Volkswagen was pleased to announce in 1973 that you no longer
had to worry about the reason you hadn't yet bought one of their
"station wagons".  They hadn't figured out a way to protect you
better in a front impact collision and going up hills was still
strictly 45 mph or less, but they had installed the other thing
you had been waiting for—a fully automatic transmission.  The
company chose a beautiful girl running through a field to
illustrate the relief that potential Volkswagen owners long
alienated by standard transmissions would surely feel when they
found out the great news.   While it's likely just a wise
decision to feature an attractive female rather than the average
VW buyer circa 1973 in their ad, several decades later you can't
help but speculate exactly what suggestion this vintage
advertisement was making.