Curtis Redgap wrote:

I am by no means an expert, and I cannot make any claim to accuracy for the materials that I have used to make these articles. In some cases, the journals go back 50 years, and I nearly cringe each time I open them as they appear so fragile. I could choose to copyright, but I do not, as I feel that this material should be sent far and wide as to show DaimlerChrysler that PLYMOUTH should be allowed to survive, and finally stand on its own! This is designed for the reading pleasure of folks that love MoPars. Any resemblance to persons, places, things or dates is purely coincidental. If you like what you are reading, please make sure to contact Dr. David Zatz, or leave me an email message "PlymouthRIP62801@aol.com." Thanks for your many kind comments.

Installment IX

One area worth mentioning for 1962 were the fleet cars for Plymouth and Dodge. Most of the taxi specials were made by Plymouth. They were rugged, reliable, economical, and comfortable. The Torsion Bar suspension was unbeatable in any application. They still had the $70 reduction per unit if you bought 5 or more. Dodge had not quite figured that part out yet.

With the January introduction of the "big" Dodge 880, the fleet sales did not look so appealing as before, so Dodge shied away from them, except for the Police Packages. However, again, it was Plymouth that managed to outsell the Dodge cop cars again in 1962, even though they were exactly the same chassis!

I recall full well the amount of sarcasm that greeted the city cops with their Dodges. The Sheriff and the Troopers had Plymouths, and style wise, the Plymouth was definitely better than the Dodge. Of course, once inside, they both looked the same when you looked out from the driver's seat!

Dad was not the same man after losing his father. I never realized just how much of a partner they had been to one another. I admit to missing Grandpa a great deal. He was the sort of buffer between my Dad and I. Grandpa was the sort of guy that would have shrugged his shoulders if I dented a fender on a car. His comment would have been "at least it was my grandson's doing, he admitted it and I got to see that." My Dad would have just been upset, because he thought I should be perfect, and it should never have happened to "his son."

As such, I found myself trying to do more and more for my father at the store, while he was putting more and more on the General Sales Manager. Things began to change too, under the Townsend regime. He was an accountant, remember. Suddenly, items for warranty repairs accountability tightened up. More forms. More proof the work was done. Several franchisees lost their ticket because they had been fast and loose with the warranty bills to Chrysler. Suppliers that the dealership used had to be approved now by Chrysler. Such as Dad always went to (I am going to name names here because I think it is important to show what Chrysler was doing to the dealer network) the local NAPA store for parts. He found that in most cases they were equal to or SUPERIOR to the MoPar division parts!

You can guess that getting something like that approved past Townsend's bean counters had a snowball's chance in Hell of getting by. Oil and filters, lubricants like grease, and other such items Dad always got from the local Quaker State Oil Supplier. Their product was always good, consistent throughout the USA, and they helped sponsor Cousin James when he got his contract with Cotton Owens to build engines for him. Chrysler began to demand that we purchase their MoPar items at 20 to 50% mark up. Dad began to balk. That was a lot of money.

Chrysler then moved in with a specified parts inventory. Whether you needed or used it or not, Chrysler demanded that it be available at your shop! Dad got hot about that. Dad always used Goodyear tires, and that is what he sold. Chrysler began to demand that we had a supply of OEM tires, whatever manufacturer they were using that week, so to keep the consistency of the product going! That meant Firestones, BF Goodrich and even Dunlops had to be on the shelf!

Chrysler then began to dictate inventory. Never mind what was selling or what you wanted. No way. Chrysler made up the list and that is what you got. Customer orders were scrutinized for the slightest error so they could be rejected to try to get the customer to take a car off the lot!

I recall Dad raising hell with the order office in Highland Park because so many orders were being rejected, just out of hand. He finally called the Production Director and lit a fire under him since it was his area that was losing potential in business. No orders meant no production! You could hear the steam escaping right over the telephone! After that ordeal, things went back to near normalcy as far as getting a customer a car they wanted. The stupid forced inventory also went away, at least for the direct dealers.

Sometimes, the sub divisional guys caught a lot of what no one else wanted, per Chrysler Zone office. As an example, a small guy out in a town of about 2500 folks got 5 bright taxi chrome yellow 4 door Plymouth Savoy's. That wasn't so bad, except they were not taxi packages. They were meant for the Toronto Police Department in Canada. Because the interior was black and not tan, the Toronto Police rejected them. No taxi company is going to buy a 361 cubic inch V-8 Police Pursuit! Hell, this poor guy didn't sell 5 Plymouths in a good year, let alone these bright yellow bananas! He refused them. Chrysler threatened to pull his ticket! Oh yeah. The guys were getting tough, instead of trying to help and be glad someone was out there pushing their junk. Finally, the sub spent 250 dollars per car, which was his entire margin, and got them painted. The local Sheriff picked up two and three small town Police departments got real bargains. No guarantee on the paint!

The 1962 Christmas party was rather bleak this year. Grandpa was just 6 months gone, and sorely missed. We were still shaky after the Cuban Missile Crisis, and politically, the country was slipping into internal turmoil. John and Bobby Kennedy started going after members of organized crime. No one talked about the Mafia. We all knew that there were people that had some dealings with things. Numbers. Bet parlors. Cigarettes that were not stamped. Liquor that came by without the tax seals on it. I am not endorsing or condemning anything to do with that way of life. However, on the people level, it just was, that's all. You got along if you just went along. No problems.

The Plymouth for 1962 ended up in 9th place in production. Sad. It slipped from 7th in 1961. In all, 339,814 units were counted. However, of that 157,294 were Valiants. That meant that only 182,523 "big" Plymouths got built. The lowest number in decades. We managed to retail only 305 of them. Sorry numbers for our store.

The even bigger slide was taken by Dodge. Only 160,238 of the poor models were shipped. It put Dodge 12 in production. Lower than it had ever been. We managed to sell 233 of them. Sad numbers. On the other side, the Chrysler car did well. Over 128,921 Chryslers made the trip off the end of the production line. Dad had chosen one of the New Yorkers for his car that year. Newport sales alone were 83,120. We sold 166 of them. The Dodge Custom 880, which was essentially a Newport, sold 17,505 cars in its short model run. We sold 35 of them.

The Imperial continued with its lack of market penetration. Probably because it was poorly styled! 14,337 Imperials moved away from Detroit. We managed to sell 28. We did not sell any 300 "H" models. Given that only 558 "Hs" were built, that is no wonder. However, the car that Dad did not want to see get built, the "300," moved 25,020 cars. We put 50 on the streets from our store. As Dad indicated, that would surely validate the dilution of the 300 letter car, as far as sales was concerned. For the true enthusiast, it marked the end of an era.

Of course, by the time of the Christmas party, the relief was already selling. The 1963 models had already been out for over two months! Thank GOD!

 

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