The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1919-02-18
AUTOMOBILE IS
PERMANENT NOW
Hard Struggle in Begin
ming, But Not Even Air
plane Can Drive II Out
BY JOHN L. MCLELLAND.
Director. Oklahoma City Motor Car
Dealers Association.

III 1902 there was ono car IN okld'
homa Now there are 10000 Those
are the figures. bu' they do not by
any means lsll the whole story. That's
lust the beginning. and the end 50
Tar, bu, the story i, what happened
In between.
| opened up here in the business
of automobile dealer ~ lW', SELLING
a two.cylinder Buck that 4, 10 say
] "a, trying to sell IL had two
carloads oi them shipped hetc. and
for four months never sold ono
You could nh make living selling
car, IN those da'N.
Real Money in Livery.
The real money then was IN the car
livery bu,nc,, There Ncfc dozen
or more car, here ~ that business
all of them busy 50 pu, i've OF
INV six car, ~ thl business. keeping
one IN the stock room against the
unlikely emergency Of selling H. hu'
20, some more cars down and pr
them all out as livery cars. sup
pose | had q, many as fifteen livery
car, a, one time
One thing that has not varied much
In the whole fourteen years oi thc
devclormcnt Of the industry is the
price This is true oi the cars them.
selye, and also nj the livery hire
We got 81 an hour ior q car then and
we cannot get any more now hut
81 was lot of money ~ those days
Some oi those car, turned ln a. much
a.. a hundred dollars . day. which was
mighty good money At that time.
Then Living in Selling Game.
Il was not MI NJ or 1903 tha, i
became possible ~ make living BY
simply selling cars. HAT end At the
business r.ckcl 700 lhru h0Wt,cr and
has been growing rapidly ctcr since
OF course the h'g development has
zone since lyl4 The grURth ~ The
Industry As | have seen q, s. greater
for these Last five years than from the
very beginning I'LL lPli
The ,ou,hweNcrn part Of the state.
about lplS. when ihr selling business
began 10 hc real business, was the
best territory We had. though TIN
has never been true ,irOc. That was
before the railroad went through
there, and there W. need Of rapid
means ot conveyance anl We hal no
difficulty m selling cars there.
Not All Easy Sailing.
/, was not all easy sailing in thr
experimental days Most of the deal.
~. now in business | guess. will tell
you that all told they have put ou'
several thousand dollars which
brouch, them nothing but experience
We had our most costly eNperiencr
with the old llolrmaun m lpl7 or a
little later !, was an old ramSNIcklr
wooden affair. Ike self pfopcllng
buggy. and i, ,oudrd Ike q carpet.
heater gone mad. Everyone IN those
days was talking high ccnterS ani
this car had one virtue. certainly II
would eliminate all high center
trouble But it gave abou, every other
sort OF trouble there was We bought,
six of them. and they cost uS about
six hundred dollars each don't think
We got as much rs six hundred dllllrS
out OF ono OF them traded one for
couple Of lots. and ono, which |
though, had sold ! drove to Pond
Creek, Sevcntcen miles north OF Enid
] found had not sold d, when | gi
|. there, SO ! Just LEFT It IN some TEL.
lows barn. and never wen, back
after il. never shall.
sold one to a4riend Of mine That
10. he was a friend OF mine. lie does
not speak 20 me now. and cannot
altogether blame hun for 1t.
Cars Dependable Now.
Now, Of course. dealers arc we'll
enough acquainted with what is dc
manded OF a car, and the cars hem
selves have so lar become stabilized
and dependable that that sort o' lcal
ts a thing ol the past Ii dealer
sells poor car now. he doc, so either
from lack oi knowledge which he
could supply il he wanted to-or he
cause he wants to cater to a certain
price.
The personnel oi the business has
changed, too, and become Stabilized,
like the performance OF the car A,
one time the auto dealer was sort,
OF machlnlSt tinker, who knew how to
make the thing go. and that was all
Or course, IT was very necessary that
he should know that then, as il fte-
Quen'Iy happened that tho thing
wouldn't go Now, however, you find
men with sound business training no
ing into the business and though
some may know comparatively little
ahou, the purely mechanical side ci
the work, they are solid, substantial
men OF more or less prominence n
the community
Yes, the auto business is here to
stay AirpllneS may supplant 1t
some day, but | shall be dead then,
80 Il does not in,crcs, me now espe-
s,allV l,,,,, l..