Description
Book SynopsisGelber's highly readable and lively prose makes clear how this unique economic ritual survived into the industrial twentieth century, in the process adding a colorful and interesting chapter to the history of the automobile.
Trade ReviewGelber offers vivid portraits of several automotive flim-flam artists, and he captures the antics of dealers like Earl 'Madman' Muntz, who revolutionized auto sales in the 1940s and early '50s by creating a sales-crazed character for his advertising. -- John Stoll Wall Street Journal.com 2008 Whatever cultural and economic factors keep horse trading alive in the age of cars and the internet, this carefully researched and well-written study is our best guide to the history of this paradoxical situation. -- Joseph Corn Technology and Culture 2009 Gelber's work is... praiseworthy because it avoids the kind of temporal parochialism that characterizes so many contemporary monographs, covering the entire automobile age. -- Clay McShane Journal of Social History 2010 Horse Trading in the Age of Cars is an original work that accomplishes something admirable. -- Eric J. Morser The Historian 2010
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction: The Cowboy and the Flapper
1. Horse Trading: During the Buyer
Horses as Masculine Symbols
The Manly Art of Horse Trading
The Reputation of Horse Traders
The Horse Trading Business
Horse Trading as a Game
The Rules of the Game
Hiding Faults
Warranties
2. Retailing: Satisfying the Buyer
Manufactured Transportation: Carriages and Bicycles
Negotiated (Discriminatory) Prices
Single (Democratic) Prices
Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Cheerfully Refunded
3. Cars: Joining the New Marketplace
Coachmen to Chauffeurs: The Male Lineage
Cars in Stores
One Posted Price to All
One-Price by Law
Advertising List Prices
4. Used Cars: Undermining the New Marketplace
Origins
Trade-In Allowances and Over-Allowances
Controlling Over-Allowances
Cheating: "Buyers Are Liars"—And So Are Sellers
5. The Triumph of the Price Pack: Selling the Deal
Price Padding with the Pack
After-Sales Packing
The 1950s: ". . . for Thieves to Sell to Mental Defectives"
Advertising and Blitz Marketing
Posting a Price
The Great Warranty War
6. Bad Guys
The Car Seller's Career: Nasty, Brutish, and Short
The Sales Game: Tactics
The Sales Game: Strategy
Car Dealers' Reputation and Character
7. Bargaining and Gender
"The Great American Sport of Bargaining"
Brokers
Cars and Masculinity
Women as Buyers and Sellers
Epilogue: Still Horse Trading in the Internet Age
The Dealer's Cost
Make Me an Offer!
Notes
Index
