A whole bunch of long-lost films out of Ma Mopar's past are popping up on the Web, for your viewing pleasure and historical interest.

You'll find them on YouTube.com, that treasure trove of film and video clips of all kinds.

They've got all kinds of vintage commercials--including a bunch that Groucho Marx made for De Soto in 1957-58, the last years that it sponsored his "You Bet Your Life" comedy-quiz show on NBC-TV. These were filmed to go in between the game segments on the show, but they don't feature any of Groucho's classic one-liners or double-entendres. (Seems that a few people in Highland Park were kinda sensitive back then.)

There's also  the "1961 De Soto Commercial (No Sound)." I'm guessing this was intended for use with copy written by/for De Soto dealers to use with a local TV's station announcer. As De Soto was axed about six weeks after the '61s were introduced, it's unlikely that footage ever saw much TV use.

The stash on YouTube also includes some dealer-training films that are a hoot to watch. That includes the two-parter, "Comparison of 1958 cars" that Tom McCahil, then the pre-eminent automotive journalist, narrated and "hosted."  In this one, ChryCo took new '58s--their Chrysler Windsor, Saratoga and New Yorker, plus Imperial, and faced 'em off against the Olds 88, Buick Super, Buick Roadmaster (with air suspension), Cadillac (Series 62, I guess), Mercury Park Lane and base-series Lincoln.

Despite the silly music in the background thhroughout, the point was to show dealers--especially new dealers and salesmen--how ChryCo's "Torsion Aire Ride" was better than the competition's suspension system over REALLY bad bumps and bumpy roads, plus there were some uphill-acceleration and downhill-engine-braking tests that showed off the "Forward Look" cars' engines and Torqueflite automatics.

In the second part of this two-parter, two big GM luxobarges start falling apart on the severe-bump-test course that the Imperial and Chrysler New Yorker take in stride. The Buick Roadmaster blows out its left-rear air spring, and the Cadillac not only breaks both its rear shock mounts, but its left rear door and trunk pop open--not unlike the '80s-vintage BritCars that Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond trashed during the "British Leyland Challenge" on BBC-TV's "Top Gear."

If you want more laughs, there's the '80s-vintage film that's titled "Hilarious Chrysler Dealership Training Video" by the folks who posted it. I'm guessing that it's a tutorial on a new FWD automatic transaxle--if it was, will SOMEONE please post a response telling us Mopar folks how effective it was in training dealer service folks in the intricacies of this new powertrain piece?