July 30th. The nation’s love affair with automobiles is well over a hundred years old and our obsession can be traced through the years by looking at advertising as cars progressed from romantic plaything to daily necessity. The first known national ad about a car appeared on this date 110 years ago in the “Scientific American” for the Winton Motor Carriage with the headline “dispense with a horse.” As millions of Americans did just that, competing car companies increased their spending on advertising. By 1906, 57 car companies spent over a half-million dollars advertising in 12 national magazines. Today, cars and trucks are a major part of the more than $285 billion spent annually on advertising.

1908 Winton Touring Car