Picture this. It’s the early ‘80s, and Italy is booming thanks to economic growth all across the board. In 1991, the country that gave us Ferrari, the espresso machine, and pizza was the fourth economic power in the world, surpassing France. But then, the ‘90s rolled in with troubles of their own. By the time Italy changed from lira to euro, the boom had transitioned to stagnation, tax evasion, and a bit of recession in the late 2000s.
Given these circumstances, there’s no denying Italy was a better place for most industries in the 1980s, including advertising. Related to the automotive realm, the perfect example of such advertising is the singing brochure launched in 1983 by Fiat for the Uno, called La Voce Della Uno! In the classifieds, the musical brochure is listed at prices from €15 to €100.
And yes, it sings! Although the cover doesn’t give any indication about what’s hiding inside, opening the brochure reveals a small record and a needle. So how do you play the song recorded on the vinyl? Your finger is responsible for rotating the record at a steady speed because there’s no motor here as you’d find in a turntable.
If the language barrier isn’t helping with understating the song’s lyrics, you can find some clues on the first page of the brochure in the guise of four pictures. In addition to the visual indicators, the lyrics are printed on the same page, referring to four attributes of the Uno: comodosa (which is Italian for comfortable), sciccosa (posh), risparmiosa (fuel efficient), and scattosa (nippy with the meaning of agile, quick).
As if that wasn’t impressive enough, the piece of cardboard to which the needle is attached also acts as a resonator when the vinyl is played. Heaven knows how much Fiat paid the media agency to come up with this brochure, and it’s even harder to get information on production costs per unit, but who cares about those anyway?
Now picture this. If you were a kid in 1983 in Italy and your dad came home with a brand new Fiat Uno and La Voce Della Uno!, you can bet your sweet bippy that you’d be absorbed by the little contraption on first play.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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