From the 1970 Challenger to the 1978 Omni, this is what the '70s looked like for Dodge!
The 1970s were crazy years for the automotive industry, and this look down Dodge's memory lane through various television commercials is a great example. What you see here is a 30-minute compilation (the last 10 minutes is dead air) produced by an ad agency in July 1983 showing a mix of the brand's corporate and dealer ads. We have no clue why they made such a video, but we're glad they did.
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The beginning of the video actually shows some late-'60s ads for the D100 pickup, Coronet and Polara, and the latter two get a "Dodge Boys" cartoon. Once it gets to the '70s, we see spots for one of Dodge's coolest cars, the 1970 Dodge Challenger. From here, the ads show an evolution from big, powerful cars to smaller, more efficient models. The Malaise Era is in full effect by the time we see the Dodge Omni and Mitsubishi-based 1978 Challenger, although there's still an attempt at performance in this era including the Omni 024. The video culminates with the launch of the Dodge Daytona in 1983 with claims that the Turbo Z set NASCAR speed records for the 2.2-liter class of vehicles.
From the goofy taglines like "Dodge is into pickups, like America's into jeans" to the cheesy characters (check out that wannabe Fonzie), the commercials are entertainingly awful especially the dealer ads. The local All American Dodge commercial is definitely one of the worst, though, and it shows how standards for ads we watch have evolved as much as the cars we drive.
The acting is bad and the music is worse, but the cars are awesome! Check out what "The Dodge Boys" had to offer back in the '70s.
