Life in 1986 - A Few Magazine Ads - Hugo Boss, Cars For Rent, Puma, Just Juice And Stella Artois...

Fashion 1986 - the deelyboppers of a couple of years before had mysteriously disappeared...

Cars for rent... the Toyota MR2, Ford Escort RS Turbo, or the Ford Escort 1.6i Cabriolet - £59.40 a day or £356 a week?! The Lamborghini Countach QV or Ferrari Testarossa - £436.50 per day or £2,619.00 per week?!!!

Incredible...

Martina Navratilova and Boris Becker - "Puma" written all over them. I'll never forget seventeen-year-old Boris's win at Wimbledon in 1985. Probably the most thrilling Wimbledon I ever saw.

"No additives, no mess, no fuss - just juice!"

An advertisement for Just Juice featured in The Field Story Of Wimbledon, a 1986 magazine published to celebrate 100 years of championships at the All England Club. Wimbledon actually celebrated its centenary in 1977, but the 100th championships were not played until 1986 because of years missed during the two world wars.

Do you remember the 1980s Just Juice advertising jingle on the telly? "No pips, no additives, no preservatives, just juice..." Some days that jingle went round and round in my head from morning till night!

More liquid refreshment - this time lager at "La Brasserie" - very posh indeed. In fact, posh to the max, darlin'...

"Reassuringly expensive" - sounds barking, doesn't it? But it made perfect sense back in those 1980s days of yuppiedom - yer pays for quality yer see!

I loved a few pints of Stella Artois. It was pricey, but got me... er... muddled and jolly quicker. In fact it got me muddled and jolly very quickly. And lively too. We used to call it 'rocket fuel'!

Vorsprung Durch Technik - As They Say In England...

"Vorsprung durch Technik" - what?!! Apparently, it means something along the lines of "advancement through technology" in German, and has long been the slogan of the Audi company. In 1984, the slogan achieved fame here in England, with actor Geoffrey Palmer telling viewers that an Audi 100 was needed if the Germans were to be beaten in the race for the swimming pool. "Vorsprung durch Technik, as they say in Germany," said Mr Palmer in droll posh English tones, and it rapidly became one of the ad catchphrases of the mid-to-late decade.

Mr Palmer, already a TV favourite (remember him in Butterflies?), now had a new claim to fame.

The idea to use the "Vorsprung durch Technik" slogan in English language Audi ads came about when Sir John Hegarty, of the Bartle Bogle Hegarty advertising agency, visited the Audi factory in 1982.

1985: The Sinclair C5

Above and below: details from the original C5 advertising, 1985.




Sir Clive Sinclair in his C5, 1985.

Practical personal transport - powered by electricity, ran the C5 advertising blurb.

It's a world first. It needs no petrol, just an overnight charge from a mains socket. Press a button to start, squeeze a lever to stop - there's no gearchange, no clutch.

Anyone can drive it on the roads, from the age of fourteen upwards. You don't need a licence. You pay no road tax.

The C5 was 1744 mm (5'9'') long, 795 mm ( 2'7'') high, and 744 mm (2'5'') wide.

Again according to the advertising blurb, it had a range of up to 20 miles (depending on use) and was listed as having a max speed (electric drive) of 24 kph (15 mph). It cost £399 and was advertised under the slogan A Whole New Way To Get About.

Environmental issues were high on the agenda in the 1980s, so, what was the problem with the environmentally friendly C5? Well, it was small - could it be easily seen from other vehicles? As the driver was quite near to the ground, wouldn't he/she be breathing in other drivers' exhaust fumes? These were two head scratchers that I heard in connection with the C5, and were genuine concerns. Some people were simply out to ridicule it.

Unlike that other 1985 launch, Microsoft Windows, the C5 was soon a thing of the past.