How did dealers order new cars in the 60's

[Keith B.]

this topic came up the Chevelle forum that I visit daily. did the dealer have to order every single car that they had on their lot. or were cars randomly built and sent to random dealers.

[Joe L.]

Re: How did dealers order new cars in the 60's

this topic came up the Chevelle forum that I visit daily. did the dealer have to order every single car that they had on their lot. or were cars randomly built and sent to random dealers.

Keith-----


As far as I know, the dealers always ordered every vehicle in their inventory. Only the dealer would know what type of cars they could sell.

There may have been special factory promotions in which dealers were somehow influenced to buy cars from factory inventory but I doubt there was ever a situation in which cars were just shipped to dealers on a random basis. Keep in mind that the dealership has to pay for every car in their inventory, that payment is made immediately, and the dealer has to sustain the cost of "flooring" (i.e. the interest cost for the money borrowed from banks to purchase the inventory).

[Lawrence M.]

Re: How did dealers order new cars in the 60's

I can tell you that in the 1973 -1975 period at the Chevrolet Dealer that I worked at we ordered every single car. I ordered most of the Camaros. By the way, at that time Corvettes were alloted to dealers. We were alloted 16 in 1974.

[Keith B.]

Re: How did dealers order new cars in the 60's

thanks that is what I was thinking

[Tom M.]

Re: How did dealers order new cars in the 60's

Keith,

I agree with Joe as that is how I was told it by a salesman back in the 60's. But he also told me they were sent without ordering them 2 cars at the end of the '67 model year. And they had to sell them to keep their allotment.

I will tell you the color at Carlilse

[Clem Z.]

Re: How did dealers order new cars in the 60's

if you wanted the hot selling cars you also had to order the dogs to get your order of hot sellers. GM did not always play fair.

[Bob J.]

Re: How did dealers order new cars in the 60's

I can tell you that in the 1973 -1975 period at the Chevrolet Dealer that I worked at we ordered every single car. I ordered most of the Camaros. By the way, at that time Corvettes were alloted to dealers. We were alloted 16 in 1974.

Thats the way I remember it also.
Dealers had to sell X number of regular cars to get Corvette(s) OR you had to take inventory you really didn't need/want to increase your Corvette allotment.Bob

[Loren L.]

Re: How did dealers order new cars in the 60's

I know that my '65 CV (L79, C60, PS, TI) #23561 in Scottsdale and '65 coupe (#23540?) (base motor, 4spd lthr, C60, PS, PB & KOs) in Eloy AZ were virtually on the same truck and dropped on dealers who had NOT ordered the cars.
The response from the driver: "Call your Region."; response from the Region "Would you like to order Corvettes in the future?", followed by "Thank you very much, it's a beautiful car.".
End of the year was different.....

[Clem Z.]

Re: How did dealers order new cars in the 60's

I know that my '65 CV (L79, C60, PS, TI) #23561 in Scottsdale and '65 coupe (#23540?) (base motor, 4spd lthr, C60, PS, PB & KOs) in Eloy AZ were virtually on the same truck and dropped on dealers who had NOT ordered the cars.
The response from the driver: "Call your Region."; response from the Region "Would you like to order Corvettes in the future?", followed by "Thank you very much, it's a beautiful car.".
End of the year was different.....

when the C-5 was do to come out the next MY mrs clem was still working at the dealership and she wanted to know if i wanted a C-4 at one hell of a deal because they HAD to order so many if they wanted the C-5 when they came out.

[Ed D.]

Re: How did dealers order new cars in the 60's

Dealers also supplemented their supply by trading with other dealers. When I purchased my 67 corvette from Reedman Chevy in Pa, the window sticker did not say Reedman's. The sticker was blocked out so that you could not see the receiving dealer. I still have the original window sticker showing the above, so my memory is not an issue .
Ed

[Ronald L.]

Re: How did dealers order new cars in the 60's

Reedman's had two people full time buying cars from other dealers, they also sold a Corvette a day, sometimes more.