Shortly thereafter, the Ford Falcon Futura model was displayed at the International Automobile Show in New York City, New York. Lee Iacocca declared, "We are introducing the Falcon Futura for compact car buyers who want to combine luxury appearance with economical operation.” The Ford Falcon Futura, unlike the other Falcon’s, not only offered the basic economy advantages, but also featured a deluxe interior. There were contoured designed bucket seats inspired by the Thunderbird, exclusive wheel covers, and three tear-drop shaped ornaments on the rear fenders. The Ford Falcon was a new line designed to compete with many foreign economy models.
As part of their advertising campaign, Ford Motor Company was among one of the first companies to use the famous Peanuts characters in a television advertisement. The ad introduced the new Ford Falcon with the animated Peanuts characters extolling the virtues of the new models. In addition, Ford advertising used the Peanuts characters for their printed sales material and featured advertisements within Life and Look magazines.
The relationship with Ford and Peanuts was a huge success at the time and created high profits for the company. It also proved that the comic character could translate to adult audiences and represent a brand. Recently, the most notable push using the characters was the long running Metropolitan Life campaign, which started in the mid 1980's. Today, Charlie Brown & Friends are still American icons among many, both young and those simply young at heart.
A special thanks to Robert Tate, Automotive Historian and Researcher, for donating his story to the MotorCities Story of the Week program. Photographs courtesy of Robert Tate’s Collection. Please do not use any photographs without the permission of MotorCities/Robert Tate. For further information contact Robert Tate at btate@motorcities.org
If you have a story that you would like to donate to be featured as a MotorCities Story of the Week, email Lisa Ambriez at: lambriez@motorcities.org