"Drive" laundry detergent

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Brad

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Joined
Mar 3, 2005
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2
Hello fellow members,
I noticed Robert (unimatic1140) has a pic of a "Drive" detergent box in his photo collection. Seeing that was a blast-from-the-past! I remember in the late 60's receiving a sample in the mail, and I kept the empty box for years.

Does anybody remember which company made it? I also remember a brand called "Bio-Ad"...anybody remember that?
 
Hi Brad, welcome to the club, you are now our second member from Vancouver. I'm not sure but I think it was Lever Brothers who produced Drive, but I will check when later and let you know for sure.
 
IS DRIVE STILL ALIVE?

I remember it well,in the seventies it said "now with new stain stick",which was to pre -treat of course.I haven't seen a new box of it for close to 30 years. I believe it was Lever Brothers.Also, who remembers Action chlorine bleach pacs,Miracle White super cleaner, touted as a booster by Ann B.Davis, the Brady Bunch maid, called Shulzy in the ad which she was also called on "The Bob Cummings show",or the "Biz Quiz" ad?Or who remembers around 1986 when Dash was now lemon scented, not low sudsing anymore, in a yello box, and was now a so-called bargain brand?What a sad change that was, and as a result, ALAS, it's now gone.
 
Action bleach packets

Yep, I remember Action bleach packets, it had the commercial with the muscular arm that rose up out of your washer. Carol Burnett used to regularly satirize commercials on her show. I remember one skit where she starts the washer, then opens the lid and the arm comes up and hits her in the eye. She then goes to the refrigerator and sticks her head in. You hear a scream, and she stumbles back and there's a big crown on her head. She then goes over to the sink, opend the window, and about 10 doves fly in all around her. After that, she goes back to the washer, fights off the arm to get the clothes out, then goes out her back door with her laundry. You hear the sound of a galloping horse, another scream, and she stumbles back inside with a white javelin through her. Thoe skits used to be my favorites
 
Bernett Brilliance

I remember that skit, it was from the 1967-68 season,her first year of the show and it was a hoot.When I was growing up, I waited for two things on that show,her annual"TV's most memorable commercials"spoof and the skit where Carol played a homemaker buffeted by commercials,such as the "TidyBowl" man that she growlingly flushes down the toilet.What fun.
 
The Carol Burnett Show premiered on Sept.11,1967 and finished March 29,1978.It debuted just four days after "The Flying Nun",and,in fact both of these show's successes that season stunned cynics and critics since they often cracked into the top twenty fairly regularly.
 
route '66?

In one way , you may be right.You may have seen her in numerous other things prior to 1967, such as her stint on Gomer Pyle USMC or her guest shots on The Lucy Shoe, etc.,etc...
 
carol burnett was a hoot!

whether it started in 66 or 67, the show filled the dens and LRs with laughter each monday night for years. And in answer to the DRIVE detergent question, yes it was Lever Brothers who manufactured the det. I remember the detergent was introduced in the summer of 69', the summer which also brought us-GAIN. I fell in love with Gain. My mom stuck with All or Cheer whatever she used at the time. Wife uses Cheer. All my life I've been with women who make bad choices in-detergents!
 
Was Drive one of the famous enzyme detergents, like Tide XK? Did it come in a yellow box with a black tire mark across the front?
 
It had little black "pac-man" that ran around eating stains. Apparently, lots of people got skin rashes from all the enzymes. Cher used Drive in her skits where she was the trampy, trailer trash, gossipy woman (Lavergne?) in the laundromat set.
 
REminds me of an incident in 70 or 71. Since most detergents contained enzymes by that time, we were alternating between Ajax, Punch and Fab. Occasionally, we would use Rinso with Color Bleach and All with the 3B's (bleach, borax and brighteners). Both of those were enzyme free as were Cheer, Duz, Silver Dust and Wisk.

Anyway, with all this rash stuff, my mother suddenly developed this horrible rash all over and I DO mean all over. She blamed the enzymes in Punch detergent and immediately we went back to the non enzyme products. But the rash got worse. Finally in desperation she went to the doctor. What was wrong?
Well, she neglected to remember that she had been weeding the yard and you guessed it....... poison ivy!! We went back to Punch after that......
 
Drive

Drive Enzyme detergent had "Enzolve"Litte microscoppic (3 different colored powder specks)pieces that looked kind of like PakMan that were protein enriched to eat up all the stains in your laundry.Lilly Tomlin did a skit on one of her original lps calling it Grrrrrrr.
 
I also thought Punch was a terrific smelling detergent, Peter. I was also partial to Ajax, which was unusual since it wasn't perfumey in that "strong sweet " way. But the laundry coming off the line after washing in Ajax smelled fantastic - so clean it took your breath away!!!
 
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