
There once was a time, pre-internet, when the local car companies and their advertising agencies could blatantly re-used overseas car advertisements and brochures and almost no one in Australia was any the wiser.
In those days, our isolation from Europe, Asia, the UK and America meant very few car enthusiasts had access to overseas content other than what appeared in local magazines and newspapers. The risks of copying being revealed were almost nil.
For the car companies it was a cheap and easy way to “create” content. Move a steering wheel from left to right, airbrush local trim and chrome onto a body, add or eliminate people and/or scenery. These were some of the simple and common changes. Reversing a photo was another trick.
It is only since the arrival of the internet that these copycat examples have been easily identified. And one of the best “detectives” is Nairn Hindhaugh. I asked Nairn to help with this edition of Retroautos®.
Nairn is an automotive historian and champion of British brands that were made in Australia, especially those from the British Motor Corporation (BMC). During his long career in the automotive world Nairn has worked in BMC Australia’s (BMCA) PR department, at car dealerships in the UK and established one of Australia’s first online automotive book and brochure selling businesses. Nairn has co-authored some previous Retroautos® stories and writes for classic car club publications. He owns a 1964 Austin Freeway and a 1962 Morris Elite.
Here's what we have found, so far!
1962 FORD FALCON

If you ever wondered how Ford Australia obtained the idea for the “Trim, Taut, Terrific” phrase for its 1962 XL Falcon, then look no further than the 1961 Chevrolet. Not only was Chevrolet’s copy line re-purposed, the brochure’s type face and art work was reused as well, as the images highlight.

The cat on the Chevrolet’s roof was cut from the Falcon brochure, above, but the boy on the ladder was retained. Whoever sketched the Falcon also re-used the Chevrolet’s wheels and the overall perspective.

With the wagon artwork, the children were lost in the transition from Chevrolet to Falcon. The guy holding the umbrella looks much thinner in the Falcon brochure. Did anyone at GMH or Chevrolet complain about this blatant reproduction?
1961 PONTIAC

During the 1960s, GMH made good use of the American Pontiac advertisements and brochures, which featured the evocative drawings of the legendary duo, Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman. They were known as Fitz & Van. Fitz drew the cars, Van the backgrounds.
For 1961, the local advertising agency artist airbrushed Pontiac Venturas to create local pillared Laurentians and reversed the image. Simple and cheap.
1963 EH HOLLDEN

To obtain this unusual overhead perspective, GMH’s advertising folk did not have to think too hard. They used a 1963 Chevrolet Chevy II brochure. Even the children in the back seat of the convertible were copied.
1962 PONTIAC

The US Pontiac Star Chief and Catalina became local Laurentians.
1962 FORD FAIRLANE

This is one of my all-time favourites. It involves combining the US 1960 Galaxie, 1962 Fairlane and 1962 Mercury Meteor brochures, above, to create the Australian Fairlane brochures for 1962 and 1963, below. It is a master class in the re-use and re-positioning of the cars, people and backgrounds.

TOYOTA CORONA

The heads on the two people in the background of the Japanese advertisement were changed for Australia and other right hand drive countries.
1965 and 1966 CHEVROLET

A 1965 Chevrolet Biscayne with two gents in the front, is inexpensively transformed into an Australian Bel Air by flipping the image and removing “1965” on the number plate.
Another Biscayne to Bel Air transformation is seen below. All the Australia advertising agency had to do for the 1966 brochure was recolour the roof, airbrush new turn indicator lights, change over the steering wheel, add Bel Air badges and draw new chrome side trim.

1968 PONTIAC

Add two doors and change the steering wheel location, and Bonneville coupes becomes Parisienne four doors.
1957 and 1960 CHRYSLER ROYAL

Chrysler Australia drew heavily on the 1956/1957 De Soto and 1956 Plymouth adverting themes for the 1957 and 1960 Royal.

1958 AUSTIN WESTMINSTER

BMC Australia joined the copycat club when it unashamedly placed an A95 Westminster on a golf course, exactly where a 1957 Oldsmobile had once resided. BMCA obviously could not afford colour for this advertisement which appeared in Reader’s Digest.
1955 CHEVROLET

Americans enjoyed a full colour view of the underside of a ’55 Bel Air coupe. In Australia, we got a mauve tinted version depicting a four-door sedan
1963 PONTIAC

A US Grand Prix coupe morphs into the Australian Laurentian.

A stunning Fitz &Van painting of a 1963 Bonneville coupe was the foundation for a Laurentian sedan.
1956 FORD ZEPHYR and CONSUL

Ford Australia’s advertising department copied the 1956 Mercury brochure for the 1956 Zephyr and Consul advertisements.
1954 CHEVROLET

A green 1954 US Chevrolet 210 sedan becomes the Australian Bel Air simply with a re-colour, added chrome trim and a couple of smartly dressed people in the background.
1966 CHEVROLET

This one is a particular favourite. In the 1966 US Chevrolet full sized brochure there is a small photo of an Impala four door hardtop at the intersection of California and Stockton streets, San Francisco. To create an Australian Impala for their brochure, GMH reversed the image, cropped out the Oakland Bay bridge in the background and added indicator lights to the rear fenders.
1972 FORD FALCON

The main image for Ford’s 1972 Falcon advertising campaign was taken from the 1971 Mercury brochure.
1964 and 1966 PONTIAC

More examples of reversing the image, adding doors and making small changes.
1963 FORD FAIRLANE

Here’s a re-work of the 1962 US Fairlane into the 1963 local model.
1964 PONTIAC and 1965 CHEVROLET

It is a mystery why someone spent a lot of time converting the green US Impala into a pillared Australian Bel Air, when the pillarless Impala was also sold in Australia. And why the background of the Pontiac brochure image was erased is another mystery.
1957 FORD CUSTOMLINE

For 1957, Ford Australia chose not to release the new US Ford, but stick with the existing model, and use some the ’56 US trim and brochure artwork.
1959 FORD FAIRLANE

Move the steering wheel, make the driver a male, switch around the cars in the background and re-draw the door trim and dashboard. That how the ’59 US Ford is readied for action down under.
1966 and 1967 PONTIAC

US to Aussie: more Pontiacs.
1965 CHEVROLET

Erase the restaurant sign and other indicators of the Boston location, reverse the photo and it becomes a main image in the 1965 Australian Chevrolet brochure.
1967 PONTIAC

A 1967 Grand Prix 2+2 convertible is transformed into a four door Parisienne hardtop.
1959 FORD RANCH WAGON

To create the 1959 Ranch Wagon, strip the fake wood panels from the flanks of the US Country Squire, re colour it blue, erase and move occupants so there is no one in the third row (can you spot where they go?) and erase one of the guys in the background. It’s all in a hard day’s work at Ford Australia’s advertising agency.
1966 HILLMAN GAZELLE

Here’s a simple re-use of the UK Singer Gazelle photo. Can you pick the differences?
1966 CHEVROLET

GMH did not need to alter the original Chevrolet brochure by much to create the Australian Impala.
1965 PONTIAC

A US Star Chief is competently transformed into an Australia Parisienne. So far so good. But take a look at the pink Parisienne. Why a 1965 Tempest was selected for the artistic re-work when the American brochure had so many more suitable drawings to choose from is a mystery? The Parisienne is cartoonishly out of proportion and the clumsiest conversion I’ve seen.
1963 EH HOLDEN

Pontiac had much to be proud of with its 1963 Tempest. It had a slant four engine as standard (half the 389 cubic inch V8), impendent suspension all round, and a rear located gearbox attached to a transaxle. The EH, on the other hand, featured a new American styled body and the red sixes.
In a little-known brochure, GMH copied the Tempest brochure image for image. The positioning, facial expressions, and hand gestures of the actors—note one actor with fingers spread on the bonnet—was unashamedly re-used.

1968 PONTIAC

GMH again selected a Tempest as the basis for the Parisienne. This time they did a much better job than in 1965. I still ask: why? It must have taken a significant amount of skill to re-create the bigger Parisienne from the smaller Tempest and keep everything in proportion.
1975 FORD CORTINA

Meanwhile, Ford once again went to the filing cabinet where all the Chevrolet advertisements were stored and copied the 1974 Camaro ad for the 1975 TC Cortina.
Nairn and I are sure there are more copycat examples out there. Keep looking, and if you find one, post it here.
Retroautos® is written and published with passion and with pride by David Burrell. A special thanks to Nairn Hindhaugh. All stories and images in Retroautos® are copyrighted. Reproducing and/or downloading them in any format is prohibited. Retroautos® is a registered trademark. Reproducing and/or downloading it in any format is prohibited.