FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2005
In looking back on today's Fossil Fools Day rage at the Ed Schmid Ford Dealership in Ferndale, MI, I think we Raging Grannies were had. We let a super salesman out-manuver us in the Big Bad World of power politics. Granted, it was on a small scale, but still...
We showed up with our banners, signs and songs at 4 PM in front of our designated Ford dealership to participate in a worldwide "Intervention" regarding America's Oil Addiction. Jumpstart Ford and Global Exchange had worked hard and offered all kinds of support, information, pre-stenciled banners and handouts to encourage local groups of concerned folks to contact a Ford dealership in their area, arrange a meeting with the manager, and give him or her a letter--already composed by Global Exchange and Jumpstart Ford--to sign and mail to William Clay Ford, the CEO of Ford Motor Company. This letter asked that Ford put a priority on producing and distributing more fuel efficient vehicles. The idea being that such a request from their own Ford dealers would get the ear of the higher-ups more effectively than if we private consumers made the same request. If the dealer would not sign the letter, we were instructed to mount a protest on Friday, April 1--Fossil Fools Day--in front of their Ford dealership.
Sounds simple, right? I mean Ford products have been at the bottom of the list of the six big auto companies for auto fuel efficiency for five years running. The Model T got better gas mileage--25 MPG--than today's Ford cars, vans, SUVs and trucks--an average of 18.8 MPG. They already have the technology to do better, but showed their stripes by canceling their natural gas program and electric car program in 2004. Now Ford has come out with a hybrid SUV that only gets 31 MPG on the highway--a far cry from the 50 MPG some European-made cars get--but even this token hybrid only accounts for .6 of one percent of their overall production.
A couple of weeks ago Granny Charlotte had called Ed Schmid Ford, a dealership we chose because of its central location, and asked to talk to the manager. When Gerard Schmid, the son of the original owner, got on the phone he basically blew off her request for a meeting and spent the entire time bragging about how great his vehicles were. So we Raging Grannies went ahead with our plan to rage in front of the Ed Schmid Ford dealership on April 1, Fossil Fools Day.
Granny Nancy sent out press releases to our major Detroit-area print media, we created new signs and songs for the occasion, and Granny Kathy added a coughing planet Earth and a smoke-belching car to the pre-stenciled banner. We Grannies arranged to meet at Ed Schmid Ford at 4 PM on Friday, April 1.
Before we even got to Woodward, the well-traveled street on which the dealership is located, Gerard Schmid was out the door and bounding towards us, his eyes shining in anticipation. "We've been waiting for you ALL DAY!", he cried. And we guessed he was right because when we looked over the dealership office building, its plate glass windows were lined with salespersons checking us out. We figure the media must have contacted him with the info about our planned protest.
We should have seen right away that this guy was ready to take us on, and to enjoy every minute of it. Except for Granny Judy and myself, all the other Raging Grannies swarmed around Gerard like bees to honey. After about 15-20 minutes, I encouraged most of them to leave his side and get on with the protest. As I said, "We don't need more than two Grannies to talk with Gerard." From what I overhead they were going back and forth about the facts of fuel efficiency, with the Grannies quoting Global Exchange's and Jumpstart Ford's numbers, and Gerard Schmid doing a snow job about this glorious new hybrid and how environmentally-sensitive Ford Motor Company is.
I guess I knew who'd won the battle when this lifelong salesman talked two of our Grannies into going for a test ride of the new Ford hybrid SUV. I'm sure this was NOT what Global Exchange and Jumpstart Ford had in mind as an action to call for an end to America's Oil Addiction! But, after they'd returned and picked up their signs and banners, both Grannies assured us that they'd continued to talk about Ford's fuel efficiency problems even while they were being driven around the block by Gerard Schmid.
Gerard was in and out of his dealership the entire two hours we were there. He listened to us sing, took our pictures--even a Raging Granny portrait I asked him to take--came back out with an 8x10 glossy print of one of them for us to take home, brought out copies of a "hot off the press" article in the most recent Automotive News with a big headline saying that Ford Motor Company had sold 5 hybrid SUVs to Canada and 25 to Germany. Wow. A grand total of 30 vehicles!
By the time we left at 6 PM I don't know who was more tired and cold, Gerard or the Raging Grannies. Actually, I DO know. Gerard was happy as a clam, warmed by his encounter with seven nice little old ladies who absolutely made his day. We Grannies, on the other hand, had to go eat hot East Indian curry at a local restaurant to warm up.
The moral of this story is: Watch yourself. Car salesmen can sell WAY more than cars.
©2005 Patricia Lay-Dorsey. Photos--except for Raging Grannies portrait--by Patricia Lay-Dorsey. Please use with attribution.