Automotive 1972
American Motors
It takes something pretty strong to make people trade in their Volkswagens.
FROM THE PRINTED PAGEOriginal ad copy
OCR transcription from the archived page. Scanning and reading-order errors may remain.
IT TAKES SOMETHING PRETTY STRONG TO MAKE PEOPLE TRADE IN THEIR VOLKSWAGENS. When you buy a Gremlin, you get more than a great little economy car that's fun to drive. You get a car that's been road-tested and checked over so thoroughly, we make this promise: If anything goes wrong and it's our fault, we'll fix it. Free. And, if we have to keep your car overnight to fix it, over 1900 dealers will loan you a car. Free. Finally, you get a name and toll-free number to call in Detroit if you have a problem. And you'll get action, not a runaround. Nobody in the business does all this for you after you buy a car. Which is probably why people who've never bought a car from us before are buying one now. When you buy a new 1972 car from an American Motors dealer, American Motors Corporation guarantees to you that, except for tires, it will pay for the repair or replacement of any part it supplies that is defective in material or workmanship. This guarantee is good for 12 months from the date the car is first used or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first. All we require is that the car be properly maintained and cared for under normal use and service in the fifty United States or Canada and that guaranteed repairs or replacements be made by an American Motors dealer. AMERICAN MOTORS BUYER PROTECTION PLAN Gremlin X 5 Litre 618-753
Commentary
I expected the “pretty strong” thing to be under the bonnet. The purple Gremlin X, its stripe and broad rear view, encourages that reading. But the explanation sits below the photograph in a boxed guarantee. American Motors has borrowed the vocabulary of physical strength to introduce a service commitment. The obstacle is not simply selling a small car; it is persuading someone to leave a familiar one.
The street scene helps establish an ordinary life around that decision. A crossing guard stands at the left, pedestrians blur across the road, and autumn leaves fill the background. Against their movement, the car looks solid and available. The copy then considers what happens when it is unavailable: an overnight repair earns a loan car, and an unresolved problem has a named contact in Detroit.
The small print is essential to the argument. The guarantee excludes tires and sets a twelve-month or 12,000-mile limit, with maintenance and service conditions. Those qualifications prevent the large promise from being read as indefinite protection. I find the named contact especially revealing. Before a customer could publish a complaint or search other owners’ experiences online, a direct route past the local impasse could itself be advertised as reassurance.
For new copywriters, the repeated one-word sentence “Free” gives the repair and loan-car promises matching stops. “Action, not a runaround” translates an administrative procedure into a frustration the reader recognises. The lesson is to specify what happens after a failure. A claim about caring becomes more useful when it names the remedy and the route to obtain it.
American Motors is now a historical manufacturer rather than an active new-car brand. Jeep’s official history records Chrysler’s acquisition of AMC in 1987 and the transfer of Jeep into its Jeep/Eagle division. The Gremlin advertisement captures AMC competing through the ownership experience as well as the vehicle.
The particular guarantee and dealer count cannot be carried into the present. The strategic question can: what would make a loyal competitor’s customer feel safe enough to switch? Here the answer is a promise about the days after the sale, when the colourful photograph is no longer much help.