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Car companies used to cook up sales with recipe books

Fri, 08 Aug 2014


The evolution of automotive marketing has undergone a number of strange phases. Few, though, match the strangeness of the 1930s to 1950s, when automotive marketers turned to cookbooks as a means of promoting their vehicles. Yes, cookbooks. We can't make this stuff up, folks.


This bizarre trend led to General Motors distributing cookbooks under the guise of its then-subsidiary Frigidaire. Ford, meanwhile, offered a compilation of recipes from Ford Credit Employees (shown above). The cookbook-craze wasn't limited to domestic manufacturers, though. As The Detroit News discovered, both Rolls-Royce and Volkswagen got in on the trend, although not until the 1970s.

The News has the full story on this strange bit of marketing. Head over and take a look.

By Brandon Turkus


See also: What's in a trademark? Sometimes, the next iconic car name, Rolls-Royce developing new convertible, Ford F-Series Super Duty prototype reduced to smoldering mess of aluminum and steel [UPDATE].