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Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Chevy Spark ad, sexist? (Shopping in Paris in pastel cars) or ridiculous (Power slides and choreographed drifting? Really?)
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 6:07 PMLabels: advertising, commercial
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Either Nick Cage is desperately broke, or his agent sucks as bad as this Sevova car commercial for BAIC Motors
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 10:48 AMhttp://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTU0NDc0MjY4.html?firsttime=0
The Chinese government owns the car company, and besides Nick Cage, Brad Pitt and some soccer star also have made car commercials for Chinese built cars
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-27/nicolas-cage-hired-by-china-s-baic-motor-to-promote-senova-cars.html
found via http://stipistop.com/
Labels: advertising, commercial
Friday, May 24, 2013
Labels: advertising, Audi, celebrity, commercial, Hollywood
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Labels: advertising, commercial, Road Runner
Saturday, August 25, 2012
there is no end to the unusual in the vehicle world, just things I've yet to learn of... like the Richard Petty riding lawn mower from Lowes, thanks to Jay Phillips!
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 7:32 PMif you know of any more of these Richard Petty mowers, or paperwork about them, Jay would like to hear from you J Phillips <mopar_superbird@yahoo.com>
is this the most far out lawn mower you've seen? Sure, racing mowers are incredible... but a real sponsored RP mower, that he takes time to sign, sit on, and with the owner? That is amazing. Thanks to Jay Phillips who filled me in about his collecting these
I was a 5-year old kid sitting on a school bus with a friend checking out the newspaper sales ad of a Richard Petty riding mower.
I grew up watching Richard Petty race at both Dover, DE & Richmond, VA.
In 1986, I purchased my favorite car a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird. Then a friend of mine purchased one for himself. He was (and still is) a Petty fanatic. One day, we were discussing our Richard Petty collections we've added to over the years. I asked him if he had ever stumbled onto a Petty Mower. He had never heard of one. This put me in gear to find one and prove I wasn't crazy.
Early 90's I finally found my first Petty Mower. Immediately I called Petty Enterprises asking for information. (This was before the Internet.) The woman that answered the phone told me that I would need to talk to Martha Jane, as she was the only one that would have worked for Richard during that time frame. Martha Jane was Richard's personal secretary. She was quick to inform me that she knew EVERYTHING about those little mowers as it was her husband that set up the meeting between Richard and those at Lowe's headquarters. WOW.....pay dirt!!! She also told me that it was the VERY first sponsorship in Richard's career.
Busy with work and drag racing, I packed the mower away for 11-years.
Finally, I decided it was time for a complete restoration. First things first, I again called Marthat Jane asking her if she remembered our conversation 11-years ago. She said sure I do, you're the only one that's ever called here asking about those mowers. I emailed her pics to show Richard and it was enough for him to confirm it to be an authentic Richard Petty Special. He signed a "Letter of Authenticity" with the model & serial numbers.
Now it's time to document, disassemble, restore or replace, and assemble. (I also spent nights at my local library going through microfiche newspapers, page by page, hoping to find the ad that I'd seen as a kid on the school bus. This is when I found the Richard Petty Special riding mowers were actually built in both 1971 & 1972. Mine was a 1972 and I gotta find a 1971 to complete the set.
I quickly found a second 1972 during the restoration of the first. So, I decided to restore them both side by side at the same time. All the best pieces went to the first, and the remaining parts to the second. (I also purchased 7 other similar, but non-Petty mowers that were used for parts donors.)
Since Martha Jane had a personal attachment to the mowers, and it was Richard's first promotional deal in his career, it was as simple as scheduling a meeting time, and place and an autograph session took place. Yes, Richard and those that work for him are the nicest people you'll ever meet. They're very down to earth people.
Since then I've found (3) 1971's and (3) 1972's, the original cardboard stand up of Richard Petty that was used for the promotion, the original roll of film of the commercial, and the prototype mower that was sent to Lowe's for approval.
Me and my much better half, Jeannie, display the RPS mowers along with many others at antique tractor shows. They've been featured in a MoPar magazine (Mopar Collector's Guide ~ Toys in the Attic), and were on the cover of Lawn & Garden Collector Magazine.
I don't know if Lowe's headquarters knows of their existence, as those that remember have long since retired.
Yes, many have offered to buy, making offers, and asking what it would take to let them go. I did not restore them with thoughts of resale.
Recently I was researching something automobile related, and my Google search took me to your site. I've been back every day for updates. So, thank YOU for that!
Not long after the restoration process, I uploaded images to the web showing before and after views. After seeing those pics, someone from Chattanooga, TN emailed me pics of their Richard Petty Special. Theirs was very different, and not at all consistent with the research that I had found on both the 1971 & 1972 models. I assumed it was a late '71 model that was never shown in the Lowe's ads. It was for sale, but the price was NOT cheap!!!
Fast forward to two years ago. A friend of mine calls me to tell me that he had just found (and picked up) a Richard Petty Special in Tennessee. My heart sank...I just knew it was the odd one that I'd only seen pics of. We talked about it's details, and thankfully I realized that it was not the same mower.
As soon as we hung up, I called the gentleman in Chattanooga. We came to a reasonable agreement, set a date & time for it's pick up, and off we went.
It's now loaded into the bed of my truck, and we're heading to Richard Petty's shop to pick up the other RPS. While making a fuel stop, I then had the time to check out the details of this odd RPS. And THAT was when I realized that the decals were without their part numbers! E.T. Rugg....the manufacturer always included part numbers with their decals. Then I noticed the hood stripe was wider and longer than what was used on the RPS. Then I noticed there were a couple of decals adhered in the wrong locations. Of course the "BY Petty" decals were all the way near the front of the hood, instead of aligned with the seam in the hood....where they were on all of the RPS's that have surfaced to date.
I called a friend that is very familiar with lawn & garden restorations. He explained that when a manufacturer consistently used part numbers on their decals, and they're NOT there....it's a pre-production unit, AKA PROTOTYPE!
Then a call was placed to a retired Lowe's employee, that was the actual buyer for the lawn & garden department. He explained that when a new product was to be sold at Lowe's, the manufacturer would first have to submit a prototype for approval. Sometimes it was acceptable as-is, and other times changes would have to be made. Prototypes were then sold, without warranty to Lowe's employees.
The Chattanooga find was a gold mine to a collector of Richard Petty Specials.....you know....ME! LOL
It was found in the early '80's, in a ditch on the side of the road, somewhere in Georgia. Thankfully the guy was smart enough to stash it away for all of those years.
Jay
Labels: advertising, commercial, lawnmower, Nascar, Richard Petty, Superbird, unusual
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Labels: commercial, mustang
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Great car chase scene in a commercial for a cell phone... well, it's better than watching a long movie for the chase scene!
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 7:33 PMFound on http://thekevinchen.wordpress.com/ along with a ton of other cool stuff that I'll be posting my favorites of next week, I think with Mopars at the Strip, and my coverage of the Vova Las Vegas, plus the two museums I was in last Friday, I'll be busy this weekend
Labels: advertising, car chase scene, commercial, humor
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Kiera Knightley, one of the most beautful faces in movies... was a motorcycle rider in a Chanel perfume commercial
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 12:37 PMLabels: advertising, commercial, Model
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Ebay Motors is serious about good advertising, the kids school play commercial
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 9:21 PMLabels: commercial
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Labels: advertising, commercial, Fiat
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Great advertising theme... from father to son, Chevy runs deep (son searches for 5 years to find his dad's Impala SS, and gives it to his dad)
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 7:07 PMShort tv commercial above, full length story below of finding the car after looking across 6 states and Canada below... worth watching the full thing!
And the father and sons were at the LA Auto Show by invitation of Chevrolet, with the 65 Impala SS http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2011/11/18/herb-younger-and-his-1965-impala-ss-396-make-appearance-at-the-l-a-auto-show/
I didn't know it, but about a week ago Dan at Hemmings posted all about this http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2011/11/09/chevrolet-at-100-pulling-on-your-heartstrings/
I just watched the commercial on tv and had to add this to my blog... great bloggers think alike
The first commercial reminded me of the video I posted years ago about a son who delivers a car to his dad at work
Labels: advertising, Chevrolet, commercial, Impala, truck
the little old lady from Pasadena was endorsing Wheelie Bars from Whamo for Stingray bikes for kids
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 6:26 AMfound on http://acesdeluxe.blogspot.com/
Jeff had one of the funniest comments I've read lately: " Helmet schmelmet...we cracked our heads on the pavement and WE LIKED IT THAT WAY! "
Labels: advertising, bicycle, commercial, Schwinn
Monday, October 17, 2011
Labels: advertising, commercial, toyota
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
I agree with John, (oleragtop.blogspot.com) this is a clever commercial
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 9:43 PMfound on http://oleragtop.blogspot.com/
Labels: advertising, commercial
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Ghost Rider 2, Spirit of Vengeance. Finally looks like Nicolas Cage is getting to bring the comic book character to the movies without the asinine love story forced into the 1st movie
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 6:24 PMLabels: commercial, movie, trailer
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Labels: advertising, commercial
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Isetta advertising cartoon commercial that is the best thing I've seen all day
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 6:10 PMLabels: advertising, BMW, commercial, Isetta
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Rat rodding has gone mainstream, but not in a good way, Orkin pest control commercial has this
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 11:10 AMLabels: advertising, commercial, humor, Rat Rods
Monday, January 31, 2011
Cars are boring because people keep buying them. Please buy something more interesting! Here is a great video, for the 40 mpg Elantra
0 comments Posted by Unknown at 9:07 PMLabels: advertising, commercial


















