For ten years Ford produced and sold the best no brainer car
on the market, the Tempo.
There are many people who don’t like cars but need one. They
want ease of use, cheap to buy, cheap to operate, and stove bolt reliability.
That was the Tempo! Turn the key, put it in gear, and drive away.
I sold scores
of Tempos. Not a high profit item, they padded my monthly numbers to push into
bonus country. Three or so Escorts, four Tempos, a couple of Taurus and several
F-150/F2-50s would push a months earnings into the $7,500-$10,000 range. Loved
that car!
What prompted this post was the following:
Which brings me to my favorite Tempo memory. A customer
walked in one day. A 4’6” totally androgynous human, she identified herself as “Angel”,
a resident of Unalaska (Dutch Harbor) Alaska. She had exactly $10,000 to spend
and her other, inflexible requirements, was 4wd and new, no used. She had been
shopping for two days all along the Seattle corridor.
In a few hours she was the owner of a blue AWD Tempo. We
were able to fit in Ziebart rust
protection and a decent undercoating while staying in her price envelope. Off
it went to a barge destined for Dutch Harbor.
We never heard back from her but I’ve often wondered how the
Tempo fared in Dutch Harbor.
The European Modendo, sold here as the Contour, replaced the
Tempo. Whatever the qualities of the Contour, it was not a no brainer and was far
more money. The Tempo buyer types soon looked elsewhere.
About that time the FCC started requiring dealers to
disclose the capitalization costs of leases. My store, about 14-20 in nationwide
volume, was the #1 Ford Red Carpet Lease store in the country for 14 straight
years. Seeing the handwriting writ large, I took my happy ass off to the best
used car operation in the area.
Many readers of this blog are smart, or think they are.
Whatever, the one truism of the car biz that never changes is, “Bore and Stroke”.
Down payment and monthly payment.
The true cash buyer is extremely rare. The smarter ones have
shopped for financing, bank or credit union, and have a loan commitment in
their pocket. They call themselves, “cash buyers”. No Bubba, you are not but I
can probably get you in and out in a couple of hours. That works for me so I
will play your game, almost to the end.
15 comments:
My first ever truly 'new' car, complete with that new car smell, the paper floor mats, window sticker; a 1993 Ford Tempo, blue, very similar to the one you posted.
I bought it on the payment plan, and traded it in on my first of what became a never ending series of pick up trucks, (a 1995 Ford F150 supercab).
An "Appliance Category" car for non-car people.
How were 90's Fords for corrosion protection?
Fredd
Once sold a Tempo to a NFL player. Love me Ford pickups but not the wheel well corrosion.
drjim
Marginal
OK, hence the Ziebart AND additional undercoating.
My 1967 Mustang, aka "The RUSTang" was getting pretty bad by the time I got rid of it in 1974. 7 years of winters in Northern Illinois were not kind to it.....
drjim
Rust isn't a factor in the PNW. Mold and mildew are. Any state that uses salt on their roads is destroying vehicles and infrastructure. Colorado uses mag chloride which isn't as bad but needs to be removed ASAP.
The BIG moneymaker is a carwash that operates year round and has a GOOD underbody spray. We've got one here that is open any day it isn't raining. Re Fords, they ALL rust. Not quite as bad as the Japanese imports did, but still bad.
Old NFO
We have a rapidly expanding chain where $12 a month gets you unlimited basic washes. More costs more but for my purposes the basic works well.
I'll take it as a compliment that I'm Rare! Beings I'm a true cash buyer... lol
Liking my 2016 Tahoe, but after 20 years of driving the heck out of my Explorer, it has a ways to go.
Whoa, wish we had that kind of car wash chain here. I get the basic $9 wash when it's too cold to do it myself.
@WSF - Where's that car wash? I really need to run my Jeep through one. It still has mud caked on it from our Thanksgiving trip on some gen-you-ine back roads!
drjim
https://breezethrucarwash.com/locations/co/fort-collins-mulberry/
If you pay by the month you can use any of them in any town.
Brig
Good for you!
Can't help you with the car wash.
That's the one my wife goes to. I suppose I'll get clipped for having an SUV, AND an "oversized vehicle", and "mag wheels", etc, etc, etc.
Or do they not nickel and dime you to death at car washes here?
drjim
Doubt you will have any trouble. For now, getting themselves established, they are customer friendly. In the future after getting established????
I've seen several of their locations in my travels here.
The website indicates flat-rate pricing, from $5 to $26. No mention of vehicle size. All the add-ons are probably a Kommiefornia thing.
I think I can afford the $15 "Bubble Bath" wash a few times a year.....
I really need to get it detailed, though. And the headliner has come unglued in front of the sun visors, there's some leather on the driver's seat that needs replacing, and I still haven't gotten the windshield repaired.
And when it warms up again in the Spring I have to change all four shocks. I'll probably go with the complete front strut/spring/mount replacement over just changing out the strut insert.
drjim
I need to replace all four corners on the Taurus. In the car biz days I used Elite Glass.
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