this ad symbolizes the sheer awesomeness of the Impala SS pretty well, I’d say: