i have two TV commercials from my childhood stuck in my head. hoping someone here remembers them.
the first is a Sears DieHard battery ad, in which a dressed-up old couple go out and get in their oldsmobuick but it won't start. the old man walks back into the house, and the camera pulls back to show the afro'd and bell-bottomed freak of a son reading something while dad chokes on the words "Son, can we use.... your car tonight?" the son pulls out the keys and pitches them to dad, saying "Sure, just don't forget to put gas in it!" parting shot is a panel-painted '68 HemiCuda with a gigantic cam rip-snorting its way down the street with the front end bouncing as the old man tries to get a smooth clutch engagement.
the second is pretty depressing, and i'm not sure what they were advertising, maybe it was a PSA? anyway, the camera is slowly panning around a crappy apartment with no signs of life, while a sad song plays in the background. i'm not sure i've got all the lyrics, but here's what i remember:
Paint chips peelin'
From the ceilin'
By my baby's bed
Eatin' paint and plaster
I took him to the doctor
Convulsions
Lead poison
The ghetto malaria-a-a
Why, Lord, Why?
Landlord's lazy
And I'm half crazy
'Cause my baby's dead
I have no idea on the second, and came up short on the first, but found these instead...
Tough enough for Baja.
I still have in my head some sort of ancient Alpo commercial with an embarassingly stereotypical Aunt Jemima made shouting at the boy feeding his dog amazing beef-like Alpo - "Momma gonna tan your hide for feeding Roger beef meeeeat!"
Waste some time on youtube and you'll probably find the Diehard ad there. I've found lots of old TV stuff from my childhood there to reminisce over.
Can't see this one here at work, but the description sounds like it might be right.
http://adland.tv/commercials/sears-die-hard-1975-030-usa
And you might find the old PSA one here:
http://www.retrojunk.com/content/commercial.php?view=list&era=1970&step=3&type=psa&sort=new&page=1
Fox - that first one is just about word for word what was described, so I think you got it.
I remember the Sears tire (or shock absorber?) commercials where they said they were tested on the "back roads of Morocco".
The old commercial that I've been searching for, and have yet to find, is a Porsche ad from around 1979. I don't even remember which model it was for. A guy and a girl walk out his car and she says,"You didn't tell me you drive a Porsche." He says, "You never asked".
She ends up with the keys and proceeds to drive the crap out of the car. When she comes to a stop, he says, "You didn't tell me you knew how to drive" and she replies, "You never asked".
That was the commercial that taught me how to properly pronounce "Por-sche".
gamby
UltimaDork
10/14/11 10:35 a.m.
ReverendDexter wrote:
Fox - that first one is just about word for word what was described, so I think you got it.
I've never seen it before, but damn--Fox's description was almost to a tee. Right down to the insanely bouncy front end. 
fox, that is exactly it. i knew the old guy was a real actor, but i couldn't quite place him. having seen the commercial again, i realized that he played the grandfather in Sixteen Candles. my description is a little off. i got the year right but it's not one of the SuperStock HemiCudas like i remembered, just a regular barracuda with a bunch of jacques whitney stuff tacked on.
re. the PSA, apparently i'm not the only one who remembers it: another lead paint PSA thread
The car in the original scene appears to be the Barracuda. Windshield frame and side window shapes look very familiar to me. 
The Barracuda in the ad is the George Barris customized one used in the movie Corky with Robert Blake. Car showed up in an episode of Knight Rider too.
Car still exists. Saw it at Carlisle about 10 years ago or so.
(Not my pic)
In reply to Rob_Mopar:
I remember that movie, never saw it again after airing in the late night B movies slot
In reply to fasted58:
I haven't seen it yet, but heard it's pretty bad. I think a bootleg of it is out there. Next swapmeet where the DVD guy is there I'll have to take a look.
Who, if anyone, remembers the early '70's ad for the AMX where the son says something like, 'I just made it better'? Bright orange AMX with a blower through the hood, sheet aluminum interior, cage, etc.
