Window Shop with Car and Driver

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The sign at the start of Memory Lane advertises, “This Way to Kinder, Gentler Times!” What the marketers of nostalgia never tell you is that Memory Lane has some side streets and alleys that, like a Tijuana for the mind, contain reminiscences that should have been condemned and razed, their earth salted for the safety of future generations.

The Internet won’t let that happen.

This week’s Window Shop challenge started as an innocent, whimsical search for the strangest car commercial. Our esteemed panelists explored the bizarre and outlandish from Spain to Saturday Night Live. Just the kind of gentle, wacky fun our committed clique of viewers knows to expect.

Then editor-in-chief Tony Quiroga introduced everyone to the dark side of strange—the mystifying, freakish kind. Does anyone remember when automotive marketers decided to combine Edgar Burrows’ science fiction and William Burroughs’ psychedelic enhancers to advertise a milquetoast Chevrolet sedan? Is anyone surprised that Quiroga remembered?

Well, he gave it to us, which means we’re now giving it to you. Tune in to watch C/D feature maestros K.C. Colwell and Elana Scherr, Most Favored Nation contributor Jonathon Ramsey, and Road & Track’s resident Svengali John Pearley Huffman have their innocence taken from them.