The story of the 'hobo' going into the dealership to buy....
Discussion
Blown2CV said:
brunei story, whilst fun... well it's obviously horses
t.
That it is! I've been at the same event as the Sultan Of Brunei - really I have, it was an airshow years ago my Dad wanted to go to.t.I digress, he was there shopping for the latest military hardware. The salient point is that he was taken out to view a line of parked fighter jets whilst the hoi polloi looked on (me being one of them). He was driven to the planes in a chauffeured limousine, complete with armed escort and a private ambulance in tow (!)
He was a fairly unassuming looking man in a sharp, blue suit - Italian, subtly tailored and a white shirt.
There's no chance he'd turn up unannounced at a dealer in Colchester then employ some random salesman to go off and purchase horses for him! He's accompanied by far too much pomp and circumstance at all times.
Thankyou4calling said:
Blown2CV said:
brunei story, whilst fun... well it's obviously horsest.
Total utter nonsense. PH needs to have a cull of these type of storytellers.t.jesta1865 said:
so he accepted the ferrari and a couple of weeks later, pulled up on the forecourt of the MB dealer, senior looking guy comes over and asks him what he wants to look at, then gets told 'nothing, but i thought you'd like to know that self important prick over there wouldn't let me test an sl so i bought this'. got back in the car and drove off. it's the only time i've ever been in a 348, i laughed a lot 
.
Even if the story is true, the 'senior looking guy' would have just assumed the Ferrari was borrowed/hired/his dads, thought 'what a prick', and got on with his day..Mike Ashley (of Sports Direct and Newcastle United) is worth around 3.5 billion pounds, all from a single shop he opened as a teenager in 1982.
However, he can often be seen walking round in a tatty pair of ripped jeans and tee shirt, conducting much of his rapidly expanding business on his mobile phone.
You very rarely see Richard Branson in a snazzy suit.
Never judge a book by it's cover......
However, he can often be seen walking round in a tatty pair of ripped jeans and tee shirt, conducting much of his rapidly expanding business on his mobile phone.
You very rarely see Richard Branson in a snazzy suit.
Never judge a book by it's cover......
Wacky Racer said:
Mike Ashley (of Sports Direct and Newcastle United) is worth around 3.5 billion pounds, all from a single shop he opened as a teenager in 1982.
However, he can often be seen walking round in a tatty pair of ripped jeans and tee shirt, conducting much of his rapidly expanding business on his mobile phone.
You very rarely see Richard Branson in a snazzy suit.
Never judge a book by it's cover......
Well I think you entirely should judge a book by its cover, because 90% of the time you'll be right. However, he can often be seen walking round in a tatty pair of ripped jeans and tee shirt, conducting much of his rapidly expanding business on his mobile phone.
You very rarely see Richard Branson in a snazzy suit.
Never judge a book by it's cover......
Blown2CV said:
Well I think you entirely should judge a book by its cover, because 90% of the time you'll be right.
I'd say closer to 99%.Fully accept the Mike Ashley's of this world exist and I'm sure I've seen pictures of Roman Abramovich wearing a Casio watch ( whilst on the deck of one of his multiple yachts/liners) but the crux of this for me is as much about someone's bearing, their persona, confidence and even posture.
Any decent salesperson will spot this a mile off, it can't be disguised or faked, yes of course wealthy people don't always don a Saville Row suit and Jermyn Street shirt when they are out and about, indeed many won't even have such things, but I think even in scruffs you can tell who has and who hasn't, who is and who isn't.
I certainly can.
Both incidents I'm aware of happened over 20yrs ago:
My father is a car dealer who used to specialise in American cars, weekends could be very busy and after one guy was asking about completely different cars - Jeep, Camaro, Lincoln Continental etc Dad assumed he was a time waster (we used to get a lot of "sightseers") he asked me to look after him (I was perhaps 16)
I showed him various cars and he then pulled out a HUGE wad of notes and said "I'll have that, that and that" pointing at three contrasting cars - I'd never seen my Dad move so quickly across the yard.
Dad's friend was a Prestige car dealer up the road, a non script car pulled onto the pitch and a scruffy lad got out looked at the Ferrari and Rolls Royce and asked if he'd take £100k for both.
The dealer thought he was a penniless idiot and told him to "Get lost" another dealer wandered over and asked "What did Bev Bevan want ?"
My father is a car dealer who used to specialise in American cars, weekends could be very busy and after one guy was asking about completely different cars - Jeep, Camaro, Lincoln Continental etc Dad assumed he was a time waster (we used to get a lot of "sightseers") he asked me to look after him (I was perhaps 16)
I showed him various cars and he then pulled out a HUGE wad of notes and said "I'll have that, that and that" pointing at three contrasting cars - I'd never seen my Dad move so quickly across the yard.
Dad's friend was a Prestige car dealer up the road, a non script car pulled onto the pitch and a scruffy lad got out looked at the Ferrari and Rolls Royce and asked if he'd take £100k for both.
The dealer thought he was a penniless idiot and told him to "Get lost" another dealer wandered over and asked "What did Bev Bevan want ?"
Fun Bus said:
rich888 said:
The sales rep was fantastic, though I ought to mention he is now the franchise director at Sytner Group For Ferrari and Maserati, and well deserved may I say, his name, Mario Vignali, and I have to say he's probably one of the best sales guys I've ever purchased a car from.
He's been with Graypaul for over twenty years. I first met him when when Graypaul was owned by Otford Group and based in Loughborough. He gave me the opportunity to do work experience when I was at school - not something Graypaul normally did and I was a lucky 15 year old. Soon after, he also invited me to attend a track day at Donington being hosted by Graypaul.I was lucky enough to attend several Ferrari test days in the mid 1980s at Donington Park organised by Graypaul - even managed a spin (and by spin we really did spin off as we headed towards the pits) in a black 512BB reg number JHW 3 running on Pirelli P7 tyres, who I have since learned was owned by John Woodward who actually owned a Ferrari dealership, who later sold his Ferrari dealership to Nigel Mansell. Incidentally, did anyone catch the spin on camera because it was pretty spectacular from my point of view as the passenger?
And apologises for diluting the title of the forum, having said that, I didn't exactly dress the part when I walked in to the showroom, was just looking for a decent sports car to buy!
On a down note, a few years ago in the mid 1990s my now ex-girlfriend wanted me to buy her an Merc SLK, so I phoned the local dealership which was Mansfield Mercedes and booked a test drive. At this point there was a 95% probability that I would place an order there and then.
On the day we rolled up in my Range Rover 4.6 HSE so we weren't exactly slumming it. The salesman greeted us, then the sales manager stuck his oar in big style, and told us that we would be unable to test drive the car unless accompanied by the salesman. Now the SLK is a two seater and we were looking forward to a proper test drive instead of a sales pitch. This didn't happen.
And what really stuffed the sale big time was that while my then girlfriend was out on the test drive, the sales manager turned to me and said rather arrogantly that he really didn't have to let us test drive these type of cars because they sold themselves. At which point he lost the sale!
I need to mention that not all Mercedes dealers are so arrogant or so stupid.
We visited the Lincoln Mercedes dealership a few months later who were absolutely fantastic, they lent me a ML for a weekend to try out with no strings attached. As it happened I decided against the change, but if I am looking for a Merc anytime in the future they will be top of my list.
As for Mansfield Mercedes, they closed down a few years ago...
On the day we rolled up in my Range Rover 4.6 HSE so we weren't exactly slumming it. The salesman greeted us, then the sales manager stuck his oar in big style, and told us that we would be unable to test drive the car unless accompanied by the salesman. Now the SLK is a two seater and we were looking forward to a proper test drive instead of a sales pitch. This didn't happen.
And what really stuffed the sale big time was that while my then girlfriend was out on the test drive, the sales manager turned to me and said rather arrogantly that he really didn't have to let us test drive these type of cars because they sold themselves. At which point he lost the sale!
I need to mention that not all Mercedes dealers are so arrogant or so stupid.
We visited the Lincoln Mercedes dealership a few months later who were absolutely fantastic, they lent me a ML for a weekend to try out with no strings attached. As it happened I decided against the change, but if I am looking for a Merc anytime in the future they will be top of my list.
As for Mansfield Mercedes, they closed down a few years ago...
Blown2CV said:
There is definitely a divide in Britain of how people dress. I find it very strange that many people take pride in being messy, scruffy, poorly dressed, dirty and so on... i think some people do it because they want to actively show the world they don't care.
The reason it's odd is because clearly they do care, about something at least, because they're doing it consciously. Demonstrating something through the way you dress is illustrative of caring how you are judged by others.
Alternatively I'm usually dressed in dirty jeans because I'm either working on cars or working on houses - so it's either oil, dirt, cement or brick dust.The reason it's odd is because clearly they do care, about something at least, because they're doing it consciously. Demonstrating something through the way you dress is illustrative of caring how you are judged by others.
It's rare that I'm not working at least part of a day - 7 days a week.
I'm proud that I am practical and I wouldn't dress up to buy a car - although I would put on a clean pair of jeans as I wouldn't want to dirty someone else's interior.
Mine is sort of the opposite....
I drove up to the Porsche dealership in 2003 in my new SL55. I wanted to find out about the lead time on a Porsche 911 Turbo (I had bought one from them in 1997, also a Ferrari 360 in 2001).
It was a Saturday and the salesman was walking away from his desk when he asked what I wanted...
"What is the lead time on a 911 Turbo?"
He didn't even break stride, and while continuing to walk away the shouted "We have sold our allocation for the next 18 months".
I shouted even louder "That did't stop me ordering my last one, or the Ferrari, or the SL!" and I stormed out.... probably swearing...
Eight years later I desperately wanted a Porsche 911 Turbo S and it meant going back to the same dealership - and Yep... The same salesman.
Luckily he didn't remember the episode so I was spared embarrassment.
I drove up to the Porsche dealership in 2003 in my new SL55. I wanted to find out about the lead time on a Porsche 911 Turbo (I had bought one from them in 1997, also a Ferrari 360 in 2001).
It was a Saturday and the salesman was walking away from his desk when he asked what I wanted...
"What is the lead time on a 911 Turbo?"
He didn't even break stride, and while continuing to walk away the shouted "We have sold our allocation for the next 18 months".
I shouted even louder "That did't stop me ordering my last one, or the Ferrari, or the SL!" and I stormed out.... probably swearing...
Eight years later I desperately wanted a Porsche 911 Turbo S and it meant going back to the same dealership - and Yep... The same salesman.
Luckily he didn't remember the episode so I was spared embarrassment.
made my evening 2005 after a break up with a long term girlfriend I found myself with 35k burning a hole in my pocket! One day I found myself a bit depressed from it all so I went to the local bmw dealer with the intent of buying a e46 m3 luck had it there was a 2 year old black one with red leather so I went into the dealer said I wanted it and can it be ready for tomorrow? The salesman asked if I could afford it bearing in mind they wouldn't give me much for the 95 fiesta I arrived in! He then asked if I could prove I could pay for it I said I would pay cash then he said they would only sell the car on finance!! I thought it wasn't going well so I left, went home and told my dad what had happened and he said the salesman did me a favor as I would be parking that m3 next to the small touring caravan in my parents back yard rather than a smaller car next to my own house, although I found it a bit insulting at the time I owe the salesman a lot really.
V8RX7 said:
Alternatively I'm usually dressed in dirty jeans because I'm either working on cars or working on houses - so it's either oil, dirt, cement or brick dust.
It's rare that I'm not working at least part of a day - 7 days a week.
I'm proud that I am practical and I wouldn't dress up to buy a car - although I would put on a clean pair of jeans as I wouldn't want to dirty someone else's interior.
I'm always doing stuff to, be it office work or the gym, even fixing cars now and again. However I do have a fully functioning bathroom in my house and a collection of clothes. I still don't understand why it's so difficult to just have a shower and get changed before going to the dealership. It takes like, what, an hour or so at most?It's rare that I'm not working at least part of a day - 7 days a week.
I'm proud that I am practical and I wouldn't dress up to buy a car - although I would put on a clean pair of jeans as I wouldn't want to dirty someone else's interior.
Incidentally I bought a car yesterday - cheap private sale. Did I dress up? No. Did I look presentable? Yes - by which I mean clean clothes, washed and tidied.
MagneticMeerkat said:
V8RX7 said:
Alternatively I'm usually dressed in dirty jeans because I'm either working on cars or working on houses - so it's either oil, dirt, cement or brick dust.
It's rare that I'm not working at least part of a day - 7 days a week.
I'm proud that I am practical and I wouldn't dress up to buy a car - although I would put on a clean pair of jeans as I wouldn't want to dirty someone else's interior.
I'm always doing stuff to, be it office work or the gym, even fixing cars now and again. However I do have a fully functioning bathroom in my house and a collection of clothes. I still don't understand why it's so difficult to just have a shower and get changed before going to the dealership. It takes like, what, an hour or so at most?It's rare that I'm not working at least part of a day - 7 days a week.
I'm proud that I am practical and I wouldn't dress up to buy a car - although I would put on a clean pair of jeans as I wouldn't want to dirty someone else's interior.
Incidentally I bought a car yesterday - cheap private sale. Did I dress up? No. Did I look presentable? Yes - by which I mean clean clothes, washed and tidied.
I haven't done any office work, worn a suit nor entered a gym for 15 years.
I don't have to impress them - I'm the customer with the cash.
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