Pub. 2 2020-2021 Issue 3

26 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 Hoffman returned to Los Angeles, became a general manager, then a dealer. He served on the Executive Board of the Traffic Commission of the City and County of Los Angeles. He wrote an article on the traffic problem in Los Angeles that was published in the Annals of the American Academy. 16 Soon Studebaker appointed Hoffman as Vice President. In 1929 he co-wrote a very useful book called Marketing Used Cars that explained how new car deal- ers should organize their used car departments, how to buy, recondition, and sell used cars, and how to control inventory. 17 In 1934 Hoffman was named president of the Studebaker Corporation. In 1948, in the aftermath of World War II, President Harry Truman named Hoffman to lead the European Economic Cooperation Administration, generally known as The Marshall Plan, to utilize American assistance to rebuild war-torn Europe. Hoffman’s stellar career shows how many dealers (besides being successful business leaders) became leaders in public service at the local, state and national levels. Winslow B. Felix Winslow B. Felix is an L.A. story of ambition, reinvention, success, and tragedy. Born in 1891 in the town of Tucson in the Arizona Territory, Wenceslao was the oldest of seven children. Everyone in the family spoke fluently in English and Spanish. Prior to 1910, young Wenceslao left home for Los Angeles, anglicized his name to become Felix, and sold cars at a Lincoln dealership. He served in the tank corps in World War I. After the war, he was hired as a used car manager at Chevrolet dealership, and by 1921 he had acquired his own Chevrolet dealership on 11th and Olive Street in downtown Los Angeles. Felix was handsome, charming, and a very talented polo player. He became friends with Pat Sullivan, the creator of the Felix the Cat comic character, and the two decided to cross-market the cat and Chevrolet. Felix provided Sullivan and his friends with good deals on Chevrolets, and Winslow made the cat a store mascot and featured him into advertis- ing and promotional events. 18 A writer for the Los Angeles Times described Winslow Felix in the following terms: “Probably no other motor-car dealer in Los Angeles is so well known throughout the State at large than is Winslow B. Felix,” wrote the Los Angeles Times. “Drive anywhere you will, in any part of Southern California, and … you’ll see cars sporting the Felix cat emblem. It is said that Felix has come to mean Chevrolet and Chevrolet has come to mean Felix.” 19 Felix was elected president of the Chevrolet Dealers Association of Los Angeles in 1924. 20 Felix found creative new ways to promote sales. For customers in Hollywood and Beverly Hills who did not want to come downtown to purchase or service their cars, salespersons would at- tach a three-wheel motorcycle (painted with the figure of the cat) to the desired vehicle, drive it to the home of the customer, leave the car, and drive the motorcycle back to the dealership. He started a ”Trial Purchase Plan” where buyers could drive their new cars for two days and, if they were not satisfied, return the car and get their money back. 21 Felix also customized Chevrolet roadsters and touring cars with special features that made these cars stand out. He sponsored dances, parties, athletic events, auto races and shows, and other events. Sadly, his love for polo ended in tragedy for Winslow Felix during a polo match at the Riviera Country Club when his horse collided with another, throwing him to the ground. He was taken to the Santa Monica hospital in critical con- dition with a brain hemorrhage and died the next day. 22 The career of Winslow B. Felix, the first Mexican-American dealer in Los Angeles and perhaps the nation, is another example of how early dealers developed creative strate- gies to advance their dealerships and their brands in a very competitive market place. 3 1 Motor Car Dealers Association of Southern California, Minutes, June 1, 1905. 2 Theodore Smith, The Marketing of Used Automobiles, Bureau of Business Research, Ohio State University, April 1941, p. 5. 3 “Auto Observer”, Los Angeles Times, vol. 1, no. 25, July 26, 1934; ‘Kelley Blue Book, Inc.” International Directory of Company Histories, vol. 84. “Used Car Dealers Observe Birthday, Los Angeles Times, March 312, 1940; “R. Leslie Kelley, Car-Pricing pioneer, 93,” New York Times, February 11, 1990; R.L. Kelley, First Published Blue Book on Used-Car Values, Los Angeles Times, February 9, 1990. 4 MCDALA, Minutes, October 19, 1906. 5 Los Angeles Times, November 11, 1906 6 MCDALA, Minutes, October 19, 1906. 7 Los Angeles Times, January 8, 1907. 8 Los Angeles Times, January 13, 1907. 9 Los Angeles Times, January 26, 1907. 10 Los Angeles Herald, July 23 and 27, 1892. 11 Los Angeles Herald, March 21, 1893 and August 19, 1894. 12, 13 Motor West, November 1, 1917. 14 The Horseless Age, July 22, 1903 and Motor Age, June 8, 1905. 15 On Don Lee, see Greg Fischer, “Don Lee and the Transformation of Los Angeles,” Southern California Quarterly. 16 Paul G. Hoffman, “The Traffic Commission of Los Angeles: Its Work on the Traffic Problem,” The Annals of the American Academy, ----, pp. 246-250. 17 Paul G. Hoffman and James E Greene, Marketing Used Cars, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1929, p.11. 18 “Cats Like the Rain,” Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1924; “You Ought to Hear it Purr: Boss of Felix Pays Visit to His Namesake,” Los Angeles Times, January 11, 1925; “Cats Will Follow These Chevrolets,” Los Angeles Times, February 8, 1925; “Felix the Cat. 19 “Felix the Cat Makes Business Up to Scratch,” Los Angeles Times, March 29, 1925. 20 “New Officers are Elected,” Los Angeles Times, May 18, 1924; “Chevrolet Dealers Organize,” Los Angeles Times, August 24, 1924. 21 “Trial Purchase Plan is Latest Felix Feature,” Los Angeles Times, June 6, 1926. 22 “Polo Victim: Felix, Auto Man, Injured,” Los Angeles Times, June 1, 1936