Tom,
Thanks for clarifying where the parts depot was located. It was in
Newark, Delaware not Newark, New Jersey as I stated. The parts order forms
that I have only refer in a hand entry by the dealer to Newark with no
reference to the state. I assumed it was New Jersey without re-checking the
computer shipping labels. The computer shipping labels on the Chrysler Tiger
parts I received did in the block for Parts Depot have printed:
NEWARK 500 S COLLEGE AVE NEWARK DE 19711
Dave McDermott
At 08:56 AM 11/5/97 -0500, Tom Ballou wrote:
>Chrysler's East Coast Parts Depot was at Newark (pronounced "new ark")
>Delaware, not in New Jersey. The West Coast Depot was at San Leandro. There
>was a smaller Depot near Dallas, but it did not stock much in the way of
>import parts, they were basically carried at the coast depots where most of
>the cars were sold.
>
>Actually, you can't lose sight of the fact that in the '60s, captive imports
>were not treated as serious merchandise by the big 3. They were used (and
>tolerated) as a market entry and marketing ploy. They were a way to get
>"misguided" people who were interested in foreign cars to stop at a Chrysler
>(Simca, Sunbeam) or GM (remember Vauxhall?) or Ford (Cortina?) dealer so that
>the crafty salesmen and skillful closers could switch them to a domestic car.
> (I know whereof I speak - I worked for Dodge and C-P dealers when I was in
>college and went to work for C-P division of Chrysler afterwards.) Even the
>factory folks (with the possible exception of Wally Swift who actually liked
>the little buggers) used call then "funny cars" and treated them like step
>children. Even when we had the disastrous "Cricket" they weren't interested
>in improving the car or solving its problems. The important thing was not to
>actually sell them, just to have one in the showroom as bait. Even the
>Alpines and Tigers were just considered bait. Get'em in, let'em look,
>show'em a Dart GT or a Barracuda, tell how unsafe a Tiger was and show them
>how much better a value the Barracuda was. Actually, for about the same
>price as an Alpine (about $2600), you could buy a Dart GT with a 273cid
>Commando engine that went like blazes. For less than the price of Tiger
>(about $3900 including freight), you could buy either a max'ed out 340 cid
>Barracuda or a Charger with a 383cid 335hp or 440cid 375 hp engine and have
>change left over. In many cases, if the buyer couldn't be dissuaded from his
>insane desire to have a "true sports car" the salesmen lost interest (the
>commissions were set up so we didn't make much, if anything, on the imports).
> I can remember times when we were warned against selling the last Sunbeam
>and got in real trouble if the did. I bought a Tiger after I got out of
>college (it was one of Wally's field cars), but the folks I worked for at C-P
>didn't really appreciate it (it had a Ford engine after all, a clear sign of
>disloyalty). I can remember Dick Yasky, my boss at C-P for a while in 67 and
>68, telling me that we made profit directly proportional to the weight of the
>car we sold. It's no wonder the line was finally discontinued and it took
>another 20 years for the big three to begin producing decent small cars.
>
>Later
>
>Tom Ballou
>
>
>
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