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I wish someone would put the original Thunderbolt Transmission commercial on You Tube.

That's ultimate vintage Houston. Anyone over the age of 20 who's ever set foot in Houston is likely familiar with that ad.

It's the bomb.

I'm under the impression that the same ad ran for 20 years before they decided to update it.

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I wish someone would put the original Thunderbolt Transmission commercial on You Tube.

That's ultimate vintage Houston. Anyone over the age of 20 who's ever set foot in Houston is likely familiar with that ad.

It's the bomb.

It's posts like these that make me wish I had a TV Tuner on me. I do have it on an early 80's (83 maybe?) tape from some movie taped off 26. I've been thinking of putting together a Houston TV Memories page on YouTube, but again... don't have the hardware at the moment. I can record the song off the tape if that's kosher though...

Also have Mr. Norman, Westside Chevrolet, Mac Haik (The ones that actually had the song at the end) and a bunch of other stuff scattered over a ton of tapes. Tons of newsy stuff as well. At least I can give you an inventory, ne?

Edited by ChannelTwoNews
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The cheesy Rodney D Young ads stand out in my mind.

I also loved the Worthington Chevrolet Ads from back in the 80s.

"If you need a car or truck go see Cal, if you need a car or truck go see Cal, if you need a car or truck and you want to save a buck go see Cal go see Cal go see Cal."

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I was wondering if I might have the Thunderbolt ad on an old VHS tape as well, but I'm too lazy to look through them. I imagine there are some other gems on them, if not the Thunderbolt ad.

gonzo1976:

I'm under the impression that the same ad ran for 20 years before they decided to update it.

They revised it it around the late-'90s, maybe even the very early '00s. It was extact to the original, just newer. Blond woman wearing a cowboy hat driving big old bouncy convertible, going through the same motions as the original. I didn't see the point in a remake.

My family used to get such a kick out of the original because the woman reminded everyone of my uncle's wife at the time. It always aired during commercial breaks of the afternoon cartoons.

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I was wondering if I might have the Thunderbolt ad on an old VHS tape as well, but I'm too lazy to look through them. I imagine there are some other gems on them, if not the Thunderbolt ad.

They revised it it around the late-'90s, maybe even the very early '00s. It was extact to the original, just newer. Blond woman wearing a cowboy hat driving big old bouncy convertible, going through the same motions as the original. I didn't see the point in a remake.

My family used to get such a kick out of the original because the woman reminded everyone of my uncle's wife at the time. It always aired during commercial breaks of the afternoon cartoons.

I uploaded the audio of the original commercial here. Pardon the quality, but the clip is actually from 1983 it seems.

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Guest Marty

Okay i got one Channel 2 News did that. it was called 2 NEWS OPERATION: INDENTI-CHILD ECKERD RX

It has my finger print's from 1981-82

Edited by Marty
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Guest Marty

If anybody from KPRC channel 2 would like to have a copy i will mail it to your studios just give me a PM.

Edited by Marty
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I wish someone would put the original Thunderbolt Transmission commercial on You Tube.

That's ultimate vintage Houston. Anyone over the age of 20 who's ever set foot in Houston is likely familiar with that ad.

It's the bomb.

That one is pure classic!

The song is a person with a MAJOR Texas twang singing ...We put the YEEEEHAAAAHHH Back in your motor and Transmisson!

The commercial is a young pretty blond girl looking at her car in frustration (in stereotypical Texas garb Daisy dukes/10 gallon cowboy hat & boots) as it broke down and these mechanics run over and get it running in seconds. The person starts singing as she exits the garage in a huge car. What a riot! :lol:

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The cheesy Rodney D Young ads stand out in my mind.

I also loved the Worthington Chevrolet Ads from back in the 80s.

"If you need a car or truck go see Cal, if you need a car or truck go see Cal, if you need a car or truck and you want to save a buck go see Cal go see Cal go see Cal."

Cal Worthington's were priceless! I almost cracked ribs when we would be petting a big pet bear (declawed I hope) Reminded me of Elly Mae Clampett's bear "Fairchild" but no whiskey bottle. We miss him he was insane!

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I know the topic is ads but I gotta spit this one out before I forget.

1. Danish Inspirations - Does the guy say Hi my Name is Hans Christianson? His accent is beyond thick and I could never tell what the world he says. Swedish accents are quite distinctive so its tough trying to understand what specials he's telling us about.

2. Kat'z in Montrose - We see his son all the time on TV ads but what ever happened to his dad that coined the phrase "Kat'z neva Closes" ! I Can't Help it I gotta tellyaz" I have to say it out loud as I drive in my car, thats how great an effect it has on (my psyche anyway). Talk about great advertising.

So what happended to the Senior Mr.Katz? Hope hes not in that great eatery in the sky? :ph34r:

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Guest Marty

I have a question, was the granny that flung the tire though the window of the tire shop a local commercial?

Edited by Marty
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Guest Marty

How about Big Sur aka "Superior Waterbeds" jumping off the 60 foot sign in front of his store on I-45, must have been a early version of photo shop. :lol:

Edited by Marty
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How about Big Sur aka "Superior Waterbeds" jumping off the 60 foot sign in front of his store on I-45, must have been a early version of photo shop. :lol:

Good old "Ol' Bare"... I remember getting a kick out of his commercials way back.

Seems like the furniture dudes always tried to outdo each other. One of the lesser known (or remembered ones from what I've seen) is a guy named Marty from "Furniture World" which I think was near the Westpark Curve. A number of his commercials would end with him jumping off the roof of his at least two story building into an inflatable thing. ALL in slo-mo...

One of my favorite more recent series of commercials were those of Rick's Furniture... Like from '99 to maybe '02 or '03 they were so BAD they were GOOD. And the dude that kept most of it going was a nice guy by the name of Bruce Middleton. He was the personality in those commercials and was the sax artist. In fact, like around 2000-01 they produced a 30-minute infomercial which aired pretty much every night like around 4 AM on Ch. 55. Horribly edited and scripted, I know I taped it for posterity.

Here's audio from a second Thunderbolt commerical from 1983. Guy's 57 Chevy craps out in "present day" H-town... But Thunderbolt-Transmo Inc is there to save the day!

Edited by ChannelTwoNews
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Guest Marty

That Thunderbolt commercial sounded like it was recorded in the late 1970's thanks for sharing. :D all we need now is a sprinkle of I.W. Marks, Pick U Part and The Men's Warehouse ...I am starting to smell pizza is Paul Boesch wrestling on ?

Edited by Marty
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  • 1 month later...
That Thunderbolt commercial sounded like it was recorded in the late 1970's thanks for sharing. :D all we need now is a sprinkle of I.W. Marks, Pick U Part and The Men's Warehouse ...I am starting to smell pizza is Paul Boesch wrestling on ?

Thank you for making me feel incredibly OLD ! <_<

I do remember they ran that horrid thunderbolt tran commercial for y-e-a-r-s ... her outfit always made me crack up...

Someone help me out here -> for some reason I am thinking they replayed the rasslin' on sunday mornings ? or am I confusing it with the old movies they showed ? I am thinking it was channel 13 that did this, cause I do remember watching ALOT of abbot and costello in the mornings.

B)

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