This late 1930s / early 1940s oil product sales film depicts a narrative in which a car dealership owner’s uncle steps in to assist with his nephew’s used car dealership. The film is presented by Socony Vacuum Oil Company (:08) which began in 1931, when the Standard Oil Company of New York and Vacuum Oil merged. Later the company became known as Mobil which would then merge with the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey to form ExxonMobil in 1999. The film was produced by Caravel Films Inc. based in New York City.

The film opens with a sales representative meeting with the owner of a car dealership (:42). A Ford Model T sits in the garage (:59) as the owner of another car arrives to inspect the vehicle and notices a squeak in the door. Uncle Jim informs his nephew of his desire to come out of retirement in order to help at the dealership (7:38). Jim then travels to various dealers to discover what the ‘used car problem’ is (8:42). Dealers note encouraging regular checkups on vehicles and offering lubrication services can aide in the problem (8:59). Jim then meets with the Socony Vacuum Oil Company (9:42) for further assistance. Upon returning from his meetings, Jim suggests the shop get cleaned up and coated with fresh paint (10:16). Uncle Jim meets again with Socony in order to get set up the lubrication business (10:28) which will help to uncover the needs of customers and their vehicles. They then provide a sales promotion in order to draw in new customers (15:33). A montage ensues of employees at the dealership cleaning and repainting (16:30). An advertisement for Mobil Oil hangs on the walls in the lubrication center (16:46). An instructor shows the lubrication chart with workers in the lubrication area (17:14). A sample is tested of the Mobil grease (19:13) and this is compared to the competitor’s version. Uncle Jim then dictates what it takes to really provide good customer service (21:17). Tools like service cards are used which thank the customer for their business (23:06). Upon entering his nephew’s office, Jim offers the lubrication services to a customer (23:29). One of the sales representatives; a man called ‘Little’, appears to be doing surprising well (24:31). Jim takes his nephew to the lubrication center to show that Little had been receiving his leads from them in the center (25:15). Here he displays the amount of time and craft they put into building the lead beginning with soft selling their new car to a customer over five months as the consumer regularly brought their car in for lubrication services (25:28). Jim suggests they install a model of the new available car into the service shop (27:47). Concentration on one well known and effective brand helps sales (28:23). Small effective gestures such as offering to drive a woman’s car from out of the garage for her are shown (28:52). Another mechanic allows the customer to see the need for service to be completed for himself (32:20). Use of tools such as the chart which shows which grease or oil to use (33:42) enables good customer service. The close out process which takes place when the customer returns to pick up their car follows (35:02). Jim explains how the lubrication services and oil changes were now carrying a large part of the overhead (36:36). Customers tend to look to mechanics as car experts making them an ideal selling tool (37:13). The mechanic offers the customer a list of used cars available at the dealership (37:42). Jim also credits much of their success to the assistance of Socony Vacuum Oil Company (38:33). As the film wraps up Jim is heard using the title as he agrees to stay on and work because he ‘likes this business’.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com