VIDEO: "Ken and Mary's Skyline"
We don't know what we like most about this commercial. Is it the extremely spiffy metallic blue '72ish C110 Skyline GT? Is it the super-70s, ultra-mellow J-pop soundtrack? Or maybe it's that we find Ken & Mary to be just as irresistable today as the Japanese public apparently did in the 70s, when the commercial was a hit and the car was a big seller.
What is that they're doing on the beach, anyway? Carving wood? You decide.
Whatever the strategy behind it was, the "Ken & Mary" ad worked. We so want to go buy a 1970 Nissan Skyline now.
[Source: YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rwdmtparkingonly 12:08PM (10/04/2006)
You can go to an Infinity dealer and get a Skyline (don't mistake the GT and GT-R):
http://www.nissan.co.jp/EN/lineup.html
However, I really wish that this old Skyline's spiritual successor, the Silvia, was avaliable (I had a '95 240SX).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Silvia
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Bultaco 370 12:10PM (10/04/2006)
lol, this looks so 1970's tacky American it hurts. I love it!
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KazO 12:10PM (10/04/2006)
I assume the Ken/Mary campaign was a series of ads, but whatever it was, it really must've hit a chord with young Japanese at the time. I think my parents were married about a year when this came out, and they still talk about it today when the topic of Skylines comes up.
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Paul 12:12PM (10/04/2006)
is it me, or does it seem like a lot of ads in japan feature caucasians?
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rico 12:23PM (10/04/2006)
Too bad only 50 came with S20s. It's neat to finally see one of the famous (or infamous?) K&M ads. Good stuff!
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Edsel 12:56PM (10/04/2006)
It looks like a Plymouth Cricket or Arrow made by Mitsubishi from the mid to late 1970's.
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Bill 1:57PM (10/04/2006)
The car's styling is very 70's American, just shrunken down. It's not surprising that they'd use two young American kids to market it.
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KazO 2:15PM (10/04/2006)
Edsel, are you from Canada? The Plymouth Cricket sold in the US was a British Hillman Avenger; the Canadian Cricket was a Mitsubishi.
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sr20de 3:09PM (10/04/2006)
Hey #1 (and countless Craigslist and eBay posters)- it's INFINITI. With an "I", not a "Y". Pet peeve. Thank you.
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AMcA 7:42PM (10/04/2006)
Wouldn't it be fabulous if the car manufacturers were to release all of their old commericals on YouTube?
Heck, all the old commercials for whatever!
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Stphane Dumas 9:00PM (10/04/2006)
AMcA
I spotted these Chevrolet Opala ads
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a-D689ghgQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gDRNf_G2YI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_mbjDuswmY
the Chevy Opala was a Opel Rekord modified for the Brazilian market made from 1969 to 1992 with minimal body changes over the years
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Stphane Dumas 10:22PM (10/04/2006)
and here the Wikipedia entry about the Opala http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Opala
and another vintage ad, this one about the 1969 Plymouth lineup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFBP063uTgQ
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