The Customer 1965

This whimsical 1965 Ford film is intended for dealerships to encourage them to be well organised and look after their customers. Those of a certain vintage will recognise the voice-over and commentary by Johnny Morris, of Animal Magic fame. Here we see a man experience a "muddled nightmare" at the shambolic dealership, which prompts the service manager to see what a good garage does (filmed at Gowrings of Reading). He of course has an epiphany. After all, as Johnny Morris says, "every customer deserves the best".

[@pit_stop77]

Ahh the England so many people want to go back to.... 😅

[@2Wheels4Wheels.]

Bring back rickets, polio and asbestos, that's what I say!

[@2Wheels4Wheels.]

@@ryszardlorenc7047 if the pandemic had been managed by Covidiots we'd have been wiped out as a species by now. Why do you people have such a death wish?

[@2Wheels4Wheels.]

@ryszardlorenc7047 if the Pandemic had been managed by Covidiots we'd have been wiped out as a species by now. Why do people like you have such a death wish?

[@ralphmillais5237]

You think it is bad now, wait until we have had 5 years of Kier Starmer and Angela Rayner. 😅😅😅

[@highdownmartin]

Johnny Morris is the voice

[@theoriginalwallace]

Ah. Johnny Morris. The man of a thousand voices! Brilliant film.

[@michaelclark3345]

All of them his!😂

[@billyjackson1529]

That Corsair brings back a lot of memories. Some of them good

[@LeopoldoNotarianni-rk9vv]

I wish I was around back then

[@russthebiker]

I had a car wrecked at exactly a place like this,and it was not that long ago They still exist

[@seamusmcshean260]

Now it’s all track suits and tattoos 😢

[@TheOzthewiz]

"The Service Planning Department", I LOVE it!!! LOL

[@rob5944]

Service at the first garage reminded me of Currys.

[@LosAngelesRaiders]

Nice. The "posher" garage looks to have been the old Gowrings Garage on Basingstoke Road, Reading (part address can be seen on service receipt) and when the bad garage service manager pulls up in his own car to the official garage to have it serviced, at the entrance on the grey building appears to be the name "Gowrings" but this would have been the old garage before it was either heavily rebuilt or they simply moved site. Strange thing, but on the same road, when Gowrings closed down, Ford moved to a very much smaller site across the road called "Think Ford" it lasted around 4 years from 2017 until around 2021. Now Ford Reading are at Hartwell Ford just off the A33.

[@robertharris7027]

The first part remembered me of a Ford dealer here in Hamburg (in some parts) and why I will never buy a Ford for our company again.

[@berwhaletheavenger]

The one nearest the airport?

[@2manycarsjeff]

Loving the 100E!

[@rob5944]

My dad used his blue one to get married in and had an old green one when I was a kid.

[@paulbennett2112]

I would have gone someplace else myself.

[@robgraham9234]

Notice they didn’t show the bill from the posh dealership, so you couldn’t see the cost of service, or the list of parts unnecessarily replaced.

[@bluegtturbo]

Even the 'good service department' looks crap😂

[@tangerinedream7211]

Some old adverts on the wall, sit up and beg ford pop, early SUV ford escort, not the 68 car. I'm sure I've seen similar back street garages in Crewe only about ten years ago.😬

[@2Wheels4Wheels.]

F.I.G. Newton of Rumpole fame, I believe 😂

[@wombat1238marsupial]

Ah! good customer service, seems that has become a dying art in today's society.

[@kevinmoffatt]

Worked at garages where the techs couldn't drive.....because they were banned. All the other techs jumped in and said they would do their road tests for them but never happened; couldn't be bothered to road test their own cars, no bonus in it!

[@kevinmoffatt]

Had a service 'flow line' at Ford main dealer where I worked. The service 'techs' would grab a sheaf of job cards first am and keep them all day. They earned huge amounts, but would 'service only' so, at the end of the day, the customer would have his car returned with only the service done and was told to rebook for his long list of faults. A truly awful system.

[@andrewallen9993]

@@kevinmoffatt oil filter and brake changes are money for jam. Actually fixing things is hard work.

[@kenkellalea329]

I ride push bike weather permitting

[@sicks6six]

six pounds four shillings and eightpence for a service l0l £6.44P today £SD

[@robgraham9234]

Nah it’s £6.23

[@ablestringer9063]

Take the pis out of people who don't speak like a BBC newsreader, Clever.