There's So Much Fascinating Stuff In This Old Zündapp Janus Ad

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The Zündapp Janus is a fascinating car. It's essentially a pair of Isettas joined back-to-back. This general concept had been explored before, but I think only Zündapp was ballsy/crazy enough to actually build one. And this old commercial for the Janus is full of equally crazy stuff.

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The Janus has has a bit more public exposure thanks to Pixar casting one as a villain in the second Cars movie, but it's clear from this old ad that Zündapp never needed any help making the Janus memorable.

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Just look at what's in this ad — a series of delightful crammings-in including a portly guy with a tuba, a woman unreeling a huge reel of telegraph wire (was this a thing in mid-century Germany?), and a guy crammed in with what could be a whatever I imagine a glockenspiel looks like, or maybe a small-scale, child's confessional booth?

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Later, there's also some of the most gleefully unsafe behavior I've ever seen in any car ad that didn't involve actual acrobats or something. In an era of airbags and legally-enforced seat beltings, it almost intoxicating to see people freaking opening rear-facing doors of cars in motion and acting like idiots. I'm sort of envious, I think?

Anyway, just enjoy this. And consider a Janus with a 'Busa swap for your next car purchase!