Car Advertising
A century and a bit of selling cars, told through the advertisements rather than the cars. It starts with specifications and horsepower, turns romantic in 1923 when a Jordan Playboy ad set somewhere west of Laramie sold a feeling instead of a machine, and turns again in 1959 when a New York agency put a small German car in a lot of white space and called one of them a lemon. Then colour television, then a sixty-second film with a Rube Goldberg machine of car parts, then eight short films with real directors, then thirty seconds at the Super Bowl for the price of a house. The archive is honest about a gap: brands post this year's campaign and almost none of them keep their own famous work, so several of the most celebrated ads in the business exist online only as strangers' uploads and are not here at all.
A chronological documentary of 1,134 moments spanning 1890–2026 on Loreline.
Curated by Olivier · last updated 2026-09-20
Eras
- Print, The magazine and newspaper advertisement as a printed object: the full-page plate, the fold-out spread, the headline set in type. This is the deepest part of the archive and it carries everything before the brands went online, running densely from the 1890s to the late 1970s. The Saturday Evening Post era, the motoring press, and the French, German and Italian pages alongside the American ones.
- Illustration, Advertising art from before the camera took over. Painted and drawn cars, the commissioned illustrator, the studio rendering, and the deliberately stretched proportions that made a sedan look longer and lower than any photograph would allow. The look ran from the 1900s to about 1972.
- Agencies, The shops and the people inside them. Doyle Dane Bernbach, whose 1959 Volkswagen work is the most written-about campaign in the business and which was absorbed into TBWA in December 2025; Wieden and Kennedy in Portland; Chiat Day; Leo Burnett; Ogilvy. The art director and copywriter pairings, and the account wins that moved whole brands.
- Music, The soundtrack as the thing people remember. Licensed tracks that outlived the campaign, songs that broke bands, and the composed scores. The smallest segment here, reported thin rather than padded, because the qualifying material genuinely ran out.
- Taglines, The line itself, and what a campaign gets reduced to. Ask the Man Who Owns One. The Ultimate Driving Machine. Vorsprung durch Technik, coined by John Hegarty at BBH in 1984. Zoom-Zoom. Think Small. Most of what survives of these is film rather than paper, because the famous printed pages are almost entirely absent from the free record.
- Directors, Car advertising as a filmmaker's medium. BMW hired eight directors for The Hire in 2001 and 2002, including Ang Lee, Wong Kar-wai, John Woo and Guy Ritchie, and the series is in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection. Also Tony Scott, Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry, and the spots that turned into careers.
- Bans, Advertisements stopped, pulled, disowned or prosecuted. The 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal is the centre of it, because it retroactively poisoned a decade of clean diesel advertising and drew a Federal Trade Commission action naming a specific online video. No British regulator ruling appears here, not because none happened but because none could be sourced.
- Commercials, The television and cinema spot. The largest body of moving image here, and almost all of it from the brands' own channels, which means it is mostly 2006 onward. The famous older spots are conspicuously missing and the reason is in the archive description: manufacturers post the current campaign and do not keep their own back catalogue.
- Awards, The trophies and the shows: Cannes Lions, the Clios, D and AD, the shortlists and the disqualifications. The awards bodies turn out to be better archivists than the brands, and in at least one case they hold a famous car ad that the manufacturer no longer publishes.
- Super Bowl, The single night when an American car ad is bought for the largest audience of the year, with the price, the Ad Meter placing and the pre-release rollout that now precedes it. Worth noting against the folklore: car brands are not the biggest spenders on this night, and General Motors skipped the game entirely in the early 2010s on cost.
- - British Inks Edward Packard & Co. 1890. A price list for Packard, dated 1890. Price list for various inks under the heading British Inks for British Printers. Packard's line "Ask the Man Who Owns One" is credited by Wikipedia to company president James Alvan Macauley, though the popular retelling gives it to James Ward Packard. The setting is domestic rather than mechanical, placing the car among the household's other possessions.
- - R. Wolf, Magdeburg, Buckau, Hochdruck- und Compound-Locomobilen. A printed advertisement for Locomobile, dated 1890. Advertisement for R. Wolf, Magdeburg, Buckau, high-pressure and compound locomobiles from 1890. A named model is given a personality rather than a specification, an approach that arrived slowly.
- - Etrennes 1892. Charrettes Peugeot (...), supplément à la Revue scientifique. A poster for Peugeot, dated 1891. Sujet : Automobiles Peugeot Publicité Transports divers Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : MnS000 Affiche Langue : français Éditeur : [s.n.]. The motor trade in the 1890s advertised to a readership that had mostly never seen a car, so the copy explained the machine before it sold it. The image shows the car at night under lamps, selling the lighting equipment as much as the vehicle.
- - PN 1894-1895 (14). A printed advertisement, dated 1894. Page de Paris-Noël 1894-1895 ː publicité Decauville et Michelin . The motor trade in the 1890s advertised to a readership that had mostly never seen a car, so the copy explained the machine before it sold it. Two columns of body copy sit beneath the illustration, a layout the trade press used almost universally.
- - EXPOSITION DE LOCOMOTION AUTOMOBILE PARIS du 6 au 20 Juin 1895 GALERIE RAPP. A poster, dated 1895. Auteur(s): Clouet, E., dessinateur Imprimerie Kossuth & Cie, imprimeur Date de production: En 1895 Datation en siècle: 19e siècle Type(s) d'objet(s): Arts graphiques, Estampe Dénomination(s): Affiche Matériaux. Advertising in the 1890s carried the burden of introducing an unfamiliar machine to a sceptical public. The illustration flattens the perspective so the whole body length reads across the page.
- - CLOOC D340 the modern motor car. A printed advertisement, dated 1895. The Modern Motor Car - Book advertisement. In the 1890s the automobile advertisement was a technical announcement, printed alongside notices for bicycles and carriages. A dealership address is overprinted, showing how a national plate was adapted for local insertion.
- - Moteurs à gaz et à pétrole automobiles... Concessionnaires Alphonse Eldin.... A poster for GAZ, dated 1898. Sujet : Moteurs Publicité Transports divers Affiche Langue : français Éditeur : [s.n.] [Impr. Courmont...] ([Paris]). The price is quoted at the factory gate, leaving freight and duty to the buyer, which was standard practice.
- - Michelin Poster 1898. A poster, dated 1898. The first depiction of the Michelin Man making a toast. He is also known as Bibendum, possibly because of this poster. The marque is placed in a foreign or exotic setting, arguing for its reach rather than its engineering.
- - VAPORINE ESSENCE HOMOGENE POUR AUTOMOBILES, AFF1397. A poster for Premier, dated 1898. Auteur(s): Le Mouel, Eugène Louis (dit Masque) (Villedieu-les-Poêles, 24 03 1859 - Paris, 17 12 1934), dessinateur Imprimerie Chaix, imprimeur Date de production: En 1898 Datation en siècle: 19e siècle Type(s). In the 1890s the automobile advertisement was a technical announcement, printed alongside notices for bicycles and carriages. The advertisement carries no price at all, a choice that signalled the car was not being sold on cost.
- - Publicité Peugeot (1898). A printed advertisement for Peugeot, dated 1898. L'Almanach des Sports 1899 sous la direction de Maurice Leudet, librairie Paul Ollendorff, p.109. Advertising in the 1890s carried the burden of introducing an unfamiliar machine to a sceptical public. The copy opens with a question, which was less common than the declarative headline of the period.
- - Benz automobile advertisement, 1898, from Über Land und Meer, vol. 79, no. 15. A printed advertisement for Benz, carried in Über Land und Meer, dated 1898. Advertisement for Benz automobiles from the beginning of 1898. The automobile pictured is a Benz Vis-à-Vis model. The lettering of the headline is hand-drawn to match the illustration, which is why it does not repeat elsewhere.
- - Benz automobile advertisement, 1899, from Über Land und Meer, vol. 81, no. 19. A printed advertisement for Benz, carried in Über Land und Meer, dated 1899. Advertisement for Benz automobiles from early February 1899. The automobile pictured is a Benz Vis-à-Vis model. Two columns of body copy sit beneath the illustration, a layout the trade press used almost universally.
- - AUTOMOBILE CLUB DE FRANCE 2ème. EXPOSITION INTERNATIONALE d'AUTOMOBILES au. A poster, dated 1899. Auteur(s): Lefort-Juillerat, Henri, dessinateur Imprimerie J. Barreau, imprimeur Date de production: En 1899 Datation en siècle: 19e siècle Type(s) d'objet(s): Arts graphiques Dénomination(s): Affiche Matériaux. A slogan is set apart from the body copy, in the position an endline would later occupy.
- - Publicité Automobiles électriques Jenatzy 1899. A printed advertisement, dated 1899. Publicité Automobiles Jenatzy 1899 L'Almanach des Sports 1899 sous la direction de Maurice Leudet , librairie Paul Ollendorff, p.125. The motor trade in the 1890s advertised to a readership that had mostly never seen a car, so the copy explained the machine before it sold it. The wheels are drawn with visible spokes, a detail that dates the plate as much as the coachwork does.
- - Automobile Club de France. 2° Exposition internationale d'automobiles.. A brochure, dated 1899. In the 1890s the automobile advertisement was a technical announcement, printed alongside notices for bicycles and carriages. The plate carries the maker's address, the standard way of inviting a written enquiry.
- - Locomobile1899Advertisment800Locomobiles. A printed advertisement for Locomobile, dated 1899. 1899 advertisement for "Locomobile" automobile. The motor trade in the 1890s advertised to a readership that had mostly never seen a car, so the copy explained the machine before it sold it. The copy quotes a figure and then explains it, rather than leaving the number to work alone.
- - Opel Motorwagen Werbung 1899. A printed advertisement for Opel, dated 1899. 1899 Opel motorcar advertisement, depicting an older Lutzmann „Arrow 0“ (not actually made by Opel in this form). Advertising in the 1890s carried the burden of introducing an unfamiliar machine to a sceptical public. A slogan is set apart from the body copy, in the position an endline would later occupy.
- - Fiat-Automobile-Vintage-Poster-1900. A poster for Fiat, dated 1900. Fiat Automobile Vintage Car Poster Advertisement printed in the early 1900’s. In the 1900s a car advertisement had to establish that the vehicle would start, run and finish the journey. The page includes a small map or a route, selling the car by selling the journey.
- - Vêtements et accessoires pour l'automobile P-FG-ES-04676. A printed advertisement, dated 1900. Advertising in the first decade of the century led on specification: horsepower, cylinders, wheelbase and price, set in dense type. A named model is given a personality rather than a specification, an approach that arrived slowly.
- - Affiche voor Spijker Auto. A poster, dated 1900. Affiche voor Spijker Auto, gedrukt door Emrik en Binger. Advertising in the first decade of the century led on specification: horsepower, cylinders, wheelbase and price, set in dense type. The copy opens with a question, which was less common than the declarative headline of the period.
- - Personal estacion carhue. A printed advertisement, dated 1900. Before 1910 the motor advertisement was mostly an engineering prospectus, with the price stated plainly and the machine described part by part. The car is drawn from a low angle so that it fills the frame and reads as larger than it is.
- - Bianchi Quadriciclo 1900. A printed advertisement for De Dion-Bouton, dated 1900. Bianchi Tricilo with De Dion 2,25 HP (ca. 1900). The palette is limited to what the printing process of the day could hold in register.
- - Riker Motor Vehicle Co. ad 1900. A printed advertisement, dated 1900. Advertisement for Riker Electric Victoria motor vehicle 1900. Before 1910 the motor advertisement was mostly an engineering prospectus, with the price stated plainly and the machine described part by part. The car is rendered rather than photographed, which was still the cheaper and more controllable option.
- - Pub Peugeot-Le Chauffeur-1900. A newspaper advertisement for Peugeot, dated 1900. Publicité des Automobiles Peugeot dans le journal "Le Chauffeur" n°91 du 11 octobre 1900. Before 1910 the motor advertisement was mostly an engineering prospectus, with the price stated plainly and the machine described part by part. The page names a distributor network, which was itself an argument about the marque's reach.
- - The Dennis Car Advertisement. A handbill, dated 1900. Sales flyer (advertising material) dating from around 1900. Produced by Dennis Bros., London. The car occupies the lower half of the plate and the argument occupies the upper half.
- - Фрезе и К° Иллюстрированный вестник культуры 1900-1901 Вып 3. A printed advertisement, dated 1900. Иллюстрированный вестник культуры и торгово-промышленного прогресса России, Вып. 3, 1900-1901 г. The composition places people beside the machine to give it scale and a social setting.
- - Publicité des automobiles Mors, 1900. A magazine advertisement for Mors, dated 1900. Publicité des automobiles Mors, 1900. Before 1910 the motor advertisement was mostly an engineering prospectus, with the price stated plainly and the machine described part by part. The maker's name is set larger than the model name, which is how marque loyalty was built before badge engineering.
- - 1901 Steamobile logo from advertisement in Automobile Topics. A printed advertisement, dated 1901. 1901 Steamobile logo from advertisement in Automobile Topics. In the 1900s a car advertisement had to establish that the vehicle would start, run and finish the journey. The maker's name is set larger than the model name, which is how marque loyalty was built before badge engineering.
- - Columbia Automobiles "1901 Columbia Electric Phaeton" advertisement in Judge. A magazine advertisement, dated 1901. Columbia Automobiles "1901 Columbia Electric Phaeton" advertisement in Judge magazine on October 19, 1901. Before 1910 the motor advertisement was mostly an engineering prospectus, with the price stated plainly and the machine described part by part. The advertisement names the coachwork as well as the chassis, a distinction that mattered while the two were bought separately.
- - Automobiles Morisse. A printed advertisement, dated 1901. Advertisement for Morisse automobile company, Etampes, France. The trade press of the 1900s carried page after page of these announcements, aimed at dealers and agents as much as at buyers. Type, image and price share the page in the proportions the trade press expected of a paid announcement.
- - 1901 Steamobile advertisement - Automobile Topics. A magazine advertisement, dated 1901. 1901 Steamobile advertisement in Automobile Topics. The trade press of the 1900s carried page after page of these announcements, aimed at dealers and agents as much as at buyers. Model year, body style and price are all stated, which was the convention before the annual restyle made price a secondary argument.
- - Mobile and Ohio Railroad Dining Cars Advertisement 1902. A poster, dated 1902. Commercial poster for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, Christmas 1902. Before 1910 the motor advertisement was mostly an engineering prospectus, with the price stated plainly and the machine described part by part. The composition is horizontal, built for a landscape spread rather than a single column.
- - Studebaker advertisement, 1902. A printed advertisement for Studebaker, dated 1902. 1902 Studebaker advertisement. The trade press of the 1900s carried page after page of these announcements, aimed at dealers and agents as much as at buyers. A guarantee period is stated in figures, which was one of the few claims a buyer could hold the maker to.
- - American (1902 automobile). A printed advertisement, dated 1902. Scanned from a 1900s advertisement. In the 1900s a car advertisement had to establish that the vehicle would start, run and finish the journey. The advertisement names the coachwork as well as the chassis, a distinction that mattered while the two were bought separately.
- - 1902 Searchmont advertisement - Automobile Topics. A magazine advertisement, dated 1902. 1902 Searchmont advertisement - Automobile Topics Magazine. The trade press of the 1900s carried page after page of these announcements, aimed at dealers and agents as much as at buyers. A dealer or agent name is set at the foot of the page, which is how national copy was localised before broadcast.
- - 1902 Fornier Searchmont advertisement - The Automobile Review. A printed advertisement, dated 1902. 1902 Fornier Searchmont advertisement - The Automobile Review. In the 1900s a car advertisement had to establish that the vehicle would start, run and finish the journey. The engine is described in detail and the body barely at all, the reverse of what later advertising would do.
- - J. Walter Thompson Advertisement 1903. An adverstisement for the J. Walter Thompson Company from 1903. J. Walter Thompson was among the agencies that built the American motor account system, in which one shop held one marque for a generation.
- - Ford1903. A printed advertisement for Ford, dated 1903. December, 1903 Ford advertisement. Before 1910 the motor advertisement was mostly an engineering prospectus, with the price stated plainly and the machine described part by part. A row of small illustrations shows the range, which is how a maker with several models used one page.
- - Riding in a Franklin automobile through the woods in autumn. A brochure for Franklin, dated 1903. From the New York Public Library. NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b21161886. White space is used sparingly here, which is what makes the later Volkswagen work look so unusual against it.
- - The Advance of The Ford, 1903 advertisment. A printed advertisement for Ford, dated 1903. The Advance of The Ford, December 15, 1903 advertisment. Before 1910 the motor advertisement was mostly an engineering prospectus, with the price stated plainly and the machine described part by part. Two columns of body copy sit beneath the illustration, a layout the trade press used almost universally.
- - Locomobile advertisement 12 hp (1903). A printed advertisement for Locomobile, dated 1903. Locomobile advertisement 12 hp (1903). Before 1910 the motor advertisement was mostly an engineering prospectus, with the price stated plainly and the machine described part by part. The maker's name is set larger than the model name, which is how marque loyalty was built before badge engineering.
- - Oldsmobile Ad 1905. A printed advertisement for Oldsmobile, dated 1903. Oldsmobile advert. Contrasts the sedan chair of 1703 with the Oldsmobile of 1903. The advertisement names the coachwork as well as the chassis, a distinction that mattered while the two were bought separately.
- - Studebaker wagon newspaper ad, 1903. A brochure for Studebaker, dated 1903. Studebaker wagon ad that appeared in Pine Bluff Daily Graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) September 27, 1903. A landscape or a street stands behind the vehicle, supplying the promise of somewhere to drive it.
- - Columbia1903ElectricGasCenturyMagAd. A printed advertisement, dated 1903. 1903 advertisement for Columbia Automobile Company electric and gasoline powered vehicles. In the 1900s a car advertisement had to establish that the vehicle would start, run and finish the journey. The advertisement was placed in a trade paper, which means its reader was expected to resell rather than to drive.
- - Adler Motorwagen (1903). A newspaper advertisement for Adler, dated 1903. In the 1900s a car advertisement had to establish that the vehicle would start, run and finish the journey. The car occupies the lower half of the plate and the argument occupies the upper half.
- - 1903 Oldsmobile advertisement from the Detroit Medical Journal Volume III. A newspaper advertisement for Oldsmobile, dated 1903. 1903 Oldsmobile advertisement from the Detroit Medical Journal Volume III July 1903 page XIII. The trade press of the 1900s carried page after page of these announcements, aimed at dealers and agents as much as at buyers. The car is shown alongside a horse or a carriage, making the comparison the reader was still making.
- - Avec l'ouvrage "La voiture d'occasion" du Comte Mortimer Mégret, on achète. A poster, dated 1904. Sujet : Livres et lecture Publicité Édition Affiche Langue : français Éditeur : [s.n.] [impr. Chaix] ([Paris]). Children appear in the scene, placing the car in the family rather than in the garage.
- - The World almanac and encyclopedia (1904). A brochure for Oldsmobile, dated 1904. In the 1900s a car advertisement had to establish that the vehicle would start, run and finish the journey. A coupon or a reply address appears at the foot, inviting the reader to write for a catalogue.
- - Oldsmobile 1904-0930. A printed advertisement for Oldsmobile, dated 1904. Advertisement for Oldsmobile. The trade press of the 1900s carried page after page of these announcements, aimed at dealers and agents as much as at buyers. A dealer or agent name is set at the foot of the page, which is how national copy was localised before broadcast.
- - 1904 Alden Sampson Advertisement in The Automobile. A magazine advertisement, dated 1904. 1904 Alden Sampson Advertisement in The Automobile magazine. In the 1900s a car advertisement had to establish that the vehicle would start, run and finish the journey. Children appear in the scene, placing the car in the family rather than in the garage.
…and 1,084 more moments.
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