Fly and drive

It’s no secret that Qantas and Ford Australia have both had their struggles recently, but they were doing OK back in 1974 when they got togther to promote this unique Fly-Drive promotion in American magazines. The package deal was for a return economy-class flight, from San Francisco to Sydney, 14 nights’ accommodation in Flag Hotels around Australia and the use of an Avis Ford Falcon for the period, with the first 500 miles free. All this for $760. That sounds like a bit of a bargain, even 40 years ago. Perhaps the only drawback was the stipulation of automatic, rather than manual, Falcon sedans, although this would have been the preferred option for most Americans.

The idea was to give tourists as much independence as possible, so we assume that most of those Falcon renters would have been hammered on and off the main roads during the 14-day period. Off-roading appears to be encouraged in the photo.