Philly PCC on TV

I don't know if anybody else saw the add on Philly tv last night but in beautiful vibrant color there was an add featuring two PCC's, one in the oriiginal silver scheme and the other in LA's Pacific Electric livery. They had both stopped along San Francisco's Embarcadero and I have no idea what they were selling but it looked great with the harbour in the background and both were probably ex Septa PCC's, you know the ones that Septa practically gave away a few years ago since they were useless and just scrap metal to Septa and could not possibly have any future life left in them ( as in conversion to PCC II's). Any way it's a beautiful add but it saddens me that we could never view this sight along OUR waterfront on Delaware Ave.

It's a Levi's ad. S.F. is the company HQ. Nice cinematography, and the PCCs do look nicely maintained. With the school bus windows you see in the interior shots, they're easy to recognize as ex-SEPTA cars.

I saw that ad a couple times yesterday. It's a new Levi's ad and was filmed in San Francisco along the Embarcadero / Fisherman's Wharf line. The cars in the commercial are in fact, ex-Septa/PTC PCCs which San Francisco Muni bought at virtual scrap value back in the early 90's and refurbished. Here's a link to the Muni website with more history on the line and cars: http://www.sfmuni.com/cms/mms/aboutmun/histcars.htm

I couldn't believe my eyes the first time I saw that ad. It's actually been running for a little while now. For one fleeting moment, I thought it was in Philly, as the timing was close to Rt 15's opening. Even so, though, it was the best ad i've seen in a long time.

It'd be neat if SEPTA ran adds that showcased the PCC-IIs in this sort of way. They're the only marketable equipment SEPTA has now. (Imagine this ad using Silverliner IIIs or, heaven help us, the current incarnation of the El and you'll see what I mean). Seeing what the strike is likely to do to ridership, they'll need all the positive publicity they can get.