Ford Better Ideas; 1969
The Going Thing
Remember when Ford had “Better Ideas” and was the Going Thing?
Winning on Sunday and selling on Monday was the reason Ford/Mercury was racing. Without NASCAR racing, we would not have the 1969 Ford Talladega and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II cars. What was it like back in 1969? What exactly was the “Better Idea” and what is a “Going Thing”?
To the best of my knowledge, there was never a TV commercial or printed advertisement featuring either of the Blue Oval Aero Cars. The late 60s and early 70s were a very different time in America. There were grungy hippies, but there were also classy GO-Go Girls. There were Vietnam Vets returning home who were not well, but there were also teen agers and your adults driving muscle cars, drag racing and cruising down main street.
TV featured Laugh In and The Smothers Brothers among others, which were changing the way we acted and thought. One of the most lasting events of the time was the birth of the muscle car. Today, individuals not even born at the time lust after those first ever cars directed and marketed to the Baby Boomer generation. Those original muscle car buyers are now Senior Citizens with their children and grandchildren now lusting after those same cars.
Here is a one minute TV commercial that convinced many of those original buyers they needed to head down to the Ford dealer and be cool! Maybe you don’t remember or you weren’t even born yet when this commercial played on TV. Which ever, I hope it helps explain what part of the car culture was like in 1969.
If you were driving a Mercury in 1969 you might have been “Leading the Way”!
