In this 1969 American Motors campaign the message was, “Some like the Javelin for what it is. Some like it for what it can be.”
In the late 1960s, American Motors was struggling to maintain a foothold in the U.S. car industry, but the little automaker still managed to present some of the most memorable TV commercials in the biz. Each one was a little pop culture masterpiece, and the credit for that belongs to Mary Wells Lawrence and her firm, Wells Rich Greene, AMC’s ad agency of record. Her blue-chip clients included Alka-Seltzer (“Plop plop fizz fizz”) and at one point, she was said to the the highest-paid executive in the advertising industry.
In this famous spot called “Supercharger,” a father and son face off regarding the son’s modifications to his new ’69 Javelin—including a race-gutted interior and a GMC 6-71 supercharger with a Hilborn bug catcher poking through the hood. When the father calls the car butchered, the son replies, “Butchered? It’s a great car. I only made it better,” which then became a catchphrase in the hot rod world. In the print portion of the campaign, the top line was “Some like the Javelin for what it is. Some like it for what it can be.” Enjoy the video.
Finally surfaced a couple years back, this commercial “went missing” for many years. Even AMC guru Eddie Stakes of Planet Houston AMX couldn’t find it. Does “dad” look familiar? He was police chief O’Hara ( Stafford Repp) in the original Batman series. There were actually a couple of these ads. One was this, and another showed the car driving on the street and pulling up to the house. They were pulled because it allegedly encouraged street racing. There were other not so violent, wonderful Javelin ads, like Herb Edelman , “I have a bowl of goldfish on the seat” guy. Before the internet, TV reigned supreme for car sales, the wittier the ads, the more attraction. VW had some great ads too. Today it’s cell phones and Subarus, but back then, the sky was the limit when it came to TV. Heck, the ads were almost as good as the show.. Great find.
The young guy is actor/composer John Rubenstein. didn’t know his name, but I recognized his face from countless TV shows and movies. Finally my brain connected him with the 1970s TV show “Family” where I think he played the ex-husband. Very talented and always very good even when the show or movie he is in is not.
I seem to remember one ad where the father wants to take the Javelin to the store, the kid says, “it might need gas”. Naturally the father is horrified when he gets in the car.