Fun Fifties Cars

I love the designs in “Destination Earth.” It’s a mid-1950s propaganda cartoon for the oil industry made by the John Sutherland studio. Tom Oreb and Vic Haboush were brought in as designers.

The cars are parodies of the long, huge-finned vehicles that were de rigeur in the auto industry in the second half of the decade. Here are a few of them. The second one has Buick’s portholes and the fifth is based on the M.G., which were becoming popular then.



Part of a shot of a neighbourhood.



And here are more cars with neat character designs. Dig that crazy beatnik, Daddy-O!



Here’s a car at a gas station. A typical American family is inside. Wait! Where’s dad? Probably hard at work at the office after a four-martini lunch.



Look at all those happy, stylised people, thanks to big oil companies. Thanks, Corporate America!