If Petula Clark turns you on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhKTqdSwx2I
Aston-Martin, Austin Healy 3000, Jag XKE, from left to right.
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Thanks. She is British. Were they product placements?
My guess is… yes.
Perhaps the British Embassy arranged it, or maybe the 3 different car companies (or the importer(s) decided that this would be advantageous for them. It surely wasn’t just a coincidence, IMO.
But, I have to wonder how many viewers of the Ed Sullivan show would even have known what make those cars were. Perhaps the Jag would be recognized, and maybe some folks would have recognized the A-H 3000, but I seriously doubt if the typical TV viewer had any clue regarding an Aston Martin DB4.
A lot of Ed Sullivan Show viewers served during WWII in Europe and they were probably exposed to earlier versions of those marques.
While that’s true, earlier versions of those marques looked totally different from the “modern” ones shown on the Sullivan show.
American GIs might have seen an Aston-Martin like this one:
They might have seen a Jag, such as this one:
Austin-Healey didn’t come into existence until 1952.
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Several James Bond movies were out by then, so many folks would know the Aston Martin, and the XKE was well known. The 3000, not so much. And I’m pretty sure that’s a DB5, a convertible version of Bond’s car.
After I saw my first Bond movie (Dr. No), in 1962, I was enthusing over it with several classmates. I mentioned the Aston-Martin, and in addition to several blank stares, one guy “corrected” me.
He asked, “Do you mean Austin-Martin?” When I told him that he was confusing Austin models with a distinctly-different make–Aston-Martin–they all agreed that there was no such make as Aston-Martin- and that I had made it up.
The guy who “corrected” me also thought that the Dodge Lancer (short-lived twin of the Valiant) was manufactured by Lancia.
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Jaguar and Aston Martin produced sports cars in the 1930s and started again in the late 40s. Anyone stationed in the U.K. during and after the war would have seen them. The MG TC started production in 1945. These piqued interest in British sports cars and many would have continued following British sports cars after returning home.