I have 3 stories of New Cars Damaged before delivery do you ?

[JFranklin]

From wise-ass to wiser all in one day, WOW!

[8E45E]

On ‎7‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 11:58 AM, Terry Bond said:

Long before I could even drive,  a family on our street bought a "new" car from the local Pontiac dealer.  It was the most beautiful black 59 Bonneville I'd ever seen, equipped with every imaginable option.   I'll never forget that leather interior and all that chrome!   They would never have been able to afford a car like that but the story was a whole fleet of them had been ordered by some foreign country and during shipment, some had broken loose in the hold of a ship and got bounced around a bit.  They were refused on the receiving end and shipped back.  From there they were brokered out to different dealerships at discounted prices and sold as-is.  There wasn't a darned thing wrong with that car except a scrape at the end of the rear bumper.  I wonder what every became of that car?  

Terry

Not intending to change the subject, but it would be interesting to know where they were destined. I suspect for a procession of parade vehicles for someone's inauguration, perhaps?  A Pontiac historian must know.

 

Craig

[8E45E]

17 hours ago, GregLaR said:

Practically all of the above Grog. ? 

When the guilty party returned from his road test several management personnel were waiting for him. They asked how his trip was, then told him the great news. He went white as a sheet. He was a younger fellow who should not have been test driving that particular car in the first place. They told him the customer was on his way down and if he asked for the tech's head they would oblige. Which was too bad because he was a very good mechanic. Well, the customer showed and proceeded to dress that fellow down in a fashion that was uncomfortable to say the least. Like a drill Sargent with an unruly private. The entire complex listened to that rant. The tech's position was indefensible so the managers let the customer have at it. Surprisingly, at the end of it all, he did not call for the tech's head. He was very lucky to keep his job. Extemely humbled and hopefully a little wiser.

In the early 1970's when new-car introductions every fall were HUGE EVENTS, the biggest of the local Ford dealers would rent the Jubilee Auditorium for a 'sneak preview' of the next year's models on the Wednesday evening, three days in advance of the general public showing on the Friday evening.  This event was held yearly for loyal customers of the dealership.  I went with my dad in the fall of 1972 when the 1973's were being introduced, and was sitting inside this rather nice copper colored Thunderbird on display.  A husband & wife were looking rather intently at this car, checking it over carefully, and then asked me if it had an 8-track, and a couple of other interior options while I was sitting inside it.  I could tell he was getting more and more pissed by the minute, as he was discovering it was actually his car that he pre-ordered months previously they were displaying, and letting everyone sit inside before he got to.   About 20 minutes later, I noticed him having a rather nasty exchange of words with his salesman, and by the end of the night, his car had the windows up and locked with red 'sold' signs placed on it!

 

Craig 

[Terry Bond]

47 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

Not intending to change the subject, but it would be interesting to know where they were destined. I suspect for a procession of parade vehicles for someone's inauguration, perhaps?  A Pontiac historian must know.

 

Craig

The whole fleet was destined for Iran.  As I recall there were two dozen cars, all the same.  Black beauties with leather interior, loads of chrome.  I was told eight of them had bounced around and received some sort of damage.   I know the family that ended up with it was really thrilled.  Wonder what ever happened to it.  It may have been a special production item just to fill that order. 

Terry

[8E45E]

2 minutes ago, Terry Bond said:

The whole fleet was destined for Iran.  As I recall there were two dozen cars, all the same.  Black beauties with leather interior, loads of chrome.  I was told eight of them had bounced around and received some sort of damage.   I know the family that ended up with it was really thrilled.  Wonder what ever happened to it.  It may have been a special production item just to fill that order. 

Terry

Thanks for the additional info.  I wonder if any of those cars survive over in Iran.  In 1981, there was a huge order to Iraq by GM of Canada for some 600 Malibu sedans and wagons that went sideways due to some sudden political unrest that erupted there at the time, and the order got canceled after they were built.  They were nowhere near as nice as a '59 Bonneville, of course, but they got sold for a discount at dealers all across Canada.

 

On another note, a well-equipped black 1958 Packard Hawk was shipped to Lebanon with an 'emblem on the door' according the Production Order.  There is no record of this car being around as of yet.

 

Craig 

[JWLawrence]

In 1976 I bought a Subaru Speedster off of the show room floor. The dealership also sold BMWs. While dealing on the Subaru everyone started running outside and looking down the street. There, a couple of blocks away was a new 5 Series BMW up against a power pole. The front end had serious damage. Some how the driver on a test drive lost control. Fortunately no one was injured. I wondered what happened to the BMW. Anyone buy a 5 Series BMW in Santa Fe in 1976? JWL

 

[39BuickEight]

I saw a transport driver rev the ever loving snot out of a new Camaro SS in about 2009 or so while playing musical chairs with the cars on his load.  I worked for a rental car company and he was dropping off several cars and trucks. 

 

He asked me how I thought it sounded.  I replied that I was happy that it wasn't being sold to me.

[Jerry43]

Probably shouldn’t give away Ford out of school talk. In the early 60s I worked at the Ford factory in Jersey. After a long day of building trucks and cars, some of us were assigned as repair men. Spent hours repairing all the damage sloppy build that went on all day. Plenty of work and overtime replacing seats, fenders, windshield, etc on brand new cars. If we misse something, we were told don’t worry about it, the dealer will fix. Of course no one ever told the dealers.

[39BuickEight]

On ‎7‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 10:47 AM, Joe in Canada said:

 

   New car manufactures are not allowed by law to repair an A surface body panel with a filler and sell it to the public. Over the years I would think many damaged cars were used as staff vehicles and then sold as a used car to the public.  

 

 

This is done routinely.  Is this something that has changed?  I know here at the Toyota plant they have a body area and use filler all the time on new cars.

 

They also total a few every year on the test track thanks to deer.

[Joe in Canada]

2 hours ago, 39BuickEight said:

 

This is done routinely.  Is this something that has changed?  I know here at the Toyota plant they have a body area and use filler all the time on new cars.

 

They also total a few every year on the test track thanks to deer.

 I was under the impression it was a law here in Canada and I never questioned it.  It may be a GM policy that no car has body repair with a filler and I know they were never shipped.

As for cars being totaled you should have been in Oshawa when they built the 409, 427, and 454 SS Impala's and Malibu's in the 60s and 70s on the night shift.

Edited July 25, 2018 by Joe in Canada (see edit history)

[Jeff Hammers]

I had a 49 Packard with 23,000 miles in about 1977. AMC came out with the station wagon version of their Pacer and I went to look at them. I told the salesman that I wanted to trade straight up for a new Pacer wagon and the owner of the dealership told me to take my pick. I didn't want the phony wood sides and most had that, but of all that didn't I could not find a single one that hadn't bee scratched or damaged in delivery.  Somebody just didn't care and I kept the Packard. I still do like the Pacer wagon though.

 

[Restorer32]

Disclaimer:  While my name is also Jeff Hammers I am not the Jeff Hammers  who posted above.

[plymouthcranbrook]

I find it interesting to see how many others have had New Car issues either ignored or dismissed by the auto makers. They must figure that the loss of a customer forever was better than the cost of a one time fix. Might help explain the rise of Asian and European car sales.

[Rusty_OToole]

On 7/25/2018 at 9:10 AM, 8E45E said:

Thanks for the additional info.  I wonder if any of those cars survive over in Iran.  In 1981, there was a huge order to Iraq by GM of Canada for some 600 Malibu sedans and wagons that went sideways due to some sudden political unrest that erupted there at the time, and the order got canceled after they were built.  They were nowhere near as nice as a '59 Bonneville, of course, but they got sold for a discount at dealers all across Canada.

 

On another note, a well-equipped black 1958 Packard Hawk was shipped to Lebanon with an 'emblem on the door' according the Production Order.  There is no record of this car being around as of yet.

 

Craig 

They were known as Iraqi taxis and 12,500 were sold off cheap by Canadian dealers. They were all low line Malibu 4 door sedans with bench seats, V6 engines, air conditioning and 3 speed manual transmissions on the floor. The last time I saw one was about 10 years ago, one was for sale locally.

 

The original order was for 25,000 units from the Iraqi government. They took about half then cancelled the order. There was some government export agency that backstopped the deal so in the end it was Canadian taxpayers that took the loss.

 

I don't believe Saddam Hussein really needed a taxicab fleet of 25000, they were probably meant for the use of government officials, the Iraqi taxi name was just a nickname they got when the story hit the newspapers.

 

They were a dreadful car but some people still remember them fondly. See the videos on this blog, some guy from Nova Scotia flew to Calgary and drove this one home, 5000 kilometers.

 

https://bangshift.com/bangshiftapex/do-you-know-the-twisted-tale-of-the-chevy-iraqi-taxi-malibus-no-options-three-pedals-three-on-the-floor/

 

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/automotive-history-snapshot-1981-chevrolet-malibu-iraqi-taxi/

Edited July 26, 2018 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[Joe in Canada]

The Iraqi taxies were a problem over there as the people did not know how to drive them plus the sand issues. We had teems of repair guys go over to service them and the guys made a very good $$ doing it. All the overtime you wanted and seeing it was not a good idea to leave the compound you might as well worked.

[8E45E]

Those 'Iraqi Taxies' have a collectibility factor of almost zero, considering there were a lot made, and almost no options to speak of which makes it rather undesirable to drive compared to other sedans with an automatic. 

 

Craig

[8E45E]

19 hours ago, Rusty_OToole said:

They were known as Iraqi taxis and 12,500 were sold off cheap by Canadian dealers. They were all low line Malibu 4 door sedans with bench seats, V6 engines, air conditioning and 3 speed manual transmissions on the floor. The last time I saw one was about 10 years ago, one was for sale locally.

That '600' figure was what I heard on a radio ad at the time for our local dealer who was 'blowing them out the door'.  Obviously that 600 figure I heard must have been his allotment that was no doubt forced upon him by GM of Canada, which I mistook for a nationwide figure.   To be truthful, those four door A-(later 'G') body cars from that era never did excite me in any way, and therefore didn't pay a whole lot of attention to them in general at the time.

 

Craig

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by 8E45E (see edit history)

[brasscarguy]

A good friend is a director of several dealerships. It seems the car delivery companies try to deliver all new cars after the dealerships are closed. That way neither the factory, or the shipping company could be held responsible for any damage on delivered cars. They ended chaining off all driveways after hours so no cars could be dropped off. That solved the damaged delivered cars.

 

just sayin'

 

brasscarguy

[Harold]

7 hours ago, brasscarguy said:

A good friend is a director of several dealerships. It seems the car delivery companies try to deliver all new cars after the dealerships are closed. That way neither the factory, or the shipping company could be held responsible for any damage on delivered cars. They ended chaining off all driveways after hours so no cars could be dropped off. That solved the damaged delivered cars.

 

just sayin'

 

brasscarguy

When I worked at an Olds dealer, the owner would drool every time we got a night-drop of a new car.  It seems like none of them ever had mats or wheelcovers for some reason.....

[John Byrd]

My very 1st new car was a 1969 Fairlane Cobra.  It had paint on the left side of the grille and bumper, the left turn signal lens and frame, as well as on the side marker light. There was also no tach in that beautiful 4 pod dash like I had ordered, but the dealer got me  an original Cobra tach and put it on the steering column, which I liked better anyway.  Being 20 years old and having a brand new, special order Cobra Jet, 4 speed, formal roof, posi-trac, factory hot rod, do you think I complained ?  No Way !!!  I was surprised that it was flawed from the factory though.  AND, I was there the day it was hauled in and unloaded at Texas Motors Ford in Ft. Worth, TX.  It was built in the San Jose, CA. factory.  Still miss that car.... this pic is the day I got it and got back to the house in Azle, TX, immediately took of the smog stuff, put bigger jets in the carb, bumped the timing from 6 to 10 degrees, and put on a set of Walker glass pack mufflers.  Hey, it was mine now, ha !

Edited August 1, 2018 by John Byrd (see edit history)

[8E45E]

12 hours ago, John Byrd said:

My very 1st new car was a 1969 Fairlane Cobra.  Being 20 years old and having a brand new, special order Cobra Jet, 4 speed, formal roof, posi-trac, factory hot rod, do you think I complained ?  No Way !!! 

 

Do you still own it?

 

It would have an interesting Marti report, I'll bet.

 

Craig

[John Byrd]

Craig, unfortunately, I don't still have the car.  At 65 miles an hour one Sunday afternoon in January 1972, traveling on hwy 72 in North Alabama, just driving along with traffic, we suddenly started spinning and sliding back and forth, and when it stopped, discovered that the rear wheels wouldn't roll. The output shaft of the big top-loader, close ratio 4 speed had broken I discovered after having it hauled home.  As we had our brand new baby with us, the car being what I immediately started calling "lemon yellow", and scaring my  wife and I so bad, I took the Cobra tach off the column and sold it to a used car dealer for $700.00...... BAD, bad mistake, but that's what I did. It had about 69000 miles on it then.  We saw it a few weeks later on the highway with a whip antenna, rebel flag, the rear end jacked up and probably 10 or 12 inch wheels sticking out the back. I nearly threw up. We turned around and tried to catch him, but never did and also never saw it again.  I have put complete info out trying to find it since with no luck.  I still have the window sticker, sale paperwork, and a couple other things, but no car.  Oh well, it's too big for Hawaii roads and parking spaces anyway, ha !

[8E45E]

Thanks for posting that! 

 

Must be rare. as not too many Cobras were 'formal roof'.

 

Craig

[John Byrd]

You're welcome Craig, I scratched out (w the computer) my signature, here is the sale "deal".   I had a guy from the Fairlane Club of America tell me there were around 19 cars similar to mine, but don't know if that is right.  You can see that they had me make (for back then) a large down payment, that was because I specified NO air conditioning !  They said they had not sold a non-air car in years, ha !  Anyway, fun times, neat car, lots of memories.  The pic of it in front of the mobile home we had at the time is the day the used car dealer came and got it in March of 72. Took me 3 months to decide to sell it...  Oh, I immediately put the Cobra Tach ( they were made by Faria) on my Ranchero, and several other cars through the years..

[8E45E]

14 hours ago, John Byrd said:

I had a guy from the Fairlane Club of America tell me there were around 19 cars similar to mine, but don't know if that is right.

 

 

 

 

The 'Elite' Marti Report will state how many cars were produced in which body style and options with a breakdown where you'll end up with your "1 of 1".    Unfortunately, the 'Elite' Marti Report is a $200 touch last I heard, and might not be worth the expense as you no longer own the car.

 

Craig

[cheezestaak2000]

back in 1984, while i worked at a pontiac dealer,the new fiero took america by storm. there  was a long waiting list for them, and the place went crazy when a truckload showed up. they were being sold for 2 grand over sticker if my  memory is correct. a new salesman got so excited when his customer's ordered car arrived, he rushed for the phone to tell him of the arrival of his car. talk about bad timing, the future proud owner shhowed up just in time to visit the service department and see his car getting prepped. he also was just in time to watch it fall off the lift on it's side. long story short, with those plastic body panels, the guy still accepted the hard to get fiero.

[countrytravler]

I was hauling new Blazers from Ohio to Long Island NY. My head rack car just tapped a rivet under the George Washington Bridge. Bridge connects NJ to NY. Made that trip hundreds of times. It put a 2in long dent that was 1/16th deep. GM totaled the Blazier. I tried to buy the car and they said it had to go to the auction with a salvage title.

My car hauler.

[countrytravler]

On 7/17/2018 at 9:40 AM, Matt Harwood said:

When I was building C5 Corvettes with a big tuner shop, we would order new Corvettes from GM and have them drop-shipped to a local dealer. That dealer insisted that they had to do "dealer prep" on the cars before we could take them--it was a GM rule, they said. I thought it was BS, but they didn't charge us anything, so I don't know what their real argument was for it. Anyway, one of the first FHC cars came in (fixed-head coupes) and their "prep" guy managed to pick up a tiny pebble in his washing rag or sponge and every single panel on the car was covered with tiny swirling scratches, many down to the primer. After a truly awful argument in the service bay that nearly led to fisticuffs, we took the car, painted it ourselves, and sent the dealer the bill (somewhere around $12,000, I think). That black Corvette was so much blacker than the factory cars--they all looked dusty compared to our paint. Anyway, after that, all the cars came to us still in their wrappers without any prep work done.

 

Does that count as damage before delivery? Not quite "falling off the boat into the ocean" awful, but certainly something a consumer would not have seen--if it had not been us taking the car, the dealer probably would have repainted it and sold it as new.

I was prepping GM cars at a Chev Dealer in Detroit in 67. A brand new 67 Tri Power Coupe with Side pipes fell off the truck. They fixed it, (my dad was the repair guy) and sold the car like it was new. No damage. If that car is still around, it was a blue with blue int, 435 hp. Side pipes and bolt-on wheels. It was the 1st Vette that I ever drove. I drove it around the block to empress this girl that I had a crush on LOL. I was 15. That car has d.s. panels replaced. This could be the car.

 

Edited August 22, 2018 by countrytravler (see edit history)

[kgreen]

These stories make it hard to justify the level of perfection attained in restored cars compared to the actual condition of the cars when new. 

 

"All those missing parts?  Heck no, it came from the factory that way."

 

My restoration honors the intent of the designer who had no idea what production was going to do to his masterpiece!

[8E45E]

17 minutes ago, kgreen said:

My restoration honors the intent of the designer who had no idea what production was going to do to his masterpiece!

Then it should look like the concept car upon which it was based!!

 

One knows the results that make production almost NEVER look as good as the concepts upon which they are based after the bean-counters are done doing their cost analysis!

 

Craig

[kgreen]

8 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

Then it should look like the concept car upon which it was based!!

 

One knows the results that make production almost NEVER look as good as the concepts upon which they are based after the bean-counters are done doing their cost analysis!

 

Craig

You've made me change my mind; the car is going to look like I want it to look.

 

You are absolutely correct about bean-counter cost analysis.  One should never let a lawyer run your business as they will reduce all liabilities and never sign a contract or sell a product.  Never let an accountant run your business as they will reduce or eliminate cost by chopping all benefits and firing all personnel.  I say that tongue in cheek but as advice my attorney gave me, making me think about the basis of any of my decisions. 

 

Much of what is discussed in this thread appears to be production or shipping related problems, all of which allow me to justify missing and damaged parts on my car.  Yes?

[8E45E]

19 minutes ago, kgreen said:

*You've made me change my mind; the car is going to look like I want it to look.

 

**You are absolutely correct about bean-counter cost analysis.  One should never let a lawyer run your business as they will reduce all liabilities and never sign a contract or sell a product.  Never let an accountant run your business as they will reduce or eliminate cost by chopping all benefits and firing all personnel.  I say that tongue in cheek but as advice my attorney gave me, making me think about the basis of any of my decisions. 

 

***Much of what is discussed in this thread appears to be production or shipping related problems, all of which allow me to justify missing and damaged parts on my car.  Yes?

*Looking forward to seeing your 'Y-Job'!

 

**And you forgot the government's input which considerably affects design.

 

***Some cars got rushed into production too fast, where the consumer worked out the bugs, and not the engineers at the factory. (Studebaker Avanti comes to mind.)  The worst offender for parts missing were the first Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volares.  Worst 'quality control' I ever saw in my life!  Even the Lada from the former Soviet Union had better fit & finish than the first Aspens and Volares!

 

Craig

[Jerry43]

I see most of you are reporting on cars damaged in transport and such. My experience is way prior to that. As a kid I worked at the Ford plant in the early 60s. Believe me many of the brand new cars and trucks are damaged right on the line. The pace of production is nuts and stopping the line is a shooting offense. All damage caused in the frenzy of production is fixed later by a repair crew at night.  Not always the best, usually it just a replacement part pulled off the production line. So for anybody that has a 61 to 63 Ford , car or truck, I,m sorry, I was a kid.

[JFranklin]

If the damage happens and is fixed during production I for one give that a pass.

[ElectricBanana]

First, let me say that there are parts of this story that are intentionally vague because some of the people involved are still very much alive and could probably piece together the identity of the car in question with just a little more information… Also, please note that I’m an old guy telling this story from nearly 50-year-old memories, so I can’t swear that everything in it is dead-accurate, but I’ve done my best to get it right. In any case, the story opens with me working in the parts department of a Chevy dealership in the early 1970s. Being the low man on the totem pole, I did a lot of ‘running’ for parts.

 

We had a good customer who I knew personally. He was as picky as they came and he had special-ordered a new Corvette with some options that caused our sales manager to demand a hefty down payment. For whatever reason, the car took longer than usual to get through the build/delivery process, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When it finally arrived, the sales manager instructed all of us that, if we talked to the customer, NOT to tell him that the car had been received. The sales manager wanted it prepped immediately so that he could inspect it and drive it before calling Mr. Picky.

 

The first stop for the car was the wash bay for a quickie clean-up. From there, it was supposed to go to one of our prep guys for the standard dealer prep. After that, it was to be sent to the body shop to be gone over by our Corvette specialist, who was an absolute magician when it came to fiberglass and lacquer.

 

The bays in this garage faced the outer walls, with a wide center lane available to move the cars and trucks. The parts department was located at one end, with a clear view of the shop. There was also a heavy-duty chain-hoist which was mounted on a rail that ran the length of the service area so that it could be used in any of the main service bays. On this particular day, there was an older Impala in the service bay directly across from the wash bay. It had some type of rear axle noise and one of the mechanics had used the chain-hoist to lift the rear of the car so that he could listen to the rear-end while the car was in gear.

 

By now, most of you have guessed where this is headed. The mechanic either hadn’t properly secured the hooks on the chain-hoist or had failed to lock the ratcheting mechanism. Whatever the case, there was a loud ‘snap’, the Impala hit the floor and shot directly across the shop, hitting the Corvette squarely in the back. There was nothing salvageable behind the ‘Vette’s seats except the back axle, tires & wheels. The only ‘good’ thing was that the ‘Vette sat so low that the Impala didn’t do any damage to the ‘Vette’s frame.

 

There was an immediate meeting between the members of the dealership’s brass. The car was towed into the paint booth and the booth’s doors were locked. We’ll call this Day Zero. Our poor Corvette guy worked very late that night and was stuck in there for the better part of the three following days – these were 14-hour days that he shared with one of the newer body men who was assigned to help. All of us parts guys were put on the phones, running down the locations of all the parts necessary to re-assemble the ‘Vette. As soon as most of the parts were located, I was sent out in a truck to visit the other dealerships and pick up the parts. I put hundreds of miles on that truck in two days because I had to pick up the parts in the order that the body guys needed them. I brought back the fiberglass parts and gas tank first on Day One while the ‘Vette was being torn apart and the basic repairs began. Day Two was for re-assembly and Day Three was paint day. As hard as it may be to believe, the finished product actually looked better than almost anything that rolled out of the St. Louis plant.

 

On Day Four, the final bits were bolted on and the ‘Vette got polished and treated to a four-wheel alignment, dealer prep, inspection and test drive by both the Corvette specialist and the sales manager. The call went out to Mr. Picky on Day Five. He was happy as a clam and drove away smiling. As far as any of us who were involved know, no one outside the dealership ever found out about the damage! The last time I saw the ‘Vette, it looked as good as it did on Day Five.

Edited August 29, 2018 by ElectricBanana
Insert spaces between paragraphs (see edit history)