As many fans of the Peanuts comic strip know, fifty years ago Charlie Brown and company first appeared in ads and commercials for Ford cars. Courtesy of Denro, here is a brochure for the 1961 Ford Falcon.
The affordable Falcon was very popular, but the name conjures an image of a powerful bird of prey, while the Falcon was actually a rather underpowered, compact economy car. Our family owned a 1965 base model 2-door Falcon that I remember fondly, mostly because it was the first car I drove when I got my driver’s license.
Cartoon Brew has an animated Peanuts TV commercial for the ’61 Falcon. Somebody put it on YouTube, but the shape of the image is wrong, so I fixed it here. The narrator’s voice should be familiar if you’re over 40.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/FEB/FordPeanuts.flv 400 380]
And here’s another gem. Color videotape from 1961, with Lucy introducing Tennessee Ernie Ford, sponsored by Ford.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/FEB/PeanutsFordIntro.flv 400 300]