Mark Richardson
Active Member
July 27, 1967, Ranchero Motors Sales Bulletin to all Amphicar dealers
On July 27, 1967, Glen Flynn from Ranchero Motors sent this bulletin out to all dealers to alert them to the upcoming August 4 “In and Out” Amphicar promotional advertisement in Life Magazine and Look Magazine for Excedrin, Vitalis and Ban products. With a readership of 60,000,000 people, this promotion was sure to spark interest in potential buyers.
The promotion was sponsored by Bristol-Myers Products in the print advertisements and in store displays, which offered sweepstakes prizes including the grand prize of an Amphicar to be awarded on September 17th!
Ranchero Motors was very excited to announce this important advertising activity, and it was designed to spark interest in Amphicars across the country and generate badly needed sales. Special pricing of cars ordered through the sponsor were offered to dealers with extra incentives offered to sell from dealer stock of cars.
Dealer cooperation with Ranchero was encouraged for this promotion, which was a forerunner to a series of national promotions being planned for the near future.
Unfortunately for Bearcat Motors the publication of the magazine and advertising campaign coincided with the race riots that week which consumed Detroit, changing forever the very structural and cultural make-up of the motor city. On the front cover of that edition of Life which included the two-page center spread, you can see the flames of the burning buildings and martial law being enforced by the National Guard soldiers.
Ironically, in July of 1967 the Doors had a #1 hit with the song “Light My Fire” which went on to become the band’s signature hit song. It is interesting to imagine the lyric “Come on baby, light my fire” would be taken literally to burn the city extinguishing the fledgling Bearcat dealership in the flames of civil discontent.
Despite the effort and expense put into the “In and Out” national promotion, Bearcat Motors sold just 5 cars in the two months which followed. The timing and nature of events could not have been worse for an upstart leisure time vehicle dealer in the heart of the city and at ground zero for the worst of the riot activity which happened several bocks away. I included a map showing the location of the photo of the store where the military patrolled.
The riot devastation of the neighborhood where Bearcat operated was the beginning of the end for the dealership. Everything got worse from that week going forward, and it was especially painful given the high expectations of the advertising and promotion in the height of the summer selling season. All business activity in the city stopped for weeks as residents feared snipers and military control. It is hard to imagine a worse place to be for an Amphicar dealership.
The video is an Amphicar promotional video that shows 3 cars being demonstrated in a small lake in the 60’s. I have never seen this clip before and thought it was a good one to accompany this article. It may be the first time this has been seen in many years and I hope you find it as interesting as I did and thanks again to Dan Gibson from Katestrackshack.com for converting it from 8mm film to digital and adding the killer music. He is very professional and can do it for you if you have old media that you want converted at half the price. Give him a shout!
COPY AND PASTE VIDEO LINK: http://tinyurl.com/NYE23Promo
On July 27, 1967, Glen Flynn from Ranchero Motors sent this bulletin out to all dealers to alert them to the upcoming August 4 “In and Out” Amphicar promotional advertisement in Life Magazine and Look Magazine for Excedrin, Vitalis and Ban products. With a readership of 60,000,000 people, this promotion was sure to spark interest in potential buyers.
The promotion was sponsored by Bristol-Myers Products in the print advertisements and in store displays, which offered sweepstakes prizes including the grand prize of an Amphicar to be awarded on September 17th!
Ranchero Motors was very excited to announce this important advertising activity, and it was designed to spark interest in Amphicars across the country and generate badly needed sales. Special pricing of cars ordered through the sponsor were offered to dealers with extra incentives offered to sell from dealer stock of cars.
Dealer cooperation with Ranchero was encouraged for this promotion, which was a forerunner to a series of national promotions being planned for the near future.
Unfortunately for Bearcat Motors the publication of the magazine and advertising campaign coincided with the race riots that week which consumed Detroit, changing forever the very structural and cultural make-up of the motor city. On the front cover of that edition of Life which included the two-page center spread, you can see the flames of the burning buildings and martial law being enforced by the National Guard soldiers.
Ironically, in July of 1967 the Doors had a #1 hit with the song “Light My Fire” which went on to become the band’s signature hit song. It is interesting to imagine the lyric “Come on baby, light my fire” would be taken literally to burn the city extinguishing the fledgling Bearcat dealership in the flames of civil discontent.
Despite the effort and expense put into the “In and Out” national promotion, Bearcat Motors sold just 5 cars in the two months which followed. The timing and nature of events could not have been worse for an upstart leisure time vehicle dealer in the heart of the city and at ground zero for the worst of the riot activity which happened several bocks away. I included a map showing the location of the photo of the store where the military patrolled.
The riot devastation of the neighborhood where Bearcat operated was the beginning of the end for the dealership. Everything got worse from that week going forward, and it was especially painful given the high expectations of the advertising and promotion in the height of the summer selling season. All business activity in the city stopped for weeks as residents feared snipers and military control. It is hard to imagine a worse place to be for an Amphicar dealership.
The video is an Amphicar promotional video that shows 3 cars being demonstrated in a small lake in the 60’s. I have never seen this clip before and thought it was a good one to accompany this article. It may be the first time this has been seen in many years and I hope you find it as interesting as I did and thanks again to Dan Gibson from Katestrackshack.com for converting it from 8mm film to digital and adding the killer music. He is very professional and can do it for you if you have old media that you want converted at half the price. Give him a shout!
COPY AND PASTE VIDEO LINK: http://tinyurl.com/NYE23Promo
