As motor racing has come to become a sport increasingly dominated by sponsorship, more and more companies have got their word out by plastering their name on driver’s race suits or across the cars themselves.
That was much less the case back in May 1953 and so the pages of Autosport were prime real estate for getting the message out there. With the occasional opportunity to run colour ads too, the graphic designers of their day produced some terrific illustrations that have stood the test of time.
With Britain just a few days away from the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, BP took the opportunity to remind us all how ‘the oiliest oil’ had spanned the generations from early Edwardians to the new Elizabethans.
It’s a lost art now we get those lousy, here today, gone tomorrow pop up ads on the internet instead, but you can relive a golden age of advertising – and motoring – here.
