Photo by Gil Folk
Ferrari must have known that the F40 would be a sought-after car, and yet it decided to make a glorious promotional video, featuring lots of driving footage, great sounds, and a look at the car once reserved exclusively for those who were lucky enough to watch the actual VHS tape.
The Porsche 993 and the BMW E30 Series cars are some other now-successful models that enjoyed some captivating promotional film treatment. So sit back, relax, and imagine you’ve just been mailed a VHS tape from Volvo, with a bright yellow wagon on the slip case…
This is how you sell a car that needs no advertising—except, of course, when the F40 owner’s friends visit and want to know what the car is like. “Ferrari just sent me…”
“Porsches have great density of thought,” Jerry Seinfeld says at one point in this official video for the 993-series 911, after saying the one line that has stuck with us since seeing this in the ’90s. “Truly simple, but not boring,” he says of the car. How 911.
The first time I saw this, I was amazed: McLaren thought to rig up a camera and microphone for the driver on his way to hitting 241 mph…in 1998. On the right, the Porsche 928, shot in a way to make the car look exceptional to someone who’d buy a 928 in 1986. Cue the rulers, computers, and low production tolerances!
Jaguar XJ220 “The Official Story” features the strangest opening sequence I’ve ever seen, with the supercar traveling at more than 200 mph to music that can best be described as “unfortunate”. Then three minutes pass and you’re tapping your feet.
With its slow rate of sales, however, maybe the XJ220 really did need a bit of promotion—just not like this.
BMW fans, this is how the company promoted the still-sought-after E30 3 Series range—(of course) including the M3. Volvo fans, on the right you’ll find the soaring guitars used to sell the wonderful 850 T5-R.
