1936 Dodge comercial

[bygted]

This is great - I wonder how many cars they wrecked making this - (kinda like an early Dukes of Hazzard) The part where they roll it down the hill is the best!
And if I am not mistaken - the old guy that plays the Dad is Perry White from the original Superman series.

 

[supersuds]

His dad may call him a he-man but I think Jimmy and his friend are gay.

Chrysler and Studebaker also ran ads in this period where they supposedly pushed cars off of cliffs and drove them away under their own power. This is the first time I heard anyone claim they had a good reason for doing it!

Great period piece, thanks!

 

[sudsmaster]

It's no rumor

Chyrsler pushed an Airflow sedan over a cliff... it rolled a few times and was dented up, but still was able to drive away.

The Airflow was ahead of its time, with a semi unitized body construction, which acted like a roll cage around the passenger compartment. Unfortunately it made it very difficult to redesign the car when its ungainly appearance tanked in the showrooms. The only thing Chrysler could do was to tack on a more prominent hood/radiator in front, which helped a little in that it drew attention away from the ugly headlights squeezed in flush between the front fenders and the radiator. They had the right idea; they just should have gone a step further and moved the headlights into the front fenders, ala the Volksagen bug design. Arguably the best looking Airlow was the smallest one - the DeSoto 2 door coupe, with no spare tire tacked on the back to ruin the aerodynamics or the streamlined look. Scarcer than hens teeth today, though.