And we have a winner!

This editor’s choice for hands-down coolest 1930s ad goes to…

I’ve already written about International Harvester once in my internet tour of CCJ in the ‘30s. But I just couldn’t bear to bid the decade adieu without profiling this ad from a 1939 issue of CCJ.

Of course, as one of the trucking industry’s heavy-hitters, IH had the money to hire Madison Avenue’s best agencies to handle their advertising. And this ad is a really fine example of late ‘30s advertising at its finest. Everything about the ad, from the vivid colors to the styling of the trucks to the gear the oil field workers are wearing is a great image of a world that no longer exists.