What’s Your All-Time Favorite Car Commercial?

Before we consider the question posed by the headline, let me ask another: when was the last time you saw a car commercial? Do you remember what car it was for? Did any of the commercial stay with you?

I honestly cannot recall any car commercials more recent than a few years ago, and what has stuck with me is how annoying and/or confusing they were. There was one with a way-too-stylish grandfather(?) who going to a wedding or something? In a Volvo, maybe? Oh, and those “real people” Chevy commercials. All I remember from those is the Zebra Corner parodies (If you haven’t seen these, please, stop what you’re doing and watch all of them immediately).

Now, back in the pre-streaming days of cable when there were only a handful of channels you cared about, or the pre-cable days where you had only three stations that came in clearly, car commercials were a big deal. They mattered. They had high concepts and even higher budgets, and man, they made an impression. And that brings us to the big Q: which car commercial is your all-time favorite? Or your favorite commercials, plural, go nuts. And if you want to tell us about the TV spots you love to hate, by all means, we’d love to hear you loathe.

As for me, my favorite car commercials – and favorite commercials in general – are the groundbreaking spots produced by Robert Able and Associates. Remember the surreal Levi’s Trademark ad? That’s Robert Able. In the 80s, Able and his team refined the high-tech, high-gloss look of the era with wonderful commercials for the Chrysler Laser, Pontiac Firebird, and C4 Corvette (among others). They’re corny now (or cornier, I should say), but they still hold up, especially when James Earl Jones is doing the voiceover. The embed below will take you to the Corvette spot (my fave), and if you want to keep watching, the entire Robert Able And Associates showreel from 1985 is there – lots of fun.

While those Able commercials are my favorite car ads, there are many, many more that I love. I’m a huge fan of Ford’s crazy “torture test” commercials from the 70s and 80s, remember those?

 

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I’m also a massive fan of any and all “music video style” car commercials, especially the long-form versions. Topping the list: Ride! Pontiac, Ride!

The “My Duster” commercial is another winner, which we’ve written about before – and mashed up with Robocop below:

 

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Your turn!

What’s Your All-Time Favorite Car Commercial?