In the late ’60s, Peter Max and a handful of other artists brought pop psychedelia into mainstream America, seamlessly bridging the gap between trippy album cover art and commercial advertising. In a brief flash of neon color that settled in between the “Turn on, Tune in, Drop out” Haight-Ashbury scene and that fondue dribbled into the avocado green and burnt orange shag carpet that would be the ’70s, even Detroit – the bastion of the old school executive – bit the forbidden fruit and hired artist Paul Williams and others to illustrate one of the most successful ad campaigns in automotive history. It seems like a rather odd pairing using hippyesque visuals to sell muscle cars, but hey, if it works, it works, right?
