The war was over. Cars were once again rolling off Detroit's assembly lines. Families were moving to the suburbs. And there was a Ford in their future for many of them — as well as for two young salesmen in Iowa.
That's where Les Miller and Frank McClure started selling Ford cars — Miller in 1948, McClure in 1950.
Today, a Ford is still in their future.
Miller, 83, sells cars, new and used, at what is now Holmes Tuttle Ford Lincoln Mercury in the Tucson Auto Mall.
And while McClure, 78, retired in 2000 as president and general manager of the dealership, he still serves in an advisory capacity.
Over the last six decades both men have seen their business change dramatically. And not at all.
It's still "meet, greet, demo and negotiate," says Miller, who indeed kept this reporter's notepad cooling while he closed the deal on a 2001 Lincoln with 6,000 miles on it.
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"I don't put in the hours I used to," says Miller, who's whittled his work close to, oh, a 40-hour week — way down from the 12-hour days he used to log.
Tote it all up and he estimates he's sold at least 15,000 vehicles in the last 50 years — not including a record 317 trucks and cars in 1957.
That feat probably won't be duplicated anytime soon. Asked about the dismal state of car sales today, Miller answers, "I've never seen it this bad."
But in the next breath, both he and McClure offer up the fall-back plan. "You get on the telephone and call up previous customers," says Miller.
"You just hunker down and work your tail off," says McClure.
Miller sold his first new Ford in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1948. Two years later, McClure sold his first car at a Ford dealership in Bloomfield, Iowa, where he took everything in trade from livestock to furniture. He still carries an old business card with the final tally from that first sale: $1,391.62. With trade.
Weary of the Iowa winters, Miller came to Tucson in the spring of 1951 and soon went to work for Monte Mansfield, whose Ford dealership in Tucson began in 1914.
After finishing up a stint with the Marines, McClure, along with wife and infant daughter, arrived here in 1954. He, too, hied himself down to the Mansfield dealership, then at 800 E. Broadway.
"I started selling cars that day," says McClure, who along with Miller worked strictly commission. Customers back then were cotton farmers, copper miners and of course, plenty of couples — not always in agreement.
"Couples would sometimes get in an argument, and I would tell them they had to settle it outside," says Miller.
Adds McClure: "I think it took us awhile to realize it was really the woman who influenced the sale."
When customers did make up their minds, they usually went to their own banks for financing — which meant 18 months to pay it off, with a third down in cash.
Best seller back in '54: the Ford Customline. No seat belts, no air bags, no factory air.
Meanwhile, you could always arrange to have a gadget installed under the dash or on your side window that would blow cool air and sometimes water onto your various body parts.
Power steering and automatic transmission were both resisted by many customers when they came out in the early '50s, says Miller. So were safety features. "In 1956 Ford came out with a safety package — seat belts, padded dash and headrests," says McClure. "It was not very successful."
Both men say Mansfield was a "real gentleman." But when he was diagnosed with cancer, he sold his dealership to Holmes Tuttle in 1958.
For the first time, the dealership began offering its own financing, says McClure, who would eventually buy into the company, as would auto dealer Jim Click later on.
It was pickup trucks and family station wagons that rolled off the lot in the '50s and '60s. Add to that the excitement of first the Thunderbird, which came out in 1955, and then the Mustang, which debuted in 1964.
"The Mustang was the easiest car to sell," says Miller, adding that he sold the town's first Mustang, and before that, its first Thunderbird.
Times were good. So good that when Tucson's first Toyota dealership opened up, "We had a big laugh," says Miller.
No one's laughing anymore. "It did impact us," says McClure. And for a time, "the manufacturer did not freshen up its cars."
In 1986, Holmes Tuttle Hyundai opened in the Tucson Auto Mall, west of Tucson Mall. Other dealerships joined it in the mall, including Holmes Tuttle Ford in 1988.
A few years later, the Internet started making inroads into auto sales. "It has changed things," says Miller. "There are no secrets anymore."
Still, says McClure, "You are selling the attributes of the dealership. You sell yourself and the service after the sale. Honesty is the No. 1 thing."
Selling cars was easier 50 years ago, say both men. "We had three or four pieces of paper when we got finished with the deal," says McClure. "Now you have a whole packet."
Yet some things remain. "The work is the same," says Miller. "You try to get them in the car, get them to take a ride. You've got to be an attorney, an actor, everything."
As for the future, both men are upbeat. "You meet some wonderful people," says Miller.
Adds McClure: "And Americans will not stop buying cars."
DID YOU KNOW
Besides selling Fords, Monte Mansfield was a mover and shaker responsible for helping bring about everything from the Stone Avenue underpass to Davis-Monthan becoming a major Air Force base.
