Bask in the retro cool of these old-school ads

“They don’t make ‘em like they used to!”

It’s an old cliché that can be applied to any number of things, but in the world of automotive advertising, it definitely rings true.

We were recently digging through our digitised magazine archive here at Wheels HQ, and came across some advertisements that got us misty-eyed with nostalgia.

Several hours of digital trawling later, and all we could see was a neon-haze of cigarette advertising and hand-illustrated double-page spreads.

It’s fascinating to go back and look at both what was being advertised, and how – just don’t look at the prices too long or you’ll be filled with a kind of regret that will follow you everywhere.

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Some of our personal favourite advertisements include the use of racing cars and drivers from the era – a throwback to when motorsport star had serious pulling power, and teams were funded through eye-watering marketing budgets.

The passing of time can also lend itself to some historical cringe, particularly when looking back at the bold statements around power figures – some of those ‘high performance’ outputs of yesteryear would be put to shame by the current class of city cars.

Have a flick through our gallery above, enjoy the nostalgia for yourself, and make sure to share your favourites in the comments below!

Also, make sure to check out some corkers from our mates at Unique Cars here, here, and here!