Sterling’s ads got more abstract as the 30s wore on; it was no longer enough to show Fitzgerald characters standing manfully by a long wooden boat, looking to the horizon, thinking “gin would be good after Carstairs finishes tying up the boat to the . . . dock, that’s what they call it, right? Damned if I know all these words. The knots are even more frightful and sheer hell on the hands. Look at this: chipped a nail. Dash it all.

This is just beautiful, but I wonder how many engines it sold.