That does seem a little strange especially since the Cleavers and their neighbors were always driving around in their MoPars. Well, except maybe for Lumpy and Fred Rutherford.
There was also an episode where Beaver won a sports car (possibly a Corvette, but can't quite recall) in a contest. The episode ended with him selling the car and putting the money into a bank account for college.
Yeah, that is very strange. In the first season they have a 1957 Ford, but after that they had a succession of Plymouths and Dodges.
You got to remember that Dow and Mathers were just actors and their agents obviously booked them to do the Ford side gig. It had nothing to do with the TV show, although there must have been a waiver in their TV contracts that allowed side jobs.
"and all the seats face forward, the way they should" " the Falcon is more than $72 less than its rear engine competitor" Passive aggressive advertising!!
But they weren't portraying Tony Dow or Jerry Mathers in the commercial. They're obviously appearing and referred to as "Wally" and "Beaver". Surely the show's producer owned all rights to the characters' names and likeness'. I'd guess that maybe Chrysler never officially sponsored the show and the studio merely had a large number of Plymouths and Dodges in its vehicle fleet with the windshields, backlites and inside rear view mirrors already removed. But why did the DeSotos get short shrift?
Perhaps it was an early version of "product placement" (like drinking a Coke in a feature film). Whereas the TV show and Ford vehicles both benefitted from the collaboration.
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