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A N N O T A T I O N S
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PASTELOGRAM is named in honor of the poet Marianne Moore, who was
commission- ed by Ford Motor Co. in the 1950s to come up with names for its new mid-priced car.
Among her suggestions: “Pastelogram,” “Turco- tinga,” “Silver Sword,” “Resilient Bullet,” “Utopian Turtletop”
and the especially cryptic “Mongoose Civique.” Ford declined to use any of these and instead went with “Edsel.” The rest is history.
WE’VE HAD LOTS
of requests asking
the Curator: “You’re so darn modest, we don’t know much about
you. How about posting a picture or some biographical info? And
have I told you about the time I was abducted by aliens?” Well, you get the idea. So here’s a little about our
history.
FUN A LA MODE
The old Patent Office applications in the PatentRoom
are a soft- serve lesson in history. New on the menu:
Tees.
COME FLY
WITH ME
The early aircraft designs on view at AdventureLounge
will take you back, though maybe not all in one piece.
ARE YOUR SCANS limp, lifeless, lacking pep and vim? Visit ScanTips
for fast, safe, effective relief.
THE ART
of Josh Agle.
Martinis, girls, guns. Think James Bond meets Jetsons at a
tiki bar in Palm Springs.
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L I N K A T O R I U M
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PRELINGER ARCHIVE
CAR MANUAL PROJECT
TV LAMPS
KITTY GIRL VINTAGE
IMPERIAL CLUB
1950s CARS IN NORWAY
WALTER MILLER
McLELLAN’S
IMAGINARY WORLD
RAY PATIN STUDIOS
LILEKS I.O.O.C.
SHAG ART
BUICKS.NET
PALACE OF CULTURE
KING OF THE ROAD
BROCHURES ON EBAY
STARBURST
FRANCISCAN OASIS
FRANCISCAN TRIO
SILVER PINE
SOCIETY of
ILLUSTRATORS
ADVENTURELOUNGE
VoIP SOLUTION
PATENTROOM
SCREENMATH
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2005
≈ Surfin’ Safari (Make That
Bonneville) 
The well-ordered Pontiac for
’61 trims width outside the wheels for better balance. You have
the feeling of sitting erect, even swinging around curves and
corners . . .
How one would lead to the other, we’re not sure. We do know
that Pontiac’s Safari station wagon would have been a lot
better for headline-writing purposes. This illustration of
50-year-old hipster surfers and their ride is by Art
Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman.
≈ Comet, the Better Compact Car
Another illustration by Bob
Peak for the Comet, Ford’s upscale versi0n of the Falcon.
Although our recollection of Comets when we were growing up is
that they gave off a decidedly downscale vibe,
usually as an extremely used car.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2005
≈ GameBoy, 1960
Endless hours of fun with the
most exciting toy ever made — the super-realistic
“OPERATION X-500.” Rockets & Missiles soar at the press of a
button. Superstructure glides into position to change nose
cones. Set includes radar screen, helicopter, space men,
scientists, and more! Engineered for perfect safety, easy
handling — sure to thrill every child from 3 to 12 . . .
This fantabulous Cold War playset was made by DeLuxe Reading of
Newark, which later became Topper Toys. There were two
parts, the Defense Base
and Rocket Launcher. Sold
at grocery stores, the X-500 could be yours for just $11.88;
a complete set now might run into the
hundreds. X-500 pages
here and
here
and here
(side trip: Avocado
Memories); DeLuxe also made the Playmobile
dashboard.
More
here. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2005
≈ Prints, Prints and More Prints
We’ve just added 27 images (097
through 123). Try to restrain
yourselves.
≈ Valley of the Goblins
There’s nothing like a new
car to give you that “let’s go” feeling. Short jaunts or
long journeys — it makes no difference — a family with a new car
finds more things to do, and more fun in the doing. Why? Because
new cars just won’t stand for sitting in a garage. Even before
you get out of the driveway the quality of the workmanship and
materials in your new GM car is excitingly apparent. You know
you’ve got a real car under you — a car that was expertly
built for reliability as well as fun . . .
This amazing illustration of a 1960 Electra was painted by the tragically obscure P.
Sutton: Unwitting family, borne by malevolent Buick, tootles along to almost certain doom in Utah’s Valley of the
Goblins. We nominate it for the cover of Stephen King’s next book. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2005
≈ What Comet Has, Everybody Wants
Style, savings and surprises!
For 1960 Comet introduces to the compact field a new crisp, uncluttered
look — a new sense of proportion. You’re sure to notice this
(everybody does) — but still Comet is priced with or below other
compacts . . .
The ad copy doesn’t say what the “surprises” are. But they could
be along the lines of: In a few short years this
brand will vanish, just like the Edsel, and your
funny-looking car will be
worth nothing. Surprise! 
≈ THE SOCIABLES Prefer Pepsi
They know the art of
hospitality . . . make friends welcome in so many
pleasant ways. Of course, they serve Pepsi-Cola. It always
refreshes without filling. You’re one of the Sociables. Have a
Pepsi anywhere — at play, at home or your favorite soda
fountain.
This 1960 illustration for Pepsi featured “fashions by Tina
Leser.” WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2005
≈ Yippee! Beans!
Give the folks — and the cook —
a special treat! Take along the favorite picnic food that’s
delicious, nourishing and easy-to-fix . . . Van
Camp’s Pork and Beans.
Nothing conjures those wonderful childhood picnics
of yore like a big, steaming bowl of baked beans. And of
course the ride home was even more memorable. Thanks, but
we’ll take the convertible back! MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2005
≈ New 6-Transistor Shirt-Pocket Radios
A new Motorola radio
miniaturized to fit in a shirt pocket (or purse) — yet with the
power and sound you’d expect from a larger set.
Motorola-designed Golden Voice speaker with new cone delivers
rich, clear lows — crisp highs . . .
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2005
≈ Loomed for Lots of Living
Hardy twists, lush plushes,
smart tweeds . . . this jubilant array is yours at
prices you can afford, $8.95 to $25.95 a square yard. Choose
now, during Lees Color Jubilee!
We present, for your perusal and edification, documentary
proof that there was
a time, specifically the second week of May 1960, when
Purple Actually Seemed Like a Good Idea. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2005
≈ Expect Wonderful Things
You hear a lot of talk these
days about engine power and compression. What does it mean to
you, as a car buyer, that Chevrolet offers the most powerful
high-compression engine in the low-price field? You probably
expect greater acceleration. It’s yours. You count on climbing
hills with new ease. And you will . . .
This colorful illustration
of the 1953 Chevrolet is by San Francisco artist Fred
Ludekens, a creative director at Foote, Cone & Belding who
started out painting billboards. With Albert Dorne, he
founded the Famous Artists School in Westport, Connecticut.
≈ Compare Them All — And You’ll Come
Away With a Comet
Take a long look at the
styling. Note the beautiful proportions. The Comet has long, flowing
lines with an unmistakable fine-car flair. Comet’s full line
includes two sedans and two station wagons. See them at your
Mercury-Comet dealer’s.
The 1960 Comet,
conceived as Edsel’s entry in the
“compact” field, debuted late in the model year at Mercury
dealerships as an
upscale, slightly enlarged version of Ford’s popular Falcon.
The illustration was
painted by Bob Peak, “father
of the modern movie poster.” 
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2005
≈ How Pontiac Enriches Each Hour You
Spend With Your Car
Inspired by the car itself, our
stylists have created interiors of rare beauty. The materials
practically beg your touch. Lustrous star-patterned cloth.
Glamorous but never gaudy weaves in tweed textures. Jeweltone
Morrokide, yielding but rugged . . .
From 1960, an illustration by Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman
for their patron of many years, the Pontiac division of
General Motors. Art, the surviving member of this legendary
duo, has his own Web
site and recently designed a series of
stamps for the Postal Service.
≈ Here You See What So Many People See
in a Pontiac
(In this case the 1960
Bonneville c0nvertible with bucket seats) The leather is
richly dyed, top-grain. The carpeting on the floors and doors is
thick, soft, yet incredibly durable. The stately instrument
panel is inlaid with genuine walnut. Bonneville beckons you to
behold the inspiring new interiors of all Pontiacs . . .
The 1960 Pontiac, à la Cadillac’s much pricier Eldorado,
offered a number of high-end options like bucket seats and alloy wheels. 
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2005
≈ Passport to “Seventh Heaven”!
For you who like to own a car
you can love, cherish and take pride in . . . the
keys to this new Packard Super-8 One-Sixty will be a passport to
the “seventh heaven.” Those keys will set in motion performance
. . . power . . . nimbleness . . .
comfort . . . that you never thought possible.
Humming softly beneath its long, low, racy hood is the most
powerful 8-cylinder motor being put into any American
passenger car today!
The 1940 Packard One-Sixty took its name from the
160-horsepower engine under the hood. For $1,524 it could
all be yours, and hers.
≈ Hill Roads Lead to Pleasant Places
Many a road in Vermont leaves
the village abruptly and points toward a mountainside. It bends
and twists, following the clear, stony brook beside it. Each
turn brings its own little world of greenness, until an upland
finds you in a whole swirl of intimate mountains. If your car
doesn’t mind them, roads like this bring their own rewards. And
if your car won’t mind them, you drive a Lincoln-Zephyr!
The Lincoln-Zephyr (1940 convertible pictured), which put a
V-12 engine in a unitized body, lasted from 1936 to 1942 and
was Ford’s attempt to build a medium-priced luxury car. The
design, by John Tjaarda, heavily influenced the Mercury,
which debuted in 1938. The name has been revived for
Lincoln’s
new small luxury car.
≈ Dad, What Will Cars Be Like When I Grow
Up?
NO ONE MAN, no one
organization, no one industry can answer that question. The
development of the car of the future is in the hands and minds
of many men in many industries. Informed men hesitate to predict
exactly how future cars will look; whether their engines will be
in front or rear; how many miles they will travel to a gallon.
But there is little doubt in their minds that the progress of
the next ten years will far exceed that of the last ten; that
the car your boy will drive will make even today’s splendid
machines seem hopelessly old-fashioned . . .
From 1940, an illustration by Geoffrey Biggs (1908-1971) for
the Ethyl Corporation, whose tetraethyl lead anti-knock
compound put the lead in high-octane gasoline. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2005
≈ On the Waterfront
Tons of drugs . . .
many tons of many things. That’s the job that
Autocars are superbly designed and precision-built by Autocar
to do. How dependably and speedily they do it is known by every
truck driver who has felt the pull and power of these great
trucks that command the load . . .
A noirish scene from 1945 by William Campbell for Autocar
Trucks, with a Hudson River warehouse as
the setting. The tractor bears the name of Storch Trucking,
18 York Street, Jersey City; the trailer is
stenciled with the insignia of Merck & Company of Rahway. 
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2005
≈ The Light
Refreshment
Everywhere in America today’s
moderns are giving a new light look to all their surroundings.
And their trim, youthful figures are part of the same lovely
pattern. Keep up-to-date. Look smart. Stay young and fair and
debonair. Be sociable. Have a Pepsi — the lighter Pepsi of
today, reduced in calories . . .
From 1959, an illustration by Roy Besser for Pepsi, which was
touting itself as the “light” alternative to archrival
Coca-Cola in the days when calories and diets were starting
to intrude on the national psyche. This was near the end of
the story arc for Pepsi’s “Sociables” campaign, which
depicted thin young moderns engaged in a variety of modish
pursuits — fonduing, barbecuing and skiing up a storm. The
Freudian cues here are so thick, Roy must have used a trowel.
≈ Why Take Less?
When Pepsi’s best! On
Television see Faye Emerson weekly over CBS-TV — On Radio hear
Phil Regan weekly over CBS . . .
From 1951, another dispatch from the vanished world of the
past.
≈ Cooking Outdoors?
S.O.S. pads are all you’ll need
to clean soot-blackened frying pans, the coffee pot and all your
cooking gear . . .
In 1955, there’s no Teflon yet but the picnic must go on. 
≈ Big Trucks for Big
Jobs
Refueling is a big job. On our
fighting fronts, it must be done in a big way. This means big
trucks . . . heavy-duty trucks . . .
Autocar Trucks! For every front, Autocar provides
vehicles for our Army, our Navy, our Marine Corps and our Air
Forces . . .
This 1944 illustration by William Campbell for Autocar
Trucks of Ardmore, Pa., takes a page from the war in the
Pacific against Japan. PREVIOUS POSTS (AUGUST 2005)
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