What the advertisers came up with back then
05/13/2016
In 1969, the British car brand Hillman presented the Hillman GT. In the fall of 1968, the company had successfully participated in the London-Sidney Marathon and now wanted to celebrate this sporting event with a special model.
The 94 hp four-cylinder engine from the Rapier was used, while the Sunbeam Hunter provided the bodywork. The wide wheels (165-13!), matt black paint on the radiator grille, side stripes, leather steering wheel and rev counter were intended to convey sportiness. After all, the car accelerated from 0 to 80 km/h in eight seconds and reached a top speed of 160 km/h. It was offered relatively cheaply in the UK.
For the launch, the company wanted to portray sportiness with an appropriate setup for the factory photos and positioned the car on the starting line of a circuit. So far so good. But because they wanted to spice up the image a little, they also placed a woman next to it. However, the close observer wondered what this lady could possibly be looking out for, as approaching vehicles would probably be coming from the left and not the right. Apparently the purpose of the observer was not obvious to the journalists at the time either, as only the car was shown when the picture was printed in the Automobil Revue.
More " Pictures (almost) without words" can be found in the dedicated theme channel.
