"The Man Who Simplified Housing Bought a Honda Civic," Honda Civic Advertisement Featuring R. Buckminster Fuller, 1978
Add to SetSummary
The automobile is a paradox -- a practical tool that plays host to both human needs and fantasies. Like car consumers, automotive ads seem to land somewhere between fantasy and reality, emotions and rationality. Many ads incorporate apparent opposites: fantasy can sell practicality, and vice versa. Sometimes the car has disappeared completely -- an emotional appeal prompts us to complete the ad.
The automobile is a paradox -- a practical tool that plays host to both human needs and fantasies. Like car consumers, automotive ads seem to land somewhere between fantasy and reality, emotions and rationality. Many ads incorporate apparent opposites: fantasy can sell practicality, and vice versa. Sometimes the car has disappeared completely -- an emotional appeal prompts us to complete the ad.
Artifact
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Date Made
1978
Subject Date
1978
Creators
Keywords
Collection Title
Location
Not on exhibit to the public.
Object ID
2011.319.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Material
Paper (Fiber product)
Color
Multicolored
Dimensions
Height: 10.75 in (each of 2 pages)
Width: 8.25 in (each of 2 pages)
Inscriptions
Text reads in part: You can imagine our feeling of satisfaction when we discovered that / R. Buckminster Fuller had walked into Darling's Honda / in Bangor, Maine, and bought a Honda Civic CVCC Hatchback. / ...he has spent over half a century finding / simple economical ways to improve our lives. What's more he knows a good deal about automobiles, having owned 43 different cars over the years. / Of course, you may know Bucky best for his masterpiece of / simplicity, the geodesic dome. This ingenious structure is one of / the strongest and most efficient means of enclosing space yet devised / by man. In 1933 Bucky / Fuller designed and built the Dymaxion Car. It rode on three wheels / and steered by a single wheel in the rear. This design made it highly maneuverable and easy to park. It even had front-wheel drive. / Sound familiar? / Here's what he told us about his Honda Civic CVCC: "Its handling / feels better to me than any other car I've ever owned-- except my / Dymaxion." There. Isn't that nice? And isn't it wonderful when someone like / Buckminster Fuller appreciates what we've done.
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