AUTOMOBILE DESING GRAPHICS

Dream a little dream
The art of selling more than just a car

In the heyday of the automobile, marketing cars was an exacting process. Selling the public one of their major life purchases involved not only traditional advertising but also a crucial item that extolled the virtue of the cars: the brochure. Often oversize and sumptuously produced, including acetate overlays with fabric and paint swatches, brochures were only available at dealer showrooms or auto fairs–hence specimens of antique and vintage car brochures are rare collector's items today.

Frequently overlooked in design and automotive histories, this ephemera offers lucid mirror image of American tastes, consumerism, and buying habits since the dawn of the automobile. Automobile Design Graphics presents for the first time a comprehensive overview of this mostly forgotten breed of collateral advertising.