When Datsun - as Nissan was then called - released the Stanza, they were trying to re-find the glory that they'd experienced with the Datsun 1600. The new car looked similar, it went rallying in the factory-backed team, and it had a 1.6-litre engine.
But - famously - the February 1979 cover of Wheels magazine summed up the general perspective on trying to pass off a tired old design as the innovator the 1600 had been. Beneath a pic of the very first Mazda RX7 the headline went, "YES: Mazda gets it right - RX7". Below that was a pic of the Stanza, with an equally prophetic line: "NO: Datsun gets it wrong - Stanza". (And can you imagine any new car magazine having the guts to do that now? How times have changed....)
The Datsun 1600 had an OHC engine and independent rear suspension - in 1968. The Stanza had much the same engine and a technically inferior solid axle rear suspension - eleven years later....
Two years after the Stanza was released - in 1981, the year that all of this article's ads appeared - the company was eager to boost sales. The result was the SSS version of the Stanza - basically a dress-up pack.
"Dressed to thrill. New Datsun Stanza SSS." Went the headline. In smaller writing some of the glories of the car were spelled out. "But, don't get the impression that the new SSS is looks alone. After all, this is a Stanza, with all the rally-bred characteristics you'd expect from a Datsun - and more. Like front air dam and sports modified suspension. New, distinctive cloth upholstery. Full sports instrumentation. And a slick 5-speed gearbox that brings out the best in Stanza's reliable 1600cc OHC engine."
"New Stanza SSS. The Drivers' Car." concluded the ad.
But people remained unconvinced...
Long, long before the name 'Lancer' evoked visions of genuine rally-bred cars four-wheel driving their way through forests, wastegates gobbling, Mitsubishi sold another Lancer. A car with little performance, it ended up being promoted in an odd manner that suggested it was great fun to drive - but could still get 42 mpg (that's 6.7 litres/100 km!).
If you're thinking to yourself - "Wow, I thought back in '81 only cars like the Daihatsu Charade could get fuel consumption like that!", you're right. Read the fine print and you'll find that the Lancer achieved that fuel consumption when being driven in an economy competition...
But "Lancer has the lowest price tag of any imported sporty Hatchback, less than $7000," and after all, it also has "a horny 1.6 litre OHC engine"!
An unusual ad in that it used a single page horizontal format (which meant that you had to turn the magazine sideways to read it), it was a last gasp for the car.
If the Lancer ad shows the dying struggles of an old car, the campaign for the Mitsubishi Colt reflected both a new advertising thrust and a very fresh car. Forgotten now is that at the time of its introduction the Mitsubishi Colt was both innovative and advanced. Gutterless body construction (where the doors wrap around into the roof) is now the norm, but to then have such a design feature on an economy car was extraordinary. It also had a gearbox which allowed the high/low range selection of each gear - giving in effect the Colt more ratios than pretty well any other car before or since!
And the Colt advertising campaign used funny camels (copied 20 years later by Toyota with the RAV4), interesting scenes (one showed the Colt being driven down a supermarket isle as people in the car grabbed items off the shelves), and the one slogan: "Miles more cheek."
It was both a very successful series of ads, and a very successful car in sales.
Going back to 1981 shows - in a way that simply looking at the cars fails to immediately do - how far electronics have come in the 20 years. Take this ad for Sony car sound. Using a then advanced digital tuner, the AM/FM radio cassette was one hot bit of gear.
"Imagine your car filled with the sound of the Sony XR-77 car Hi-Fi with built-in 20W + 20W power amplifier and loudness control. Imagine the cassette player with Dolby noise reduction, metal tape capability, an automatic music sensor, locking fast-forward and rewind."
"Top it all off with a built-in quartz clock, and you have a hi-fi set-up that will fill your car with some of the finest sounds money can buy."
In those days, separate power amps were extremely rare, helping to explain the bulk of the rear part of the unit (note how it's much thicker at the back than the front!). CD players were yet to appear in cars, automotive sub-woofers weren't even heard of - and this bit of gear would set you back probably the equivalent of $2000 in today's money!
The early '80s were a time of declining European car influence in Australia, something that was to continue until the mid '90s. However, often there was no recognition of this in the advertising of the times - Euro car makers were happy to rest on their laurels, apparently fully expecting buyers to be swayed by what they had done in the past rather than the product then being delivered to the new car showrooms.
This Renault 20TS ad reflects that arrogance. Beneath a strangely under-exposed pic of the car, the headline boldly proclaims in capitals "SMART MOVE". Beneath is a wordy text that in part says, "To most Australians, the 20 is an enigma. New classics usually are. But Renault, maker of unconventional legends, has made an up-market masterpiece - highly acclaimed in Europe for its unclassifiable brilliance..."
If that didn't stop the typical Australian car buyer from reading any further, I don't know what would!
But the ad goes on, "Luxury with space: magnificent seats and every comfort - details like central locking, power windows, rear screen washer wipers and stereo AM/FM radio cassette player."
Not only that, but the Renault 20TS was, "A mean mover: the all alloy 2-litre engine reaches 100kph in 11.1 seconds and effortlessly tows a trailer or boat."
What a lot of rubbish! Nope, not in the factual detail, but in the total lack of empathy with the market. Back in '81, someone in Australia who wanted a luxury car that would tow a boat sure as hell wouldn't be looking at a 2-litre Renault. A 5-litre V8 Commodore SL/E perhaps...
"You can be moved by this classic now for around $15,000... and watch your astuteness slowly dawn on a less enlightened world. Get smart. Drive it soon."
Oh really... The smarmy tone must have turned off potential buyers in droves: in Australia the 20TS remained the enigma so proudly acknowledged in the ad!
And what of the Commodore? In the early '80s, the Commodore was in a time of sales boom. A huge breakthrough in driveability, packaging and value when it was introduced in the mid-late Seventies, by 1981 it was consolidating its power base. And that showed in the advertising.
A double page ad, the right hand side illustrated a two-tone (maroon and brown - yuk!) SL/E Commodore over the lines, "The more that you know about cars, the more likely you drive a Commodore SL/E."
Hmmm - but to back up that claim, the left-hand page had a large table of data. Headlined, "European sixes talk efficiency. But Commodore SL/E gets better fuel economy than any of them." Beneath that were the quoted government test fuel economy figures from the Commodore, BMW 528i auto, Jaguar XJ6 (and its Daimler sister), Mercedes Benz 280E, Peugeot 604, and Volvo 264.
And yes - surprise, surprise - the Commodore's 3.3 litre pushrod six gave better economy. However, these days the figures all look pretty atrocious - try a city cycle of 14 and country cycle of 9.5 litres/100 km for the Holden! Also note the lack of the most obvious competitor - the Falcon.
But that list of Europeans does show clearly the market at which Holden was aiming.
These days we're all so familiar with the concept of add-on boost gauges that the thought of an advertisement being needed to state the reasons for their use seems quite quaint. But back in '81 there was a severe dearth of turbo cars (we'll see one of the factory groundbreakers in a minute) although some turbocharging was starting to occur in the aftermarket.
This ad, from instrument maker VDO, spells out the usefulness of the "Turbocharger Gauge".
Under a cartoon of a racing BMW - probably not turbocharged, come to think of it - the ad said, "Turbocharged vehicles require continuous monitoring of both vacuum and pressure to ensure operation at the desired level. This monitoring is effectively carried out with the VDO Turbocharger Gauge."
So, now you know!
This was it!
This car was avidly awaited as a local performance alternative. The Sigma turbo appealed not to those driving V8-powered Falcons and Commodores - and certainly not to those pedalling Euro machinery - but to the group who wanted something a little different in technology, but still with a good kick in the back. The Sigma Turbo was a home-grown design, one of the two local factory-developed turbo carby cars that were ever sold in this country. (The first Laser turbo was the other.)
The double page ad featured a blurred and arresting shot of the Sigma leaping from the page, with huge print saying simply 'Sigma Turbo.'
Unfortunately after that, the ad went downhill fast; it didn't live up to that initial promise - a little like the car, actually.
"When that turbo power begins to cut in, you have a reserve of power to accelerate out of trouble, and to overtake in a flash." After listing the slightly upgraded brakes and suspension, the ad trumpets the "striking two tone paintwork", air con and four-speaker sound system.
And to show how we now regard the Sigma so differently to how it was perceived in its day, the final lines: "But in engineering terms, the car is still very much a Sigma, the car that changed the image of the four cylinder."
Another car where the advertising thrust now looks rather ludicrous is the Nissan Bluebird. Ooops, Datsun Bluebird in those days.
Knowing - as they did with the Stanza - that they didn't have a groundbreaking product, Datsun spec'd up the Bluebird to very high levels then marketed it as "The first four cylinder limousine."
Before you gag on that, consider that all Japanese-based luxury cars - 280C, Crown, Cressida and so on - were powered by six cylinder engines. All Australian luxury cars had to have a V8, and while there were Euro luxury four cylinders - like the Renault 20TS shown above - their profile was so low that Datsun simply knew that it could get away with the audacious claim. And they did.
"Many years ago there were cars called limousines. They were plush and opulent. Comfortable and luxurious. A joy to drive, a pride to own.
"However, they were ridiculously big, terribly expensive and outrageously thirsty. So they faded into history. Today, there is a new limousine. An economical limousine. A family limousine.
"New Datsun Blueibird. Richly appointed with cloth upholstery and more luxurious features than any other car in its class."
Yes, well then you wait for a listing of the marvellous luxury features - but you wait in vain. The ad copy goes on about the rack and pinion steering (what's that got to do with being a limousine?), the 2-litre engine, and the model names - GL, GX, LX sedans and GL and GX wagons. And that's it!
Oh, apart from a closer: "Bluebird. The first four cylinder limousine."
From all these years on, it's all very, very weird...
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