Model A Showroom - 1931

[Model A Canuck]

Model A showroom - 1931

 

[Terry Burtz Calif]

A drip pan under every new car.

 

[ModelA29]

A drip pan under every new car.

That's so they could show the buyer his new car was operating as designed.

 

[Bob Bidonde]

Notice the drip pans under each car. They have oil drips from the rear main bearing & transmission even when brand new. The drips are included in the price!

 

[fried okra]

You guys and gals are funny

 

[Will N]

How do you know when your Model A is low on oil? It stops dripping.

 

[old31]

You guys have it all wrong.

The drip pans are there to show there are no leakes, no drips, no marking of the show room floor.

See what happens when you dont put any oil in the engines of the showroom cars.

 

[katy]

How do we know that the drip pans were clean when put under the cars?

 

[tony1940]

A drip pan under every new car.

Only way to know that you put oil in the car!

 

[mercman from oz]

Ford Model A Showroom - 1931

 

[Gene F]

Anyone else ever wonder about buying an A in 1931? I do some times. The crash was Oct 1929. Think about it half the country was out of work in about 1 year. And back then women were not really in the workforce unless secretary, nurse, or teacher. That meant that really 1/4 of the nation was working through them hard years. Must have been infinately harder to sell cars, even the value priced A.

Anyone?

 

[fundytides]

Model A showroom - 1931

Any indication of where this showroom was located? It would be nice to know if these are Canadian built cars.

 

[mhsprecher]

A nice modern, for the time, showroom, too.

 

[Tinbasher]

The Bumper Clamps are US.

 

[GeneBob]

Pretty fancy looking showroom for one of the lowest priced cars sold. I wish I could time travel.

 

[Aretino]

great photo. were all the Model As painted black in1931?

 

[Aretino]

I think about that as well. Times were tuff.

 

[BrianH]

Look closely all those drip pans a dirty.

 

[Marshall V. Daut]

were all the Model As painted black in1931?

Black and white photography of the era couldn't clearly portray the difference between black, Andalusite Blue, Ford Maroon and a host of other colors available in 1931 when this photo was taken. It may be that the pictured cars each are painted in one of these dark colors. Only the truly light shades such as yellow on Cabriolets (mostly) and Kewanee Green can be distinguished in photos from that time period, akin to all women's clothes looking as if they were black - which, of course, they weren't!
The two men in the photograph look familiar to me. I seem to recall a series of photos from the era that show a salesman pointing out features of a Town Sedan to a hat-wearing potential customer. These photos appeared in a past "Restorer" issue and consisted of at least two or three images as the customer inspected the Town Sedan through the open side doors - with the ever-present salesman figuratively holding onto a possible buyer's pant leg like a terrier. I wonder if he made a sale that day? Anyone else recall this series of photos from a 1970's "Restorer" issue?
Marshall

 

[David in San Antonio]

The people who did have secure jobs still wanted new cars, but were very cautious. I’ve read sales manuals from that era, full of positive attitude self-talk exercises and dozens of specific techniques to turn no into yes. Welcome every objection - it is the easiest way to get that sale! The three magic words that top salesmen always use! Why an arguing couple is a go-ahead signal! They preached to absolutely never give up. A few years later Dale Carnegie wrote “How To Win Friends And Influence People” and a depressed America turned him into a millionaire.