Old Car Detective by Bill Sherk

Author:Bill Sherk
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: 2011-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

No New Cars for Three Years

In February 1942, civilian production of automobiles came to an end because of the Second World War. Bob Chapman was a teenager at the time and worked as a “ramper.” He drove cars up and down the ramps at Ontario Automobile, a large Chrysler-Plymouth dealership on Bay Street in downtown Toronto. When no more new cars were available, dozens of them were taken from that dealership and stored in an arena at the north end of the city for emergency use during the war, and no one knew how long the war would last. “We parked those cars door handle to door handle,” recalls Chapman many years later. “And the clutch pedals were blocked in the down position to keep them from seizing up.” The roof collapsed during a big snowstorm in 1944 and several of the cars were damaged. Bob’s father clipped that story out of the daily paper and sent it to Bob overseas in Europe, where he served until the end of the war. He carried that clipping in his knapsack until war’s end and he still has it to this day.

With new cars no longer available, dealerships had to rely on their stock of used cars to stay in business. General Motors of Canada published a 324-page 1942 Used Car Sales Handbook of Features for all its dealers across Canada, listing all domestic makes from 1935 to 1941 in alphabetical order from Auburn to Willys. A full page was devoted to each make and year with a wealth of information on each car, including engine specifications, wheelbase, tires, brakes, body, special features, Canadian prices when new, and manufacturer’s outstanding selling points (e.g. 1938 DeSoto: 1. Riding Comfort. 2. Operating Economy. 3. Beauty. 4. Roominess. 5. Safety.”). The first page of the handbook says: “The FACTS and FEATURES that SOLD THEM NEW WILL SELL THEM NOW if you will use this information in your ADVERTISING COPY and SALES TALKS DAILY.”

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