Famous Wrappers

L E T I T S N O W ~ By Kristin Shaw

Fa m o u s Wra p pe rs

When just giving someone a car isn’t special enough, put a giant bow on it.

Depending on your eggnog consumption and personal feelings about the commercialization of the holidays, the image of a new car with a big red bow on it in the driveway is either heartwarming or horrific. Whatever your response, it’s a holiday scene we’ve been seeing for more than 20 years, culturally important enough to inspire comedic parodies as well as multiple companies devoted to creating carsize ribbons. The car bow has transcended its beginnings as a Lexus marketing promotion to become an object almost as interesting as the car it’s affixed to.

C A L I F O R N I A K I N G —

Want a big bow for a big gift? Californian Lynda King did, and when she couldn’t find one for sale, she made her own. That kick-started King Size Bows, a company she founded in 2000 and sold in 2015. Its new owners, mother and daughter Amber Hughes and Jan Kingaard, say their bestseller is the King of Big Red Bows, a 33-by-50-inch twisted loop with ribbon tails. The king will cost you $140; a smaller 30-by-41-inch bow is $50.

B O W F L E X

• In 1999, Lexus was looking to improve lackluster winter sales numbers. Inspired by other holidayspecific commercial campaigns, it launched the “December to Remember” ads, in which family members in cozy Christmassy scenarios surprise one another with a brandnew car in the driveway, a bright red bow on its glossy roof. Maybe we’re all suckers for holiday cheer, because it worked. By 2000, Lexus was selling more cars in December than any other month. The bows became prized among dealerships, with each allotted two per year at a pricey $400 a pop. According to Lexus’s PR agency, the current bows have 17 loops. • In 2011, Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key teased their upcoming Key & Peele show with a car-bow sketch in which Peele gets Key just a bow, putting it on Key’s own car. “What am I supposed to do with a car bow?” Key asks. It’s a fair question. According to Hughes of King Size Bows, Key should hand it down to a friend for their own gifting surprise. “One client lived in a small town,” she says, “and they kept passing it around.”

• Saturday Night Live parodied the commercials in 2020, pointing out that cars are maybe not the best surprise gift. “Did you seriously buy a car without asking me?” the wife asks in horror.

All-new with military know-how Meet Valentine Meet ValentineOne® Generation 2

“It’s about range superiority. I told my engineers, ‘We want the best radarseeking engine this side of the military.’

In fact, we adapted a concept from military CHIRP radars used to fi nd fainter targets farther away with higher precision; it’s a SAW Dispersive Delay Line, . For civilian users, V1 Gen2 is a breakthrough on range.”

— Mike Valentine

V1 Gen2 is s totally y reengineeredreengineered

Much longer range, yet fewer false alarms. All-new and patented circuitry, powered. LNA technology on all bands. Laser detection on all V1 Gen2s. Built-in Bluetooth® smartphone connection. All-new high-contrast display. V1’s legendary Radar Locator and Bogey

Counter, back by popular demand. We call it V1 Gen2. You’ll love it.

V1 Gen2 brings new detection tools V1 Gen2 brings new detection tools

New LNA technology: The only way to extend range New LNA technology: is to detect ever weaker signals.l . Thinkn of LNA asa a signal magnifier. LNA has another benefi t—it acts as a one-way LNA has another benefit—it acts as a one-way valve, trapping LO output beforef r it escapese c p s V1V1 Gen2’ sGe 2 s magnesium case. That’s the key to stealth. V1 Gen2 magnesium case. That’ s the key to stealth. V1 Gen2 is practically undetectable. is practically undetectable. New, and patented, : Detecting more radars adds exponentially to data fl ow. jumps the processing rate more than a hundred times, enabling V1 Gen2 to quickly sort speed-trap radar signals from today’s glut of lane-change and crash-prevention radars. Range superiority LNA’s faint-signal acquisition feeding the high-rate analysis of adds up to a breakthrough in radar early warning. The range increase on Ka band is especially dramatic. Our new K-Verifi er weeds out unwanted K alerts. Future upgrades via smartphone V1 Gen2 has a built-in Bluetooth connection for iPhone® and AndroidTM devices. Our app is free, and future upgrades are easy via smartphone.

New, and patented,