Community | December 28, 2008 | 5 comments

Old-school salesmen used circus-like stunts to sell cars

Image
bedeboop
It wasn't all work and no play. Salesmen used flashy stunts to empty their lots -- featuring animals and costumes.
Steve Harvey, Only in L.A.
December 21, 2008
Recession? Car sales plummeting? Sounds like 1958 to Roger Bacon.

"It was horrible," said Bacon, who hawked Fords back then on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and other local stations.

So horrible he was willing to barter with customers.

"I took a cemetery lot as a down payment," Bacon said. "I took 7 1/2 acres in San Bernardino. I took a newspaper published the day after Lincoln was shot."

His strategy didn't hurt. Bacon and Sons Ford of Hermosa Beach became one of the biggest Ford dealers west of the Mississippi.
  1. groups:
    Community,   Random,   Non-News
  2. tags:
    News Random Non-News U.S. 2 more
  3.     
    |

5 comments // Old-school salesmen used circus-like stunts to sell cars

  • bedeboop
    • 0
      bedeboop  
    • Oh good...cuz I thought I was having a memory problem...lived in Arizona for a while and coulda swore I remembered commercials there too. Hehehehhehe Thought I lost it for a bit.

    • 3 years ago
  • CHARMOSH
  • bedeboop
    • 0
      bedeboop  
    • LOL!!! I did not know that about Ed, the polished copper! Learn something new every day. I saw the picture above and could not believe my eyes, been such a long time and I had a nice chuckle about Cal Worthington and all his "dogs". :)

    • 3 years ago
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
    • 0
      SHAWN_RITTIMAN  
    • Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal!?! Hell Yeah! That was a few weeks back. What about Ed Barburra, president of Furniture USA. He would always end with"Bye kids"! Those two commercials always played in California. Ed went to jail for selling land rights claiming they were an untapped gold rush. Showed folks big chunks of polished copper! At least other than being a used car salesman I don"t believe Cal was a crook.

    • 3 years ago
  • bedeboop
more from Community:

top videos