Hot Rods Years ago a person could buy a new a ( Fleet Vehicle) ?

My old man bought a slightly ot 67 Ford Custom 500 brand new, can't remember if he ordered it or not. Only options it had was a am radio, carpet, and full wheel covers. He bought a year old 71 Chevy long bed pickup, 250 I6, 3 speed, only options were am radio and full gauge pack.
He liked simple stuff.
He was shocked when he bought his 78 Mercury Monarch that he had to get ac and power steering and brakes.

 

My 53 Mainline was ordered as the 4th car to fill the load to the dealer (carriers hauling 4 at that time), and was the stripped "fleet" version. Only options were the overdrive transmission and a heater. The heater option being more expensive.

 

I was a Rambler salesman in San Diego for a short period of time. The dealership advertised a 1961 2 door American for $1795 (or maybe it was $1695). I sold it sight unseen to a gentleman buying it for his daughter heading to college. I got an ass chewing from the GM and the GM told the buyer that it had been sold already. To make a long story short, threats of a lawsuit and a call to the local papers resulted in the car being delivered to the buyer. I think that there was some sort of law that dealers had to actually have loss leaders in stock. Even today, I see ads for cheap "strippers" with teeny weeny print that there's only one at the low ball price.

 

The drug store in town had two for deliveries. Really basic transportation!

 

Went a couple years ago with a buddy to buy a new ford pick up for his work . He wanted a base model truck .

4 king ranch quad cabs
A bunch or lariat and platinum models
Sitting on the lot

base unit was 4 weeks out !!!!!!


I had a base model ford pick up from the 80’s years ago
Non power brakes
Manual everything
4 cylinder 4 speed
No radio
No intermittent wipers
Rubber floor
Vinyl seat
Flat basic door panels
No gauges except a speedo and idiot lights !!!

funny little truck , I liked beating on it for the short time I owned it , redid all the brake and fuel lines ( reason I got it for next to nothing )

And a rattle can paint job and sent it down the road .



I had a chevette as well that had cardboard door panels !!! Man that thing could take a beating !!

 

It wasn't just GM, Ford were up to that too, but with one model (late 70's so by that time single piece plastic dashboard) they took it to an extreme.
The base model, with the every so inaccurate "Popular" name, had a specific dashboard. It was built so that if you ordered that model thinking you could fit everything in, you would come to find there were no blanks in the dash for a radio. Where you thought it might fit wasn't deep enough to put one in, either.
The final insult was the electric fan had no thermo-switch in the radiator,just a bridge connection which meant so long as the ignition was switched on, the fan was running. Noisily.

Ford really were sadists.

 

This is the dealer where Brenda's grandmother purchased the Ranch Wagon off the show room floor, the photo was from '57, Blue Ridge Motors was a small town dealer. HRP



One of the ace photo shoppers here on the hamb did this, he went back in time and added Brenda's wagon to the original photo. HRP

 

I guess my '63 Galaxie would be considered a stripper. Only had radio and heater, nothing else (except 427 and 4 speed).

 

This reminds me of what a pastor friend told me. His congregation felt it was a pity that he had to drive this poor old Camaro so they got together and traded it for a new Fairmont 4 door without telling him.

 

made low/no option vehicles to make them easier to set up for racing - Ha!

 

One of the techs that was a coworker of mine some years ago used to refer to these base-model cars and trucks as "nothin' burgers". A bun, a meat patty and nothin' else. No ups, no extras.

 

Thank you for all the replies, a very interesting topic. I wasn't aware they were that prevalent My Parents & I were rather poor,only had one car and that was a fleet vehicle,the 57 chev I mentioned .I wish I had that car today...I remember Dad saying he would never buy a car with a automatic Transmission and he never did till the day he died.The Late 50,s were a different time.Ya we were poor but I never thought of it as being. To me they were some of my best times back then. gene in Mn

 

When I started with the civil service in 1981 one of the fleet cars only had a driver side wiper. The new 1984 cavaliers came with a radio, because it cost more to have the dealer remove them.

 

Those 57s almost look like they have some sort of an "off road" suspension package. Looks like an awful lot of tire on what I'm assuming is a 14" wheel, and plenty of ground clearance as well.

 

Uncle Sam ordered fleets like this until the 1980s. They could be bought very cheaply because there were very few bids on them. Almost everyone working for the government drove one as a daily. They were meticulously serviced and usually had less than 75K on the odometer. Most but not all were repainted and upgraded.

Joe

 

I was in a car club in '59. One of the guys had a green '57 like the one pictured. Had a 270 h.p. with 3 speed. Hot car for its time.

 

The way I understand it, certain options like heated seats, maybe cruise control and remote starting, side and rear view cameras and some others are still built into the few new vehicles that are being delivered. Some of these options are not initially functional due to the shortages of computer chips and such that make up their control systems (body control modules). When the parts become available the dealers will install them, at presumably no charge.

Options like XM/Sirius radios, navigation systems, OnStar and other "infotainment" packages will no doubt continue to require monthly or annual access fees as they have all along.

 

A couple of years ago Chevy still offered a Body In White camaro. Because it was even air bag delete it wasn't street legal and was even VIN delete. Strictly a drag car.

 

My dad bought a1953 chevy it had no options no heater only a defroster which was required by law . Me and my sister would sit in the back under a pile of blankets .

 

@VANDENPLAS ... How could YOU, a Dodge guy, stoop soooo low??? I am amazed! Was that back in your "Drink Molson's 'til you pass out" days?? Mercy!!

 

easy. When you decide you want to buy something, just wait till 2hrs before 6 weeks has passed, THEN order it. Thatll achieve the same waiting-like the days of old-you pine for...

 

A few mentioned about cars being sold without back seats above. Weren't those cars in the 40's and 50's sold or marketed as salesman's cars? or was that just a term we used in our area. Too young to remember.

Hotrodprimer, I really like how someone photoshopped Brenda's car in that dealer lot picture.

 

"Options like XM/Sirius radios, navigation systems, OnStar and other "infotainment" packages will no doubt continue to require monthly or annual access fees as they have all along."

Onstar will be obsolete in Dec. of this year (2022).

 

The Hutterites (a colony community like the Amish) would always order their trucks with the radio delete; radios were too worldly.

 

My dad liked having new cars, so traded them in about every 3-4 yrs. But he was pretty frugal, so always bought base models with rubber floor covering, and usually 2dr. sdn. or 4dr. sdn. He did usually get the smaller V8's as he didn't care for a six.

 

My Mom and Dad are the same way! They would rather have a new car every 3-4 years than paying for the gingerbread on the higher end models. I think that line of reasoning rubbed off on me. The only options I want are the big engine, and heavy duty suspension and brakes. All the standard equipment is fine with me. A/C is the only other mandatory thing I want. And today, that’s standard. Dad would also trade every 3-4 years because he would get bored and get “car fever”. When Dad was a Union carpenter, he bought a new F-100 that did not have a single option. No radio, manual brakes, and steering, 300, 3 on the tree. Mom refused to drive it because she couldn’t park it. Dad eventually traded it off and the salesman called and asked Dad, “how can you drive this thing”?

 

Now that I think of it, the ultimate stripper was the Beetle. When I was a little kid in the 60’s-70’s every family in the neighborhood had one. Everyone had a nice car or wagon, and a Beetle for the Dad to drive to work.

We were cool because Dad had one of the last ones with the canvas sunroof. Love to have one like it today. A flatbed backed over the nose and squashed it - which was ok at the time, since Dad replaced it with a used Austin Healey 3000 that he eventually handed down to me.

 

i;ll trade you a bug for it...

 

My Mom only had two rules when she shopped for a new car. Price and a big motor. Though the years those two unbreakable rules meant she ended up with some real doozies. I remember a 64 Marauder with all the hi-po goodies but no radio, carpet, or power brakes. A 68 Cougar with a 390/4speed missing the radio. Weirdest one she came up with was a 70 440 Cuda with no stripes, scoop, radio, air, carpet, or power steering and manual disc brakes. But it had an automatic with a Dana 60. She shopped the back rows. Only entered the showroom when she was ready to sign the papers. She'd study the window stickers, write down the prices of the cars that followed her rules, then go a grab a salesman. She'd show him her list and tell him she'd pay 1/2 the sticker price (cash) on any of them. I always liked watching that salesman/manager song and dance. As she got older, the big motors fell off the list (not her fault). At 82 her last new car was a supercharged Bonneville. But she always said it would have been better if it had had a V8.