[Shotimes] Re: OT- Leno's new toy
MonsieurBoo@aol.com
MonsieurBoo@aol.com
Mon, 13 Sep 2004 17:52:18 EDT
Kerby: "A dealer would have to do the paperwork, but they wouldn't have to
actually touch the car."
When I was a kid, in the 50s and 60s, that's basically how we did it. In
the spring, my dad would take us around to the dealers to pick up the brochures
that listed color choices and optional equipment. (I recall sitting around
Herbert Zukerkorn's Poncho dealership for a whole afternoon while dad jawed
him down on a '64 Goat, 389 TriPower. You don't forget a car like that, or a
name like Herbert Zukerkorn!) We'd customize everything on the build list
and put in the order via the dealer. So, they did indeed take care of all the
paperwork.
The car would be scheduled to be built in July and we'd plan our vacation
around going up to Detroit, Dearborn, or Lansing depending on what we were
getting. We definitely picked up the car straight from the factory, each and
every time. We'd always take the factory tours while they were final prepping
the car for us. They handed us the keys and away we went.
Then we'd drive it back to the West Coast and ship it back to Hawaii, and
that would be our summer vacation. Last time we did it was with our '68 4-4-2,
so if the unions put the kibosh on this practice, it must have been during
the 70s when they still had the muscle to cut those kinds of deals.
I dunno if we had to pay the delivery charges anyway, but I'll say this. If
we did pay double, it cost us a shitpile because shipping cars to HI has
always been real expensive. None of that stuff mattered to me at the time, I
was much more interested in CID and BHP than $$$ ;-)
Cheers,
Mark LaBarre
94 atx 125k