The Imported Ticky-Two (Part 1)
Al's oddly titled book, The Imported Ticky-Two, was self-published in 1971 through his Bottoms Up Publishing Company ("It's called Bottoms Up, because we've got no place to go but up"). The publication is chock-full of Al's nicely-drawn gag cartoons ridiculing tiny import cars of the era. But why exactly it's called The Imported Ticky-Two, I can't quite figure out. Is it a play on words? Was there an import car at the time with a name similar to "Ticky-Two"? Is it really incredibly obvious and I'm just brain dead? Perhaps...
Another odd thing is that only one side of each inside page has printing on it (leaving every even-numbered page blank). I guess it was somehow cheaper to print that way?
So many questions...
Below: Page 15
Below: Page 17
The Imported Ticky-Two:
Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4/Part 5/Part 6/Part 7
4 Comments:
Hi Bill. I suspect it's a reference to this song from the '60s about boxy, tiny, boring houses in the suburbs "all made up of ticky-tacky." The car is basically a tiny cardboard box with wheels, which is pretty much how imports were seen at the time! :-)
Hope this helps!
Wow! That's probably it! Thanks Jonathan, I'll add this info into my next "Imported Ticky-Two" posting!
Maybe also inspired by the Citroen "Deux Chevaux" or 2CV, which had been around for quite a while in 1971 but was certainly notorious for being pretty crappy. Also, "Ticky-Two" sorta makes me think of Toyota. Same number of syllables, same first letter, and it makes more sense chonologically.
Phillip,
Good points. The name was probably a combination of things floating around in Al's mind!
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