Poster for Chevrolet Dealers

For several years running we had a national sales event for Chevrolet that was simply named a Garage Sale. There was lots of Newspaper, Radio, and TV support and dealers were offered this outdoor board to tie into the event. This paper board reminds me that Tony Longo and Jim Hartzell came into my office one day with a model of the front of a family two car garage. It even had a real basket ball hoop above the door. Real wood shingles and lights . It looked like someone had sliced off the front couple of feet from a real garage. It was to be a permanent outdoor board where messages could change and cars could be shown with the door open. Tony and Jim had several examples that demonstrated it's flexibility. Carl Uren, Chevrolet's Ad Manager at the time, liked the idea and had us build one on a Detroit freeway as a test. It stayed up for quite a while but was determined to be too expensive to use all over America. 

Dick Wingerson had the idea for a Garage Sale back around 1970. He sent me the following and I pass it on to you. " Garage Sale didn't sell on the first try. I remember writing a memo proposing it,saying times were tough and that saving money was now becoming smart and fashionable, too. Garage Sales were popping up all over the country and lots of folks still called a car dealer's service department, or the dealership itself, 'the Chevy garage'. It was a natural. Client response was: 'Yeah, but they're also called Lawn Sales and Yard Sales. Besides, everything at a Garage Sale is old and used. Plus, our dealers are independent businessmen and we can't force them to use the word 'sale'." Oh, yeah? It's end-of -model cleanup time. What dealer is selling at full sticker then? Not wanting a good idea to die, ( I learned bulldog tenacity from you) I proposed it again next year, slightly reworded. 'Chevrolet Garage Sale' with the subhead: 'Where every thing's a bargain. And every bargain is brand new.' SOLD! Jeb Schary, son of Hollywood's Dory Schary, produced the first Garage Sale TV spot. It featured a backyard garage, with a door that opened to reveal a Chevy showroom with lots of activity. Big success and as you mention, dealers loved the Garage Sale idea enough to use it for several years. So, here's to tenacity. Cheers! Wings "

Thanks for the background information on a strong Chevy campaign. I'll show some of the ads when I find them.