We're not sure what was happening in the Pontiac division circa 1963. Most car advertisements of that era showed autos in action -- a day at the beach in a new convertible, perhaps, or a European exotic in a picturesque locale.

Not this Pontiac magazine spot. It dispensed with the usual backdrops in favor of no backdrop at all. There is a Pontiac, yes, but also a motorcycle ridden by a mysterious, red jump suit-wearing woman.

Look at her. She's not envious of the spaced-out Pontiac driver to her left; if we had to guess, we'd say she's simply bemused. If someone had paid us to participate in the production of this advertisement, we'd be bemused as well.

There is tension: The Pontiac driver is smug, trying to pretend the moon-woman beside him doesn't exist. Perhaps he is caught up in another Wide-Track fantasy.

You really, really need Wide-Track if you drive a car, you know, he thinks to himself, and say, what the hell is 'Wide-Track' anyway?

Well, we poked around, and our suspicions were correct: It was largely a marketing gimmick revolving around the fact that the wheels on Pontiacs of the era were set slightly farther apart than those on other GM products. The track of the '59 Pontiac was, for example, 3 inches wider than that of the '59 Cadillac.

This may have helped keep Pontiacs glued to the track -- to the extent that Pontiacs were ever taken to the track -- but mostly it just gave advertising something to seize on.

And seize they did. Advertisements like the one below were the result.