This morning, Jason gave us a Cold Start mystery. This Cold Start was like those times you try to fire up your diesel in the summer and it just won’t start. Or, maybe your daily driver won’t even turn over even though you drove it the night before. Those mysteries can put a pin in your entire day. What could also do that is finding out that a 1970 Chrysler brochure has an illustration of a Jensen in it. Wait, what?
As Jason showed us this morning, this 1970 Chrysler brochure features photos followed by line art illustrations based on the photos. But something weird happened as the illustrator drew a Jensen Interceptor in the place of a Chrysler 300.
Jason couldn’t figure it out, but our readers sure had some fun. Balloondoggle takes the first COTD today for this hilarious comment:
If I were the illustrator on that I would have slipped in some callouts for the background horse.
“Adjustable fuel intake at convenient height eliminates the need to bend or stretch when gassing up.”
“Exhaust system produces easily collected solids, reducing air pollution without a catalyst.”
“All-terrain 4-leg drive for confidence even in the desert.”
Then interrobang followed it up with this America reference:
I’ve been through the desert on that horse, and let me tell you, it got over all the plants and birds and rocks and things.
From Harris K Telemacher:
It’s explained in the text right above the Interceptor: “Your next car should look this great…and perform this well.” Yeah, your next car SHOULD look that great…but instead, you’ll be getting a 1970 gas-guzzling four-wheeled Chrysler aircraft carrier. Hope you enjoy that oil embargo in a few years!
For this last one, I found a comment that shows the beauty of a car community with all sorts of enthusiasts. Everyone seems to be an expert on something and if they aren’t they know an expert. Bryan Fischer sent out a Bat Signal:
Get David Zatz on the line, stat! @Allpar @Motales @Stellpower
The call was answered and a thread was created over at the wonderful world of Allpar. As of right now, the best guess is that someone goofed up and an editor didn’t catch it. [Editor’s Note: There is no way this is a goof-up or mistake. You don’t accidentally change a drawing of a Chrysler 300 four-door hardtop into a Jensen Interceptor. No way. That’s not how anything works. This was deliberate, I just don’t know why. – JT] Whatever the reason, weird stuff like this is part of what makes print brochures fun. There’s no going back and fixing it!
Have a great evening, everyone.
The thing I love most about “A Horse With No Name” is the sheer audacity. A band from London, calling itself America, writing a song whose guitar part is basically strumming the open strings with lyrics like “the heat was hot.” And then that song goes to number one in America.
Woo-hoo! The anonymous recognition I crave!
Thanks for reading all our stuff, and keep writing all the weird stuff.
Well i have suggested a Jensen several times as a relief from the oft repeated cars. I guess this is something. Jensen was a coach builder for high name brands and low production cars. When business started to wane they hooked up with Donald Healey designer of the Austin 3000. To design the next hot sports car and he designed the Jensen Healey. The 70s bumper requirements, the gas crises, and drunken british build quality in 1973 hurt sales so the company was in trouble out of the gate doing a Caroll Shelby and stuffing a Chrysler V8 in a 1200 pound coupe created a monster. But bad quality, bad gas rationing, ugly bumpers kept the Interceptor from succeeding. Funny thing is i bet the Jensen cars which were 2 had more parts from other companies than any other car. From a Ford forklift starter, a Lotus motor, gertrag transmission, a gasket made from rope and tar ala boat construction just a ton of off the othrr guys shelf. Those interested try http://www.jhps.com run by Greg the most knowledgeable Jensen man in America and a hell of a nice guy. Maybe interview worthy?