And to the winner…a LeBaron.
What have been the percentages? In case you didn’t know the placement or sponsor prematurely, how possible would you have got been to choose the next: Lady from New Zealand wins a Chrysler in St. Louis? However it occurred identical to that, and this Chrysler print advert is a testomony to that reality. Favourite Automobile Advertisements.
1983 Chrysler Fifth Avenue
Magnificence Queen
We’re speaking, or course, in regards to the 1983 version of the Miss Universe Pageant, gained by none aside from Lorraine Downes, creator of Life, Loss, Love. Born in Aukland, New Zealand in 1964, nobody may have guessed that Lorraine would someday be handed the keys to a brand-new 1983 Chrysler LeBaron Convertible geared up with the extra-cost Mark Cross leather-based inside.

Miss Universe, 1983
For the report, per Wikipedia, “She wore a midnight blue robe and lengthy gloves in the course of the competitors. Downes’ win was New Zealand’s first within the pageant’s historical past, though Diana Delyse Nottle had positioned second runner-up to Shawn Weatherly in 1980 and Donella Thomsen was a semi-finalist in 1981. No different delegate from New Zealand made the lower till 1992.” Now you understand.
LeBaron Convertible

This advert, nonetheless, doesn’t really point out Lorraine, however as an alternative focuses on the Fifth Avenue luxurious sedan, and the LeBaron compact convertible. Apparently the 1983 Miss Universe occasion, which befell on the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, didn’t advantage the eye of Chrysler’s nationwide advertising workforce, as this modest promotional effort was produced by the model’s regional advertising group. And it reveals.
St. Louis
We recognize particularly the clip-art “fashions” and hand-drawn arch—did you catch the arch?—framing the advert. If I have been a St. Louis-area Chrysler-Plymouth supplier on the time, I may need been disillusioned by this apparently last-minute effort.
Transport to New Zealand
We now have one query, which we would want to name Miss Downes to reply, and we’re not that industrious. Did Lorraine need to pay the transport charge to maneuver that spiffy new convertible from St. Louis to New Zealand? Type of additionally surprise if she had an opportunity to go to Imo’s. What have been the percentages that Lorraine would have been the primary Auklander to strive St. Louis-style pizza?

Hearken to the Automobile Stuff Podcast
1983 Chrysler Fifth Avenue Footage
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