Automotive news. [volume], March 30, 1940, Page 15, Image 15

About Automotive news. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1938-current

Image provided by: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

                
Sparks
Sinsabaugh
a * the greatest 20 days in the his
£y of the corporation.
nRVSSING his windows for the
2?* rush Keller reports that
sprl " g Jan The has added 328 new
dealers, not including replacements
top of this he points to 1939
1516 new outlets, excluding
Scements, were made, bringing
iodsy' s tota * to . ,
nn the wings of spring also
l e Studebaker’s new Delux
fnne models for the Commander
T President club and cruising
ins Translated. Delux - Tone
tins' two-tone paint jobs, which
!lv be selected from any rainbow,
a any two combinations the cus
flmer wants.
The field staff, too. has been alig
ned with the appointment of
vmrtney Johnson as one of his
" assistant sales managers.
so n was'bbra the purple, so
„ a as the automobile business is
, Lerned. He at one time was gen
ii sales manager of Hudson,
a fhen General Motors set up B-O
--u ' which was the selling organiza
«on handling sales of Buick. Olds
10bile and Pontiac, Courtney be
k une chief aide to Bill Blees, who
,is head of the new setup. And
. (ter that Courtney found a berth
~ , general sales manager of
, *ih His next step was to be
tl ime special regional manager for
il tudebaker.
' THREE OTHER Studebaker ap-
M (jntments. which are just an
m tunced. include the naming of
10( en Schaefer, formerly general
aM ies manager of Federal Truck,
i assistant regional manager at
iiladelphia; E. W. Dalton as as
itant regional manager at New
ork, and George Petry, with
»same kind of job, at Cleveland.
* * *
TOUCHES OF the melodramatic
it found in the way George Pratt.
1 ad of factory sales, and Bill
U roes, merchandising and admgr.,
irted Hudson's spring selling
in uon by placing all his distribu
!a n u der “sealed orders," just as
3 (British Navy did in the case of
u k Queen Mary and Mauretania,
na tich sailed the other day out of
i i few York. The two ships were
on ider “sealed orders" and didn’t
now where they were going until
nQ <5 were well out to sea.
biS Applying this to the automobile
iti uiness and the spring selling
ft uon in particular, Pratt’s sealed
t iders were not opened until last
i p niday night. These orders issued
ntr challenge to distributors to get a
itis ping start for the season and
)lu ive them two days—no more, no
ea *-in which to collect orders for
n i «r Hudsons for this flying start,
pf nd did those distributors take the
bis iillenge seriously! With only
fro ionday and Tuesday in which to
N< ork, their telegrams which came
iol i Pratt Wednesday morning an-
C« ounced sales to dealers of 2,017
oiU, certainly a fine nest egg for
er i Phng business.
bf This idea was sprung at the end
; Business Opportunity
for Automobile Dealers
is still very definitely oppor
■“ty to make substantial profits
the tire business with the""right
“■ you must have the right
k nd tl, ere *re several very Im
•rtant qualifications which the
l iw.***!? franchise must embody.
1 ♦ u Quality of merchandise
. . considerably better than
' rd ' ** econd > the tire must
? fw.r ® xc cptional attractiveness,
vSu 1 must h* possible to defl
,, ‘hat the line is
«iboniH "k' t'oPfth. the franchise
■ be exclusive.
•"ill ® tully measures up to
foi'frwli To those
to add < * e ** er * "ho would like
2”? th » u « h ‘ th ->
right haMU the r * Kht ,Ine on the
*nd our n WC WoU,d b* Klail to
; prospectus.
‘kntlai* opp6rtu nity for suh
prDflu u-uk ® ont *nuous additional
. * without any headaches.
L° RU l Rubber Company
Indiana Avenue
Illinois
(Continued from Page 1)
of the week closing March 23
when retail deliveries for that
week showed an increase of 20 per
cent over the previous week and
with domestic factory shipments
of 1940 models exceeding the entire
1939 season by 17,187 cars.
* * *
“HE MUST have died in bed.
Sometimes they do.” That was
the cryptic notation on a clipping
sent me by an oldtimer, announc
ing in Rome of Felice
Nazzaro, aged 59. Which turned
my thoughts back to the beginning
of the industry in 1905 when rac
ing was one of the major ways
employed by manufacturers to
make the public automobile con
scious. They supported racing
teams and employed the best driv
ers to make this point, and Europe
led the parade in this promotion in
the early days. America soon fol
lowed suit.
This Nazzaro was one of my
early heroes, probably the great
est, in my opinion. Italy holds the
same opinion to this day. For 15
years Nazzaro was in the limelight,
dodging death innumerable times
and finally dying in bed. Unusual
for a man who took the chances he
did. He always drove an Italian
Fiat and even as far back as 1908
he showed 120 miles an hour for
one lap of Brooklands’ two and
three-quarter mile speedway in
England, a world's mark that stood
for years and ye&rs. Milestones in
his career showed his two most
important wins to be the capturing
of the Florio Cup race in Italy
and the German Emperor’s Cup
over the Taunus circuit in the
same year, 1907.
* * *
WE IN the United States got to
know Nazzaro early in his career,
for he was one of the stars sent
by Italy to drive in our Vanderbilt
Cup road race and the American
Grand Prize. Well I remember
that foreign invasion which brought
to our shores for the Vanderbilt
Cup races such European racing ce
lebrities as Lancia, Sziz, Duray (the
original Duray), Hemery, Jenatzy,
Sartori and Wagner, all of whom
are just names to the present gene
ration. They were invincible, as
proved by the records, which
show' that foreign-built cars piloted
by foreign drivers won the first
three of the Vanderbilts. In 1906
Nazzaro finished seventh and in
1906 he was sixth.
* * #
BELATEDLY I hear of the
death of Charles B. Shanks in
Florida on Mar. 3, one of my col
leagues in Class Journal days and
who played a prominent part in
the development of the industry.
For it is recorded that Charlie
really was the first automobile ed
itor of a daily newspaper in this
country and also the industry’s first
advertising manager. As automo
bile editor of the Cleveland Plain
Dealer he sold Alexander Winton,
pioneer manufacturer,
on making w’hat is called the first
long distance tour in this country
—a drive from Cleveland to New
York City in 1899. Charlie went
along as an observer. Which led
to him becoming Winton’s first ad
vertising manager and later its
sales manager. Later, in 1915,
he became business manager
of Class Journal’s Motor World,
now Chilton’s Motor World Whole
sale. He retired from business in
1934.
* * *
WHILE MOURNING the pass
ing of Charlie Shanks, this column
ist suffers an additional shock in
death of another of his old con
temporaries—Clare Wight of Auto
mobile Topics, a friend for the past
30 years. Mebbe this friendship was
built on the fact that both of us
originally were daily newspaper
men, who turned to the automobile
business for our life’s work. Over
the years we had much in com
mon. Friendly enemies, one might
say, because we were competitive,
but the fight for business never
interfered with the feeling I had
for Clare. In the 10 years I have
been in Detroit this tie has been
strengthened, and I can truly say
that I feel I have lost one who has
played so big a part in three and
more decades of the automobile
business.
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS, MARCH 30, 1940
m BjV |k **•■** M
SI Kj M 40
H u
KKAI. (iAS In thr liritUh Ittlett. Soon
many liritiKh motorinlH, who have had
their rara converted for gsa consump
tion because of the shortage of gaso
line during the war, will All up the
gas balloon on the car’s roof it a
pump such as this.
Willys Buyers
To Fly io Toledo
For Their Cars
TOLEDO. A number of resi
dents of Chicago and nearby cities
are expected to take part in the
biggest mass passenger flight in
commercial airline history on Apr.
17, according to word received here
from S. L. Davis, president of
Willys Illinois Co.,- distributors of
Willys passenger cars and trucks.
Under the leadership of Davis,
200 Willys dealers and their new
car buyers will take off from Chi
cago in a fleet of United and
American Airlines Douglas ships
to take delivery of their new cars
at the Willys plant in Toledo, as
guests of the Willys factory and
Davis.
“We expect practically all our
dealers and their retail salesmen
in the Chicago district to take
this eventful air trip," added Davis.
“Many will also bring their cus
tomers to take delivery of new
cars at the factory. The driveaway
will probably number a hundred
automobiles. There will be no
charge for transportation and cus
tomers will receive Special souve
nirs of the occasion, also a full
tank of gasoline.
"Officials of Willys-Overland Mo
tors, Inc. have planned a busy
day for our party. A special lunch
eon at which Toledo’s mayor, city
manager and other civic officials
will welcome the sky-riders, with
President Joseph W. Frazer as
host, will be followed by a trip
through the Willys plant.
"In addition to these retail de
liveries which customers will take
while in Toledo, our dealers and
their salesmen will drive away a
full complement of Willys cars
and trucks for the national ‘Drive
a-Willys’ demonstration tests in
augurated Apr. 1 and lasting a full
month throughout the country."
9% Rise Noted
In lowa Sales
DES MOINES, la. Automobile
dealers in lowa sold $4,192,716
worth of new cars In February for
a 9 percent volume gain over the
corresponding month of 1939, the
state tax commission announces.
Not since October, 1938, have the
monthly lowa car sales failed to
top the volume for the same month
of the preceding year. In January,
1940, sales were 8 percent higher
than in the corresponding period
for 1939.
The state tax commission re
ported $83,854 in use tax receipts
from the registration of new cars
in lowa during February. The use
tax, which corresponds to the sales
tax, is 2 percent on all cars reg
istered for the first time.
Western Auto Accused
WASHINGTON. Misrepresenta
tion In t*he sale of automobile tires
and tubes is charged to Western Auto
Supply Co., Kansas City, Mo., In a
complaint issued by Federal Trade
Commission. In advertisements con
cerning saleH conducted through Its
retail stores, the company is alleged
by FTC to have misleadingly repre
sented discounts and savings from
regular prices. Twenty days are
granted for filing a^wer.
lerS ted me . .
natural evolution in merchandising
for which the automobile Itself is
probably largely to blame. I re
ceived a letter this week from a
dealer along these lines. He says:
* • *
“lITE read your articles with great
»V interest and it just occurs to
us that a lot of conversation about
dealer contracts and manufacturers’
actions exist while the whole
situation boils down to one fact,
which is used car over-allowances.
To our'mind this could all be easily
overcome to a very large degree if
the manufacturer could be induced
to operate a sliding scale discount
among dealers according to their
required investments.
* * * V
“Commonsense analysis shows
that dealers with small o'verhead
are constantly cross-selling with
those of large overhead. So why
wouldn't a discount with a varia
tion of 7 or 8 percent solve a
good many of the problems?
Some of the manufacturers pay
a bonus per unit of production.
It is our opinion that many of
the headaches would be solved if
this bonus per unit was dropped
and one substituted based upon
net profit obtained by a dealer,
or a provision that a standard
margin of gross profit be
obtained. Certainly a dealer can
not throw all his money away on
over-allowances and still produce
a net profit
* * *
course there never will be
a system or a contract devel
oped that will catch all the wolves.
Nevertheless we believe the above
would accomplish more good than
all the proposed legislation and
hardboiled tactics being enter
tained, at no greater cost to the
manufacturer, and at the same
time giving the dealer some reason
for gaining greater stability
through the medium of profits. It
is our firm opinion that something
stable and worthwhile could be
built around these two thoughts
without creating a hardship for
anyone."
4* # *
Now I do not intend to be
argumentive on the questions
asked by this writer or the solu
tion offered. But does it not
seem that the suggestion for
equalizing overheads by a sliding
scale discount would be in the di
rection of putting a penalty on
progress? Could not the same
thing be accomplished by an
effort on the part of all dealers
to equalize their opportunity by
equalizing their overhead? This,
of course, will never happen un
til we pass the bridge that leads
to Utopia.
• * *
Hou> About Co-operation?
FUNDAMENTALLY, it seems to
me, we have been spending too
much time seeking cures for ail
ments when we are not sure what
our ailments are. I sincerely hope
that the current Patman fiasco will
help clear the air so that NADA,
--keep Automotive News coming!
\ --i
Date I
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS, DETROIT
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By William C. Callahan
(Continued from Page 8)
as a national association of deal
ers, can start with an entirely
clean slate and attack our indus
try’s problems from entirely differ
ent angles than they have attacked
them In the past. To do this they
should first be armed with facts.
And these facts are difficult to
assemble in the face of a complete
apathy on the part of two-thirds
of the dealers of the country. Fac
tory-baiting for membership pur
poses will get nowhere. For the
time is none too early for factories
and dealers to start working to
gether.
• * *
By the name token any factory
man who construes the current
vote among dealers against legis
lative restraints as an M all’s well”
from the crow's nest is not
worthy of the toga he wears. If
he follows through on the basis
that no action need be taken
now, he probably soon will not
have an official neck to hang his
' toga around.
Firestone Set
To Open Plant
In Sao Paulo
AKRON.—Latest unit in the ex
panding world-wide manufactur
ing activities of Firestone Tire &
Rubber Co. will commence opera
tions shortly at Paulo, Brazil.
This will be the eighth factory
built by Firestone in foreign coun
tries and the second to be estab
lished in South America. Other
Firestone plants abroad are located
in Canada, England, Spain, Swit
zerland, Argentina, South Africa
and India.
Equipment capacity of this new
unit will be bOO tires and. tubes a
day, with factory space for ex
pansion when required. The bui.d
ing is of special concrete const, uc
tion and is located on a 20-acre
site.
Firestone has had a sales dis
tributing organization in Brazil for
the past 22 years. The demand
for its products has increased
steadily and by last year had
reached such a volume that the
erection of a plant became neces
sary to provide more economical
facilities and better service. The
high protective tariff in Brazil also
was a factor in the decision to
establish a factory there.
Dodge Names Sellman
to N. Y. Region Position
DETROIT. Forest H. Akers,
vice-president and director of
sales of Dodge, announces appoint
ment of Wm, A. Sellman as as
sistant manager of the New York
region of the Dodge field organiza
tion. Sellman has been Los An
geles city manager.
His Los Angeles post goes to
C. W. Dessart, formerly regional
merchandising representative for
the Dodge Philadelphia region.
15