Rover sells safety, 1967-style

Rover was big on safety back in the 1960s. So big, in fact, that they ran full-page advertisements urging folks to buckle up, with the picture of the car secondary. (It might help to understand the photo if you remember that Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, had won four Oscars three years before this ad ran. And that Cleo knew how to drive men mad.)

These ads were published in Car and Driver in 1967, three years after the Rover 2000 was introduced, and I guess they were meant to show readers that the Rover Company had a sense of humor. Whether they sold any cars this way, well — who knows?

They even ran an ad referencing their other ads. At least this one had a good-sized photo of the front of the car. In response to the “criticism,” they used the back side of the ad for a ghost view of a 2000 and an outline of 55 of the car’s more interesting features:

Reader and British car guy Doug Milota, who we met at one of our 2009 Cruise-Ins, sent these ads our way. Thanks, Doug!