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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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