Hoovey689

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Video: Geeky Tim Allen as Merkur pitchman

Actor and comedian Tim Allen, the former Home Improvement star and the man behind Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear, has seen steady voiceover work of late as the pitchman for Chevrolet (and Campbell's Soup, and Michigan tourism). Now, all the recent activity has gotten Allen plenty of attention of late, but he's an old hand when it comes to this stuff.

If you turn the clock back to 1988 you can watch Allen, sporting glasses and a rail-thin physique, try to sell us on the Merkur Scorpio (then dubbed Road and Track's best sedan under $27,500). German engineering at your Lincoln/Mercury dealer... what could possibly go wrong? Hit the jump to watch the 60-second spot. Just remember that operators are no longer standing by.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDcMg...layer_embedded

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/04/02/v...rkur-pitchman/

mmarshall

Everything.

Both Merkurs (XR4Ti and Scorpio) were hugely unsuccessful in the American market.

mmarshall

Using celebrities to sell cars, BTW, is a long-used tactic. Paul Hogan tried to sell the Outback (and, with me, succeded) Ricardo Montalban (for those of you old enough to remember it) pitched the late 70s Chrysler Corboba's "Corinthian" leather seats. Frank Sinatra pitched the 1981 Chrysler Imperial a couple of years later. Fiat, back in the 70s and 80s, played up the fact that Enzo Ferrari, who owned the famous exotic-car company, drove a small Fiat 128 econobox as his personal car. And "Lying" Joe Isuzu gave new meaning to the salesman's double-talk.

LexBob2

One that was hard to believe was Tiger Woods selling Buicks.

BTW, I bought a Merkur XR4Ti when they first were available in the U.S. Fun and interesting for a while but when the newness wore off and reliabilty issues surfaced, not so much. I didn't have any problems with mine but a lot of owners did.

I lost my shirt when I got rid of it.

mmarshall

Thanks, LexBob ....I had forgotten that one. Shouldnt' have, though......it was very recent. What also was associated with him, as well, was the Escalade he wrecked during his recent marriage-troubles....though he didn't actively pitch them.

I wonder what he thinks of the new LaCrosse?

Sorry you lost so much. Depreciation on those cars was like an Enron portfolio.

IS-SV

Lol, I remember Tiger and Buick discussions here, GM dropping him right before his wife did.

On the topic of depreciation, there was a period of time when Ford offered some form of buyer protection for excess depreciation (BMW benchmark), to help sell these cars.

Yes, I remember the Merkur well, what a disaster in every automotive business sense.

trukn1

Tiger was the pitchman and spokesperson the the 2008 Buick Enclave although I could not find that commercial, I do remember that there was one out. He also pitched a commercial for the Olympic edition, Buick Regal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXSQy...eature=related