The car-buff media is so oriented toward the gear that it tends to neglect one of the biggest reasons people drive automobiles — to go somewhere interesting.
We could talk about that in scholarly terms. For example, John Heitmann wrote in his book, The Automobile and American Life, that “the car has changed the nature of space and time, and with it human settlement patterns, social relations, and the spatial relationship between work and home and cities and industry. In the process of changing space, it has empowered people in many ways. . . . But along with this enhance mobility came also an increased tendency toward social isolation” (2018, p. 8).
Heitmann has some useful things to say about how radically the automobile has transformed American culture, but at the moment I would like to share something simpler — a moment from being on the road. And since we are mired in the depths of winter, how about some images from summertime.
The photos in this post are from a country road that is a few hours north of Seattle, Washington. While I was watching the sun rise over the Cascade mountains I didn’t see another car in this coastal valley, which is dotted with cattle ranches and farms. I may as well have been a million miles away from the noise and confusion of the metropolis.
The scene reminded me of a Jordan car ad that I referred to in an “Ad Nauseam” feature a while back. If you didn’t click into a larger version of the ad, it’s worth taking a closer look at it.
I particularly like the first paragraph of the text, which captures as well as any car ad I have ever come across the allure of summer driving.
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RE:SOURCES
- Heitmann, John; 2018. The Automobile and American Life. 2nd ed. McFarland & Co., Inc.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Jordan (1923)
Speaking of Jordan, it’s too bad then it wasn’t revived, well sort of, like Stutz with the BlackHawk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stutz_Blackhawk or the aborted attempt of Duesenberg revival. Exner’s idea of a Jordan revival car (Renwal did some diecasts versions of them) was realistic enough who could have been used the 1969-72 Grand Prix chassis.
https://www.madle.org/evival.htm
However, some might said then it could also be a blessing in disguise to see how the Stutz BlackHawk turned.
That’s a good point. I’ll look into it.
Whomever wrote this, the ‘Somewhere west of Laramie’ ad and the others was composing _brilliant_ adcopy for Jordan. Their evocative ads are the reason we still remember Jordan as opposed to the many others who went under during The Great Depression. I can’t think of another ad that makes me want to drive their car like these do except for the DDB VW ads.
“Building excitement”, “Quality is Job One” and all the other hollow oft-repeated campaign catchphrases foisted on us in the past 5 decades are trash by comparison.
It was my understanding that in part, the Jordan was to showcase Ned Jordan’s ad agency, and was interested in building “Jordan” into a lifestyle brand, not just cars. An assembled car’s startup costs are peanuts compared to building a car from scratch. It was selling around 6 to 8 thousand cars a year until black Friday. The sales were steady with minor ups and downs of course. It sold well at a good price for a so-so car. If he was born 40 years later, he would be a billionaire.
Ned Jordan was born in 1882. John Delorean was born 1925. They were both full of ideas – and arrogant and ambitious. And both ended up not million/billionaires and not the top of the heap.
I thought to look up Malcolm Bricklin, born in 1939. He’s kinda out of the 40 year scenario and still with us on our side of the grass.
The bottom line for me has always been that cars are for going places. It was the same with my love for motorcycling, it opened up the freedom and excitement of travel when I was younger and had to find ways to travel economically. While I have always loved the machines themselves, and have had many different cars and motorcycles. It was always the driving and the trip itself that was always the most important element. It didn’t matter if I was riding my Harley Sportster, or driving my Cadillac Coupe de Ville, or my Dodge minivan. I can really identify with the language of that Jordan ad.