Bobcat A Go-Go

March 1, 2019 1:20 PM

A delightful gem of ephemera from the archives of the Minnesota Historical Society: Bobcat A Go-Go
posted by overeducated_alligator (32 comments total)

There is nothing quite as grotesque and fascinating and transfixing as the male gaze.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 1:24 PM on March 1, 2019 [4 favorites]

We needed more time with the driver’s sultry expression. For parity.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:50 PM on March 1, 2019 [4 favorites]

There is no statute of limitations for tawdry. People can still be held accountable here.
posted by parki at 1:52 PM on March 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

I've seen this episode of I Dream of Jeanie. Roger gets into hilarious hi-jinks.
posted by Fizz at 2:08 PM on March 1, 2019 [10 favorites]

o god this explains everything
posted by not_on_display at 2:19 PM on March 1, 2019 [5 favorites]

WHAT IS HAPPENING.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:24 PM on March 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Okay but for 1967 -- that costume would have been so profoundly lame, even then. Satin! Weird fringe! It's like the cutting edge of 1952. But I guess that's who they were appealing to, guys who sexually imprinted ten years earlier.
posted by Hypatia at 2:25 PM on March 1, 2019 [5 favorites]

Can I also point out that as someone who grew up in MN 20 years later, that dancer's face looks exactly like everyone's mom's high school pictures, but slightly more stoned.
posted by Hypatia at 2:34 PM on March 1, 2019 [9 favorites]

Does that factory floor have an eyewash station? The dancer keeps winking; I think she might need a rinse.
posted by jackbishop at 2:38 PM on March 1, 2019 [6 favorites]

If this had been posted claiming it was an early B-52s video, I would have believed it, for a nonzero amount of time, anyhow.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:54 PM on March 1, 2019 [15 favorites]

I'm not familiar with this episode of Transformers.
posted by King Sky Prawn at 2:55 PM on March 1, 2019 [4 favorites]

So... Where would this have been seen? It's too long for a TV spot for the time. I'm guessing maybe at the Bobcat Corporate Christmas party, perhaps?
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 3:06 PM on March 1, 2019 [3 favorites]

But I guess that's who they were appealing to, guys who sexually imprinted ten years earlier on bobcat trick driving.

There; more Minnesotan
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:13 PM on March 1, 2019 [3 favorites]

"I hear she's done a video with a snowblower, too."
posted by Wolfdog at 3:16 PM on March 1, 2019 [3 favorites]

I'm going to dance like this when I make tacos tonight.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 3:40 PM on March 1, 2019 [13 favorites]

That dancer has a terrific face with just a hint of fuck-you in her eyes. I bet she led a life.
posted by Countess Elena at 3:51 PM on March 1, 2019 [12 favorites]

Where would this have been seen?

I don't think I've ever seen this, but it has a certain hallucinatory quality I associate with late night weekend TV in the late 1960s. If it ever actually aired on Twin Cities television, it would have fit into Dave Moore's Bedtime Nooz. Fifty years on, I'm struck by how lame the humor is and two other things: the absence of women from the clip, except for the bank teller in the commercial at the end, and the buildings in the commercial. A lot of them are gone now.
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 3:54 PM on March 1, 2019 [3 favorites]

If this had been posted claiming it was an early B-52s video, I would have believed it, for a nonzero amount of time, anyhow.

It's easily repurposed. B-52s could do an awesome found footage with it. Pretty old school way of cranking out videos, really.

But a bobcat without a roll cage is scary as fuck.
posted by 2N2222 at 3:57 PM on March 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

the absence of women from the clip, except for the bank teller in the commercial at the end, and the buildings in the commercial.

It took me a while to realize you didn't mean the buildings were also female.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:59 PM on March 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

Sexy lady buildings
posted by overeducated_alligator at 4:27 PM on March 1, 2019 [5 favorites]

The hidden history of the Foshay.
posted by dinty_moore at 4:47 PM on March 1, 2019 [5 favorites]

so...was David Lynch the only director back then? Or did they hire people to scuff up that checker tile floor?
posted by es_de_bah at 5:01 PM on March 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

I definitely recommend starting "Dirty Back Road" playing and then playing the Bobcat video (muted).
posted by Wolfdog at 5:11 PM on March 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

The boob close-ups made me think that maybe, just maybe, they were subliminally using sex to sell their construction equipment.


Also, did anyone else see the gorilla crossing the set?
posted by darkstar at 6:00 PM on March 1, 2019 [6 favorites]

But a bobcat without a roll cage is scary as fuck.

That really looks like a bad idea.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:04 PM on March 1, 2019

Between the boobs and the pumping hydraulics, this was one hot video.

Not.
posted by BlueHorse at 9:47 PM on March 1, 2019

Them boys at the convention had FuN.
posted by clavdivs at 11:30 PM on March 1, 2019

In the original magenta. Very authentic.
posted by Metacircular at 11:57 PM on March 1, 2019

Now I want to see Jaan Pahechaan Ho remade entirely with Bobcats.
posted by MrVisible at 4:54 AM on March 2, 2019 [4 favorites]

Well, that was something that didn't age well.

Actually, I thought the link was going to be this video. Bobcat comes from my part of the world. The video in my link was show at every implement dealer all over the upper Midwest/plains states. Last I heard the original film was so worn out from overuse it was declared to be not salvageable. I am happy to see it up on YouTube. Damn, that thing sold thousands of Bobcats.
posted by Ber at 5:24 AM on March 2, 2019 [2 favorites]

It would be so much more "ha ha retro" if you couldn't still walk onto the floor of an equipment or vehicle show in 2019 and find it full of female models hired to direct attention to the product via themselves.

Around 1990 I worked at a Christmas tree farm - a Christmas tree farm - and we got a lot of product catalogs from Christmas-tree-specific retailers and landscaping retailers, and every one of them was stocked with cheesecake photos of models wielding gas-powered tree trimmers and posing next to Christmas tree balers...sometimes with safety glasses on. Sometimes with a flannel shirt on, but open to halfway down and knotted at the waist. I wish I saved some of them, it was so weird.

Yeah, we're not clean of the association between ownable equipment and sexually demonstrative women yet.
posted by Miko at 8:20 AM on March 2, 2019 [4 favorites]

The Minnesota State Fair fairgrounds always had an area dedicated to showing off farm equipment and light-construction gear, like the Bobcat; it is called Machinery Hill. I remember year after year going there and being too shy to sit in a Bobcat -- but when I saw them being given away, definitely got the big, brick-shaped jigsaw puzzle.

Also, square yardsticks.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:21 AM on March 2, 2019 [2 favorites]