These days, our car market seems to be enjoying a flood of Chinese auto brands. Just a few years before, that, Korean brands appeared to have the hottest products. And a few decades ago, it seemed like the market was dominated by Japanese brands. It certainly seems like there are cars from a particular country that seem to dominate each decade.

With that in mind, we went into Manila Bulletin’s archives to get a glimpse of what the car market used to look like before World War II.

If you remember your history, you may recall that the Philippines was under American rule by the turn of the last century. As such, it’s no surprise that we saw a wealth of ads for American cars from the 1920s all the way to the 1940s.

What was interesting to see where the brands placing ads at the time. Many of these cars brands no longer exist, but back in the day, they were at their peak. Ever heard of Packard, De Soto, or Nash? How about Willys and Overland before they had merged? Of course, there's also the brands we know today like Ford, Chrysler, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Pontiac.

Also notable is the style of advertising. Unlike modern car ads with a large picture of the vehicle and smaller thumbnails of features below, these classic ads rely solely on one photo or illustration of the car. There’s also much more text, mostly focusing on the pleasure or satisfaction derived from driving the vehicles. Finally, there’s also the contact details, listing very short addresses, and in the case of some of the earlier advertisements, phone numbers with just two to three digits.

You’ll find many of these Vintage car ads below. Take note of the dates, and we hope you enjoy this trip back to a time long gone.