Fellow Imperialist's:
The reminiscing about the
origination of the club has brought a few queries to mind concerning
our Old Car Game. Back before the Internet and all its inherent
resources [talking in the 1970's getting my license], I had a car of
early sixties vintage which I used as a daily driver and its resultant
personality kept me in touch with most of the salvage yards in the area here
north of Boston, from which there were plenty to choose.
Enter the EPA and clean-ups,
etc., then soon there were few left, making it harder to
chase parts down. A lot harder. I would spend hour upon
hour trying referenced phone number after phone number from kind boneyard
owner's, who if they did not have what I needed, would pass along another
number. Then there was the matter of shipping: somewhat
restrictive as vendor's were not so kind as today, and frankly there were
no choices but Uncle Sam in essence. These were factors in me selling
the car, and thusly for a long time I did not have to deal with 'the
chase'. Upon purchase of my 1956 Imperial that
changed and this club's list of phenomenal vendor's coupled
with the proliferation of the before mentioned Internet, in conjunction
with booming aftermarket parts availability, and all of a sudden, at
least it seemed to me the plumber, parts were hardly difficult to find, and
even the alleged tough items were found to be available generally--of course
for a price.
This all makes for satisfied
antique car owner's and many profitable businesses. Being a young 45
{LOL} my question is directed to those who did business in the
junking/saving car game pre-Internet and specifically to those whose
yards and to those parts collector's who were dedicated to a
particular brand (think Lowell Howe): 1) did word of mouth or
car clubs provide enough exposure for good business?, 2) what was the
preferred method of advertisement?, 3) has this Internet made salvage
businesses more successful than word of mouth ever did?
I know every time I think this
Internet is an end all for it all, a guy like
Lowell, or a similarly genuine formerly unknown car mechanic or the
like reveals to me old fashioned early rising and fine service still
proves advertising and exposure isn't always necessary ...... thanks
for any insight.
Jack
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