Few people who aren’t car geeks remember what a Willys Aero was, and far fewer know that after being discontinued in the USA in 1955, production resumed in Brazil five years later. In South America, the Aero’s robust nature could shine, far away from the cheaper, flashier compacts coming out of Detroit. And shine it did. Production, with more and more homegrown Brazilian alterations along the way, lasted until 1971. Not a bad run for car that had been declared dead over a decade and a half earlier.
While one might conclude that Brazil’s auto industry was a bit outdated and crude by North American standards in 1961, it would appear that its advertising industry was too, as evidenced by today’s Classic Captions illustration. There is so much in this photograph to riff on, from the oddly posed family to the obviously studio-lit “beach” location, to the artsy backdrop, to the inscrutable inclusion of the pensive lifeguard walking out of frame in the background. What is your witty reaction to all this? Take a shot and leave a clever caption in the comments.

Last week, our flame-trailing RX3-SP provided all the entertainment value I’d hoped; the comments were epic. GTXcellent provided the mostly highly voted caption: “After extensive testing, Yokohama decided that magnesium radials are not a good idea.” But wait, it gets even better when you add OA5599‘s follow-up reply: “Those are Firestones.” I assumed there would be the obligatory Back To The Future reference, and I wasn’t disappointed. OA5599‘s own comment, “Mazda: Finally capable of 88 miles per hour,” was relegated to runner-up status by a single vote. Despite finishing way down the leader board, I must give special mention to njhoon, who took the time to translate the closing monologue from the original Road Warrior into Japanese kanji. Well done, lads.