REPAIRMEN MAY GYP YOU-1951
"For six months," says The Neiv York Herald Tribune, "the two authors of this perturbing little volume made a nationwide investigation of the higher nature, if any, of the American repairman. Buying a used car of distinguished make, they engaged the assistance of a lady who looked more helpless than she was, and traveled 19,000 miles, with 1,700 calls on repair shops." "And no one," adds the Boston Post, "could ever pass this book with indifference Whatever your experience with repairmen may have been, you'll find its counterpart here. You will point it out with great satisfaction, and you'll say: 'There! That's exactly what happened to me once.' And you're lucky if it has happened only once. The Post can't think of any subject for research that touches more people. Buy this book, and you will get your money back, over and over, in amounts saved through your wisdom." "There are some amusing stories in it," says the Baltimore Sun, and the Washington Post thinks that the funniest were "the authors' experiences with the Rube Goldberg testing machines used by some shops to impress customers." "The articles in The Reader's Digest were interesting," remarks the Springfield Republican, "but they left room for doubt. The book, however, with details of the almost laboratory caution used by the authors in making their tests, is alarmingly convincing."
"For six months," says The Neiv York Herald Tribune,
"the two authors of this perturbing little volume made a
nationwide investigation of the higher nature, if any, of the
American repairman. Buying a used car of distinguished
make, they engaged the assistance of a lady who looked
more helpless than she was, and traveled 19,000 miles, with
1,700 calls on repair shops."
"And no one," adds the Boston Post, "could ever pass
this book with indifference Whatever your experience with
repairmen may have been, you'll find its counterpart here.
You will point it out with great satisfaction, and you'll say:
'There! That's exactly what happened to me once.' And
you're lucky if it has happened only once. The Post can't
think of any subject for research that touches more people.
Buy this book, and you will get your money back, over and
over, in amounts saved through your wisdom."
"There are some amusing stories in it," says the Baltimore
Sun, and the Washington Post thinks that the funniest were
"the authors' experiences with the Rube Goldberg testing
machines used by some shops to impress customers."
"The articles in The Reader's Digest were interesting,"
remarks the Springfield Republican, "but they left room
for doubt. The book, however, with details of the almost
laboratory caution used by the authors in making their tests,
is alarmingly convincing."
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
PAT'S LETTERS 13<br />
In order to test a large number of garages we<br />
would have to present to each of them a simple,<br />
clear-cut problem in repair. We would have to<br />
present exactly the same job to every garage. It<br />
was just like an examination in mathematics : we<br />
wanted to ask each repairman a mechanical<br />
equivalent of the problem "how much is two<br />
times two?" If he should reply "Five," it would<br />
be because he would profit thereby.<br />
The first requirement was a sort of grand-average<br />
car, we thought. Not a Rolls-Royce nor an<br />
Isotta-Fraschini, nor a Ford. After some study<br />
we selected a 1939 Buick sedan and bought it<br />
secondhand. We bought it from a known and<br />
reliable authorized Buick dealer for $600. The<br />
dealer, whom we trusted, assured us the car was<br />
in excellent condition, not to be improved upon.<br />
With that Buick, in December of 1940, we<br />
made a test survey. In subsequent findings we<br />
made no use of the discoveries collected with the<br />
Buick. At that time we were not starting the<br />
actual survey itself, we were prospecting around<br />
to find just how to conduct the survey. Both authors<br />
of this book drove the Buick to garages in<br />
New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Connecti-
Change language