Can You Match These Historic Car Ads to the Correct Era?
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Question 1
Which Automaker Used The Slogan 'See The USA In Your Chevrolet'?
Question 1
Which Decade Did Tailfins Dominate American Car Design?
Question 1
What Did 1950s Car Ads Most Often Promise Buyers?
Question 1
Which Car Brand Advertised Itself As 'The Standard Of The World'?
Question 1
What Year Did Volkswagen Run Its Famous 'Think Small' Ad?
Question 1
Which Era's Car Ads Heavily Featured Station Wagons For Families?
Question 1
Which Automaker Coined The Phrase 'Have You Driven A Ford Lately?'
Question 1
What Did 1970s Car Ads Suddenly Start Emphasizing After 1973?
Question 1
What Image Dominated American Car Ads Throughout The Entire 1950s?
Question 1
Which Automaker Used Bob Seger's 'Like A Rock' In Its Truck Ads?
Question 1
What Color Was Most Commonly Featured In 1950s Car Ads?
Question 1
In What Year Did Ford Introduce The Mustang With A Huge Ad Campaign?
Question 1
Which Automaker Launched The Emotional 'Love' Campaign In 2008?
Question 1
What Did 1980s Luxury Car Ads Most Often Use To Signal Status?
Question 1
What Theme Dominated Jeep Ads Throughout The 1980s And 1990s?
Question 1
Which Decade Saw Car Ads Begin Targeting Women As Primary Buyers?
Question 1
What Did Early 1990s Saturn Ads Focus On Instead Of The Car Itself?
Question 1
Which Automaker Ran Ads Saying 'Ask The Man Who Owns One'?
Question 1
Which Brand Used The Famous Slogan 'The Ultimate Driving Machine'?
Question 1
Which Decade Did Car Ads First Heavily Feature Cup Holders And Storage?
Question 1
Which Car Brand Ran Ads With The Tagline 'Drivers Wanted'?
Question 1
What Did 1960s Muscle Car Ads Most Often Emphasize To Young Buyers?
Question 1
Which Automaker Used The Slogan 'This Is Not Your Father's Oldsmobile'?
Question 1
In What Year Did Chrysler Air Its Famous 'Imported From Detroit' Super Bowl Ad?
Question 1
Which Brand Popularized The Slogan 'Oh What A Feeling' In Its Ads?
Question 1
What Did Early 1950s Car Ads Frequently Compare Their Vehicles To?
Question 1
What Did 1960s Volkswagen Ads Famously Avoid Showing?
Question 1
What Did 1980s Japanese Car Ads Emphasize Over American Rivals?
Question 1
In What Year Did Cadillac Revive Its Brand With The 'Art And Science' Campaign?
Question 1
Which Automaker Used The Tagline 'Grab Life By The Horns'?
Question 1
What Setting Did 1990s Minivan Ads Almost Always Use?
Question 1
What Did Early 1960s Lincoln Continental Ads Focus On Most?
Question 1
Which Brand Ran Ads Showing Cars Driving On The Moon?
Question 1
What Did 1970s Cadillac Ads Frequently Show Alongside The Car?
Question 1
What Did 1950s Car Ads Almost Always Include In The Background?
Question 1
Which Brand Used The Famous Slogan 'Invent' In Its Ads?
Question 1
What Era Did Car Ads First Feature Crash Safety Test Footage?
Question 1
Which Automaker Used The Slogan 'The Power Of Dreams'?
Question 1
What Did 1960s Pontiac Ads Consistently Promise Young Male Buyers?
Question 1
Which Brand Ran A Famous 1980s Ad Showing A Car Outrunning A Cheetah?
Question 1
What Did 1950s Convertible Ads Almost Always Feature?
Question 1
What Did 1990s Volvo Ads Consistently Emphasize Above Everything Else?
Question 1
Which Decade Did Car Ads First Appear In Color In Magazines?
Question 1
What Did 1960s Cadillac Ads Always Place The Car In Front Of?
Question 1
What Era Did Car Ads First Feature Animated Characters Or Mascots?
Question 1
Which Brand Introduced The Slogan 'Live In It' For Its SUVs?
1
Chrysler
2
Ford
3
Buick
4
Chevrolet
Dinah Shore sang that jingle on TV from 1952 onward, making it one of the most recognized car slogans ever.
1
The 1970s
2
The 1940s
3
The 1950s
4
The 1960s
Tailfins exploded across American cars in the 1950s reaching their wildest peak on the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado.
1
Freedom And Power
2
Fuel Efficiency
3
Safety And Savings
4
Environmental Care
Postwar prosperity made Americans crave open-road adventure, so 1950s ads sold dreams of speed and independence above all else.
1
Lincoln
2
Imperial
3
Cadillac
4
Packard
Cadillac adopted that slogan in the early 1900s and used it for decades to signal unmatched luxury and prestige.
1
1959
2
1968
3
1963
4
1955
The 1959 'Think Small' campaign by Doyle Dane Bernbach is still ranked the greatest print ad of the 20th century.
1
The 1990s
2
The 1940s
3
The 1980s
4
The 1960s
The suburban baby boom of the 1960s made station wagons America's family symbol, and automakers advertised them relentlessly to young parents.
1
Dodge
2
Pontiac
3
Oldsmobile
4
Ford
Ford launched that slogan in 1982 to win back buyers who had switched to Japanese imports during the fuel-crisis years.
1
Fuel Economy
2
Horsepower
3
Convertible Tops
4
Chrome Styling
The 1973 Arab oil embargo sent gas prices soaring overnight, forcing Detroit to advertise miles-per-gallon for the very first time.
1
City Traffic
2
Racing Tracks
3
Parking Lots
4
The Open Highway
The new Interstate Highway System, signed into law by Eisenhower in 1956, made the endless open road the decade's most powerful symbol of freedom.
1
Chevrolet
2
GMC
3
Dodge
4
Ford
Chevy trucks licensed Bob Seger's 'Like A Rock' from 1991 to 2004 making it one of advertising's most iconic rock anthems.
1
Deep Navy Blue
2
Forest Green
3
Solid Black
4
Two-Tone Pastels
Post-war optimism made two-tone pastel paint jobs — like pink and white — a defining visual of 1950s automotive advertising and culture.
1
1960
2
1964
3
1967
4
1962
Ford unveiled the Mustang on April 17, 1964, simultaneously airing ads on all three major TV networks — a marketing first at the time.
1
Toyota
2
Subaru
3
Honda
4
Nissan
Subaru's 'Love' campaign debuted in 2008 and repositioned the brand around emotional loyalty rather than specs or performance claims.
1
Beach Scenes
2
Mountain Landscapes
3
Country Club Settings
4
City Skylines
Reagan-era luxury ads routinely placed cars in front of mansions, golf courses, and country clubs to appeal to the decade's aspirational wealth culture.
1
Family Safety
2
Off-Road Adventure
3
Urban Style
4
Fuel Savings
Jeep's 'There's Only One' campaign in the 1980s leaned hard into rugged wilderness imagery, cementing the brand's outdoor adventure identity for decades.
1
The 1950s
2
The 1970s
3
The 1960s
4
The 1990s
As more women entered the workforce in the 1970s, automakers like Volkswagen and Toyota began creating ads aimed directly at female car buyers for the first time.
1
Celebrity Endorsements
2
The Car's Speed
3
The People Who Built It
4
The Low Price Tag
Saturn's groundbreaking 1990s campaign featured real factory workers in Spring Hill, Tennessee, making it one of the first ads to sell a car through human storytelling.
1
Oldsmobile
2
Packard
3
Lincoln
4
Buick
Packard used this slogan from 1902, making it one of the longest-running taglines in American advertising history.
1
Jaguar
2
BMW
3
Mercedes-Benz
4
Audi
BMW introduced 'The Ultimate Driving Machine' in 1973 to distinguish itself from American cars focused on comfort over performance.
1
The 1970s
2
The 1960s
3
The 1980s
4
The 1990s
As minivans boomed in the 1980s, automakers began advertising interior convenience features like cup holders as major selling points.
1
Volkswagen
2
Nissan
3
Honda
4
Toyota
Volkswagen launched 'Drivers Wanted' in 1995, cleverly echoing its beloved 1960s 'Think Small' campaign with a new generation of buyers.
1
Safety Features
2
Speed And Power
3
Family Comfort
4
Low Gas Mileage
Muscle car ads of the 1960s deliberately targeted young men by showcasing horsepower numbers, a tactic that alarmed safety advocates like Ralph Nader.
1
Pontiac
2
Buick
3
Chrysler
4
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile ran this campaign in 1988 hoping to attract younger buyers, but the slogan famously backfired by reminding everyone the brand felt outdated.
1
2013
2
2011
3
2009
4
2007
The two-minute Chrysler 200 ad featuring Eminem aired during Super Bowl XLV and became one of the most celebrated car commercials ever made.
1
Honda
2
Nissan
3
Subaru
4
Toyota
Toyota launched 'Oh What A Feeling' in 1979 alongside its iconic jumping-person logo, helping the brand become a household name in America.
1
Jet Airplanes
2
Space Rockets
3
Ocean Liners
4
Racing Horses
Post-WWII excitement about aviation led car designers and advertisers to borrow jet imagery, directly inspiring the chrome tailfins that defined 1950s cars.
1
The Car's Price
2
The Car's Engine
3
Glamour And Excess
4
Families With Children
VW's 1960s ads deliberately stripped away chrome, status symbols, and flashy lifestyles — a radical contrast to American car advertising of the era.
1
American-Made Parts
2
Reliability And Value
3
Luxury And Comfort
4
Horsepower And Speed
After the 1970s oil crisis damaged Detroit's reputation, Toyota and Honda ads in the 1980s hammered home dependability and low ownership costs.
1
1995
2
2002
3
1998
4
2007
Cadillac's 2002 'Art And Science' relaunch paired sharp-edged car designs with Led Zeppelin music, successfully attracting younger luxury buyers.
1
Chevrolet
2
Ram
3
Dodge
4
Ford
Dodge ran 'Grab Life By The Horns' through the early 2000s, tying the brand's ram logo directly to bold, aggressive energy in its advertising.
1
Suburban Neighborhoods
2
City Downtowns
3
Mountain Highways
4
Beach Coastlines
Chrysler, Honda, and Toyota minivan ads of the 1990s almost universally showed tree-lined suburbs, soccer gear, and cheerful families loading up for errands.
1
Understated Elegance
2
Racing Heritage
3
Family Cargo Space
4
Affordable Pricing
The 1961 Lincoln Continental's ads used quiet, minimal copy and clean photography — a deliberate signal that true luxury needed no loud boasting.
1
Mercury
2
Chrysler
3
Lincoln
4
Buick
Lincoln ran dreamy 1960s ads using lunar imagery to signal that its cars were as advanced as the space race itself.
1
Camping And Hiking
2
College Campuses
3
Fur Coats And Jewelry
4
Surfboards And Beaches
1970s Cadillac ads leaned heavily into luxury fashion imagery to appeal to buyers who wanted visible signs of wealth.
1
A Smiling Suburban Family
2
A City Skyline At Night
3
A Crowded Racetrack
4
A Lone Driver In Rain
Postwar prosperity made the happy nuclear family the ultimate symbol of success, and car ads reflected that dream perfectly throughout the entire decade.
1
Audi
2
Volvo
3
Saab
4
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz adopted 'Invent' as a tagline to remind buyers that Karl Benz patented the very first true automobile back in 1886.
1
The 1980s
2
The 1970s
3
The 2000s
4
The 1990s
Volvo pioneered showing real crash test clips in 1990s TV commercials, turning safety data into a powerful emotional selling point.
1
Toyota
2
Nissan
3
Honda
4
Subaru
Honda launched 'The Power Of Dreams' globally in 2001, inspired by founder Soichiro Honda's belief that imagination drives all great engineering.
1
Fuel Savings
2
Family Practicality
3
Safety And Comfort
4
Excitement And Rebellion
Pontiac's 1960s 'Wide-Track' campaign deliberately targeted young men by positioning the brand as the cool, rebellious alternative to conservative family cars.
1
Jaguar
2
Lamborghini
3
Ferrari
4
Porsche
Jaguar used the cheetah comparison in 1980s print and TV ads to reinforce the animal-speed connection already built into the brand's iconic cat logo.
1
A Woman In A Scarf
2
Children In The Back
3
A Man In A Suit
4
A Dog On The Seat
Advertisers in the 1950s used glamorous women in silk scarves to signal that convertibles were stylish, carefree, and aspirational status symbols.
1
Fuel Economy
2
Safety
3
Speed
4
Luxury
Volvo built its entire 1990s brand identity around safety, even running ads showing crash test results — a bold move that made safety feel aspirational.
1
The 1950s
2
The 1920s
3
The 1940s
4
The 1930s
Full-color car ads appeared in major American magazines as early as the 1930s, with General Motors leading the way to showcase their bold new paint options.
1
A Golf Course
2
A City Skyline
3
A Mansion Or Estate
4
A Mountain Range
Cadillac's 1960s ads consistently placed cars in front of grand estates to signal that owning one meant you had truly arrived in American society.
1
The 1950s
2
The 1940s
3
The 1960s
4
The 1930s
Automakers began using animated mascots in radio and print ads during the 1940s, a technique borrowed from consumer goods brands like Kellogg's and Coca-Cola.
1
Ford Explorer
2
GMC Jimmy
3
Jeep Cherokee
4
Chevy Blazer
Ford used 'Live In It' for the Explorer in the early 1990s, perfectly capturing the decade's obsession with SUVs as family command centers replacing the station wagon.
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