March 22: Spring!

Ah yes, Spring is finally here. To a car person (carguy, but I try to always be politically correct), this means the time to (hopefully) get a new car or at the very least, the time to shine up the current one with pride. All that winter dirt that, gets in the strangest places, can now be dug out and your beauty can be scrubbed clean. For me this Spring ritual used to mean washing every nook and cranny, then waxing my ride. These days, it means giving it to our detailer and having him do all that cleaning and giving it a wax job. The pride is still there, but the effort is someone else's.

What do the car manufacturers do to celebrate Spring? Not a lot these days, but at one time, Spring was a big deal. At one time, all the new cars came out in the Fall and then to juice up their sales, they would drop a new model into the Spring market or at least have some "special" event. Ford was one of the first to do 1/2 year models........

......back in 1963. The year before they did some special intros, but they weren't labelled specificially as 1/2 year cars. This was the beginning of the ubiquitous 1/2 year model introductions for almost all of the car companies. This lasted for years, until nowadays, when the new cars seem to get introduced as soon as they are ready.

But before this, Ford was also the one, who came up with Spring special deals. Not a new model, but a special colour or maybe a feature or two. For a while in the US, every Spring, Ford would hold a "white sale". Of course, that meant that the dealers were shipped a load of white cars, but they could also chose blue........

This ad says, "4th Annual", but I remember these sales back in the early '60's. Whatever, this was a good way to celebrate Spring with a new car, although maybe not the dark green you really wanted.

A little later in the decade, Dodge advertised their White Hat Specials.......

No mention about also getting one of those snazzy white Stetson hats, but that would have been a great idea. Probably sell tons more cars (Barry, you are always the dreamer and you wouldn't even look in one).

Back to Ford again.........

How about we re-invent those Spring Specials? "Charge up your Spring with a new Tesla! Free colour matching extension cord until April 1st on all in stock units." Don't tell me that, this wouldn't electrify their business. Create a bit more excitement in the marketplace.

So let's not let that Spring tradition rust away like this derelict old car.........

Buy a new ride, or shine up the old one and cruise down Cherry Blossom Lane, reveling in the warm weather and the sun glancing off of your freshly waxed beauty.........

We only live once and Spring is the time to do it.

Until next time........