“Women, Auto & Mechanic” by Karl Anderson

"Women, Auto & Mechanic"
by Karl Anderson
From March 26, 1904

These well-dressed ladies from a 1904 cover seem to be in need of a mechanic. Love those tires!

“The Fur Coat” by John Sheridan

"The Fur Coat"
by John Sheridan
From January 5, 1918

This beautiful cover from 1918 was by artist John Sheridan. Magazine covers such as this one gave a glance into a lifestyle most Americans could not otherwise imagine. This issue was full of the ongoing dreadful news of WWI. It also contained a great deal of fiction and a surprising number of car ads, including the ad below for the “Rex” automobile.

“REX Automobile Ad” from January 5,1918

"REX Automobile Ad"
From January 5,1918

If you love old car ads, see “Have You Heard of These Classic Cars?”

“Caught in the Rain” by Albert W. Hampson

"Caught in the Rain"
by Albert W. Hampson
From August 29, 1936

“4 Wheels—No Brakes” is written on top of this jalopy from 1936. Apparently, there is no top, either. Love the facial expressions—clearly the young lady has had better dates.

“Ford V-8 Ad from 1936″

"Ford V-8 ad"
from August 1936

Much nicer than the brakeless heap with no top was the Ford V-8, as shown in this beautiful ad from August 1936.

“Parallel Parking” by Thornton Utz

"Parallel Parking"
by Thornton Utz
from April 1,1950

Post editors asked artist Thornton Utz if the lady behind the wheel on this 1950 cover might be his wife. He recoiled in horror: “Oh no! Don’t say that!” The editors, who loved to tease cover artists, countered with something about women drivers in general. The artist begged that they not say that, either. Whoever the anonymous lady was, she was clearly determined to nab that last parking spot in front of the market.

“Packard Automobile Ad” from April 1, 1950

"Packard Automobile Ad"
from April 1, 1950

Among the car ads in that issue was this one for a 1950 Packard Eight Deluxe 135-HP Touring Sedan:

If you want to see some beautiful old Packard ads, see our piece on “Classic Car Ads: The Packard”

“Backup Collision” by Stevan Dohanos

"Backup Collision"
by Stevan Dohanos
From August 4, 1956

It’s easy enough to see how this could happen. Love the depiction of 1956 suburbia, including the man with the push mower. He seems to be wisely staying out of it. Unless one of the drivers is his wife and he is simply in shock.

“Speeder on the Median” by Richard Sargent

"Speeder on the Median"
by Richard Sargent
From June 2, 1962

It wouldn’t be so bad if the guy on the mower wasn’t so smug-looking. Oh, who are we kidding? Even without the “Excuse My Dust” smirk on the mower’s face, it is still discouraging to have your zippy roadster—shall we say—“outclipped” by a lawnmower.

Our Love for Cars The Saturday Evening Post

But with his Model T, things would be different. Ford would introduce a new design and business plan with the assumption that all Americans, not just the rich, wanted their own automobiles. He was ready to give them—

a 4-cylinder, 20 horsepower, five-passenger family car—powerful, speedy and enduring,—a car that looks good, and is as good as it looks.

His gamble paid off generously; in the first year, Ford sold 10,000 Model Ts—ten thousand new cars for a nation that previously had only 100,000 registered vehicles!

The Model T’s success was due, in part, to its superior engineering, including its use of Vanadium steel, a tough, lightweight alloy that kept the weight of the vehicle down to 1200 pounds.

Not an ounce of necessary weight sacrificed, not an ounce of dead weight in the car.

But no selling point was more important than price; the Model T sold for just $850 (about $20,000 today). As Ford proclaimed:

this big, roomy, powerful five-passenger touring car … possesses at least equal value with any “1909” car announced, and at the same time sells for several hundred dollars less than the lowest of the rest.

Compare … the new Ford car with those of any higher priced car offered and see if you can justify … the additional expenditure that buying any other car involves.*

Ford’s Model T began several revolutions. Of course it changed manufacturing and business

Click to enlarge the image.

methods. But his “car for the multitude,” as he called it, also revolutionized the nature of the American family and society. Middle-income families gained a new mobility and independence as well as new opportunities. Life would no longer center around the family hearthside and the neighborhood. Americans could now explore their country, escape their town or village, drive off to new opportunities, or follow their whim to speed down a country road.

Year after year, Ford compounded his success. His yearly production doubled and doubled again, from 20,000 to 53,000 then 94,000. By 1913, when production reached 225,000 Model Ts, he was turning out a new car every 3 minutes. Meanwhile, the price kept dropping, too; in 1916, he could afford to sell his car for just $360 ($7,000 today).

This productivity was only possible because of Ford’s assembly line, which—according to critics—forced workers into mindless labor at an inhuman pace. Furthermore, critics claimed, this mass-production culture was spreading across the nation along with the Model T. Americans were endlessly racing after dreams and living at a pace of life beyond human endurance.

Nonsense, Ford replied. In 1926, he defended the culture and production methods that the Model T had made possible.

There is [one] criticism that appears when modern industry is mentioned—the charge that machine-production methods, rapidity of operation, is responsible for the so-called killing pace of present-day life. In one breath industry is charged with making men stupid, and in the next with making men too nervously alert. Both statements cannot be correct.

How is one to reconcile the killing pace with the fact that the average of human life is lengthened year by year?

We live on a planet driving at terrific speed through space; is anyone nervously ruined by letting the earth carry him along? We are naturally habituated to the speed of the planet.

In just the same way, no one who is in step with the pace of industry is conscious of it. Irritation does not arise from the pull forward; it is in the pull back. Only those who try to check the pace of progress find our present gait distressful.

Our pace was made by ourselves. We are not forced to keep up with something superhumanly set for us. Man sets his own pace, and he can only do what is within the limit of his power.

The world is on the move and gives every evidence of an intention to keep moving and to hasten its pace. Viewed in the mass, the spectacle may seem feverish to those who are not a part of it. But from the point of view of the individual there is no sensation of being rushed. Rather the alert men and women of today are irritated by what is, to them, the slow gait of progress. Most of them are in a hurry to reach a better goal, and their ideas are becoming more and more definite as to where and why they are going. People are eager for the real education of experience. They are filled with creative curiosity.

The debate continued long afterward, and continues today. Does new technology make our lives both frantic and mind-numbing? Or does it bring into our lives new rewards and new possibilities? As in every revolution, both extremes come true.

(We can make that comparison today because automakers, in those ingenuous times, advertized their prices. So we know that, in 1909, a Franklin cost $3750; an Oldsmobile Roadster, $2750; the Winton Six, $3000; a Cadillac “Thirty,” $1400, and a Chalmers Detroit [which boasted they made only 9% profit on their cars], $1,500.)

Farmers added to the value of their Model T by adapting them to non-transportation uses as exaggerated, only slightly, in this cartoon. Country Gentleman, January 12, 1918 Click to enlarge the image.

The Ad that Launched a Revolution The Saturday Evening Post

What is surprising is the show’s popularity among younger viewers—who never saw the 1960s (or the ’70s or ’80s).

You would expect Mad Men to be popular among baby boomers. Every story line, every character, and every set features historical detail of the period that can trigger memories, if not nostalgia, among Americans who lived in those years—whether or not they worked for a flashy New York ad agency.

But how do you account for the show’s loyal viewers among 20-year-olds?

It might be the fascination of watching an America that is both foreign and familiar. The foreign America can be seen in the characters’ enthusiastic drinking and smoking, which is pursued on a scale that only our grandparents could relate to.

Click image to enter the 1963 Ad Gallery.

The familiar America is the world of advertising, which is so much a part of our lives in 21st-century America, it is almost our second language. We hear advertising’s familiar accents in politics, health care, education, religion, even in personal relationships.

Modern advertising proved itself in the 1920s. By the 1960s, though, it grew up.

Advertisers dropped the folksy tone and sensible appeals they were still using in the 1950s to sell their cars and laundry soap. The new ads were more colorful, more creative, and more entertaining. Major advertisers used copy and visuals so effective that, viewed today, they offer a fresh, vibrant view into that decade.

Of course, The Saturday Evening Post was an important part for any national ad campaign. Our readers comprised a highly desirable group of buyers, and the pages of our 1963 issues offer a broad window into the business and culture of the times.

If you’ve been following some of the plotting and machinations at Sterling Cooper, you may be interested in some of the finished products of 1963 ad campaigns. We’ve also included a few of the articles that surrounded these ads. In future Retrospectives, we hope to offer other advertising and visuals from this fascinating era to keep pace with the story line.

View our 1963 Ad Gallery

Mad Men—If It’s Not Nostalgia, What Is It? The Saturday Evening Post