Buy Now

Buy days mean paydays/ And paydays mean better days/ So buy, buy!/ Something that you need today!

To the tune of I Know That You Know, a 45-voice chorus roared out the "Buy" song 1,000 times over radio and TV in recession-racked Detroit (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS) in the past fortnight. Following through, the city's radio stations contributed 10,000 ten-second spots, exhorted Detroiters to "Buy now!" Newspapers ran banners on advertising pages: KEEP DETROIT DYNAMIC--BUY NOW. Everyone pitched in for a civic crusade to buy Detroit--and the auto industry--out of its depression.

Some auto dealers were even stumping for their competitors. In nearby Dearborn, Edsel Dealer Floyd Rice posted a sign that read: IF WE CAN'T SELL YOU, SEE OUR NEIGHBOR, H. R. MARSH & SON, ACROSS THE STREET! Chevrolet Dealer Marsh returned the plug: OUR NEIGHBOR, FLOYD RICE, HAS GOOD DEALS TOO!

Detroit's fever spread fast. Car dealers in 245 U.S. cities were cranking up hardsell campaigns for April or May. Their slogan: "You Auto Buy Now." Many will stage horn-tooting parades through downtown areas, will serve free coffee to all comers in the showrooms, will trim some prices. (Ford cut prices $15 and $16 on some Fairlane models to bring them in line with Chevrolet prices.)

Dealers were discovering that hoopla and hustle paid off. In St. Joseph. Mo., dealers reduced prices, had their salesmen call 17,000 listings in the phone book (their pitch: "You can save a lot of money if you buy now''). They sold 454 cars and trucks in nine days--almost twice as much as in the preceding three weeks. Akron dealers raffled off $100 a day among people who took trial drives in new cars, boosted sales by more than 50%. Philadelphia De Soto Dealer Harold B. Robinson promised buyers that they could postpone installment payments if laid off because of the recession. Result: Robinson's sales rose 67%.

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