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WORD-OF-MOUTH advertising is one thing, but this was ridiculous: Ford autos with the new V8 engine in the early 1930s were a hit with two famous bandits. Each personally -- and publicly -- endorsed the vehicles in letters.

"Hello Old Pal," wrote famous bank robber John Dillinger to Henry Ford. "You have a wonderful car. It's a treat to drive one. Your slogan should be Drive a Ford and Watch The Other Cars Fall Behind You. I can make any other car take Ford's dust. Bye-bye."

Another letter came from Clyde Barrow of the infamous Bonnie and Clyde duet. "Dear Sir," he wrote from Tulsa, Okla., in 1934 (the spellings are his). "While I still have got breath in my lungs, I will tell you what a dandy car you make. I have drove Fords exclusively when I could get away with one. For sustained speed and freedom from trouble the Ford has got every other car skinned, and even if my business hasen't been strickly legal it don't hurt enything to tell you what a fine car you got in the V8. Yours truly, Clyde Champion Barrow."

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-Toast-
"It takes a lot of brains to enjoy satire, humor and wit - but none to be offended by them." -- Johnny Hart ("BC", cartoonist, 2000)
"Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog: Nobody really enjoys it and the frog generally dies as a result." -- E. B. White