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True Car Story From Years Ago

ddavis

Boss
Jun 28, 2011
1,491
496
First Name
Doug
One of the funniest people I ever knew was a salesperson that worked for me in southern Louisiana. Ralph Begnaud left the car business to do stand-up comedy. I believe he still has a book on Amazon and there are some videos on the net. This is going to be a little long and there is use of single profane word at the end. If this offends you, please don't read on but it is crucial to the story.

We were at a Nissan store and the Sentra had just come out. We advertised the base Sentra for like $4995. This was the most spartan vehicle you have ever seen. It came with vinyl seats, rubber floor coverings, no radio, no air, no wheel covers, a 4 speed manual transmission and a rubber stopper on the fender where you install the antennae. It only came in white, brown and butter yellow.

Ralph caught an old Cajun fellow that was looking at the ad Sentra. After seeing a walk-around, the customer explained,

"I want dat car with the automatic transmission".

Ralph explained that to get an automatic, you had to move up to the E model, XE model or the SE model.

"I want dat car with the automatic transmission".

Ralph showed him an E model and explained that you can get this one with either a 5 speed transmission or an automatic but the base car comes with only a 4 speed manual transmission.

"I want dat car with the automatic transmission".

By this time, they had arrived in the showroom and Ralph pulled out a brochure. Turning to the back page, Ralph showed where the automatic transmission was an option for the E model, the XE model and the SE Model but had "N/A" for the base model.

"I want dat car with the automatic transmission".

Ralph told him, "I want you to do me a favor". "It will make perfect sense in a minute". "I want you to spell Cat like in Catahoula, the Parrish south of Lafayette". The old Cajun said, "C-A-T". "Spell dog like in the dogwood tree". He responded, D-O-G". "Now, spell fuck like in automatic" "There ain't no fuck in automatic!". That is what I've been trying to tell you.

That is a true story but it applies to more than just base Sentras.
 
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