The only sounds that should come out of your Chevrolet Silverado are the tunes from its speakers and the even sweeter music from its exhaust.

General Motors has been making automobiles powered by well-oiled machines for more than a century. Last month, the brands under that corporate umbrella operated in a similar manner to those engines and drove GM to hit its best January sales figures, 203,745 vehicles, in eight years.

Automotive marketing and the advertising world in general has changed a great deal in the past 50 years, but this week’s Throwback video shows that even back in 1953 – a beautiful female celebrity paired with a jazzy tune was one of the best ways to promote a car or brand.

The joint venture of performance powerhouse, Lingenfelter and custom vehicle builder, Southern Comfort Automotive, yielded a specialty pickup called the Chevy Reaper.

It takes a lot of heart and good-will to donate time or money or personal items to a charity. You know, especially when that time and money could be going toward a car.

With all the talk of a Bronco revival, and the dominance of the Jeep Wrangler, does Chevrolet need to get into the fray?

There’s a lot of contrast going on here. Gold, black. Sport cloth, plaid. Cosworth, Vega. All of it rolls up into a pretty cool little special edition time capsule from 1976.