Selling Cars At Doug Stanley Ford

Doug Stanley did thing RIGHT.

Driving to and from the grocery store today with my Mother, I was hit by dozens of topics and memories concerning the time when I sold cars for the Late, Great, Doug Stanley, at Doug Stanley Ford

Doug Stanley, a man with a huge legend and reputation-and one that simply must be told. I guess you, who are not from here, and have not worked for Doug, are stuck with me on that. As for him being a legend in the Texas car sales business, I didn't even realize that until I started telling old friends who I was working for.

"You're working at Doug Stanley Ford???? Doug Stanley is a Texas LEGEND in automotive!"

I'd realized the first day of work that he must be quite a character. Everyone went on and on and on doing their own personal Doug Stanley impersonations. These were always followed by huge burst of laughter, but nobody was laughing AT Mr. Stanley. We were in awe of him.

The second day of work I sold a used Ford Ranger pickup. They told me that I'd tied the record there for earliest sale by a new salesman. I couldn't believe my luck.

I'd walked to the dealership just three days before. I was dressed in my best suite, I just walked in, and as per the advice given to me, asked for the sales manager. A big, clean cut young man, younger than I, named Jon Jensen took my application, asked a few questions-and told me to be there the next day at seven o'clock. I was excited and elated to be back in the sales biz.

Just prior to this, you see, I'd been taken advantage of by a man worth tens of millions of dollars-and cheated out of $8,000.00 in earned commission by Don Frank McNally, and his U.S. Equipment Exports company. Don, it seems, an international gangster and criminal, often took advantage of people who were members of a certain rehab community. He'd take them in, "teach them a trade," and then dump them-keeping their commissions.

Doug Stanley was a real man . Doug Stanley didn't become successful by importing drugs, keeping commissions, or dirty deeds with U.S. Government agencies. Doug Stanley, if he didn't like you-he'd get rid of you, but Doug Stanley ALWAYS paid you what you were owed.

So anyways, Mom and I are headed to the grocery store in Mom's Ford 500, and I'm driving. I start to think about Mr. Stanley, and how he'd once drove a 500 that he'd either traded back to Ford in favor of the F150 I remember him driving, or maybe the 500 was the one that he wrecked. I'm not sure. I've got a half smoked little cigar with me, and I'm not going to smoke in Mom's nice car-but I'm recalling the time that Mr. Stanley hired some black guy who thought he was something, and was proved to that he wasn't shit.

Funny story that one. You see, Mr. Stanley smoked Cool Filter Kings, and one after the other. Mr. Stanley owned Doug Stanley Ford, and as far as I was concerned the place was his to do what he wanted in-but this new guy didn't like smoke, and he sort of challenged the fact that Mr. Stanley could smoke in his own buildings at his own place of business whenever he felt like it. What a fucking joke! Well, the guy didn't last long. How he thought that he could tell Mr. Stanley not to smoke in his own buildings at his own business because it bothered him, the new guy-is fucking beyond me. Mr. Stanley did things the way that I would do them too, and soon Mr. "I can tell you what to do in the building you own and the business you created" found reason enough to seek another place of employment.

Impersonation: "Sir," he'd say, and he'd point at you with that particular way he'd had of pointing at things-you see, the best part of his index finger on his pointing hand was missing. He'd lost it in some accident, "Do we have some players?"

Doug Stanley never failed to address a man by "Sir," and I do mean that he NEVER failed at this. By "Do we have some players," Mr. Stanley was in effect asking, "does you customer have good credit, or not? If NOT, then you'd best find some way to get rid of them, and if they DO have some credit, then Sir, you'd best sell them a car, or turn them over to someone who can sell them a car. Are we clear, Sir?"

I think at this point, before I tell my favorite Doug Stanley story I should say that I wrote to "whoever" at Doug Stanley Ford today, and asked for some pictures of the late Mr. Stanley. I do not need the current administration of Doug Stanley Ford to approve of me, and whatever I finally post here in this hub. I've Doug Stanley's approval from the grave. I used to get so wasted that sometimes I'd have to call in, or worse still-I'd show up.. Once I called in too wasted to show up for work, and the next day when I did come in-My manager, Delton Thrash, who'd worked there for an eternity, told me in complete seriousness that he'd never once in his time seen Mr. Stanley seem so concerned about a mere salesman. Doug Stanley approved of me. Doug Stanley truly liked me. I always knew that to be true.

There were many other hints at this-like the time I sold a Ford Focus hatchback, and then, while fueling the car with it's full tank of gas for the new owner. . . .I drove off with the gas nozzle sticking in the tank, and a busted the fuel door off, and got away with it with no repercussion, the body shop just fixed it, and thank you, Mr. Stanley and Delton Thrash! Or the fact that Mr. Stanley would hand me one of his personal credit cards to go do "this and that" with, as our department's credit card. . . .went missing.

I recall Mr. Stanley, having learned about my hvac and electrical skills having me do some repair work on the buildings for him on a slow day. Now, you might think that I was being taken advantage of by this-but you'd be wrong. Mr. Stanley had a way of driving from the new car super-center over to the used car side. . . .and escaping detection. We were always on the lookout for him-but sometimes the sneaky old car man would catch us slipping.

"Delton," he'd say, "Does Todd do anything BUT look at or talk to women on the computer?" . . . .And then he'd LAUGH!

Laughter from Mr. Stanley was a cherished commodity, I assure you. He didn't laugh often so far as I can tell. Mr. Stanley was in the office from open to close virtually every single day, that's from seven a.m. to ten p.m.-six days a week. The man carried a pistol, we all knew that; and untold thousands of dollars on his person at all times. He spent close to five hundred dollars a day on scratch off lotto tickets, $50 a ticket. Before being told I'd not have believed that they even produced fifty dollar scratch off lotto tickets.

I'm starting to get rather irritated with Google Adsense. This hub hasn't yet been published, yet they've decided that it's not fit for their ads. Duly noted, I'll publish without you, google adsense. Update, note to self, and to other hubbers-I edited approximately four "f bombs," and miraculously adsense got back online with this hub.

The first major sin of the car business is letting a customer with outstanding credit go without purchasing a car. . . . .except when Mr. Stanley is done with them, that is. I recall a fine Saturday in which we all always had to work from bell to bell, and on that Saturday I had a fine Mexican American couple for a customer. The husband of this duo had flawless credit and a long work history. They told me in the sales booth straight away that this man could have any damn vehicle that we had, and that I'd be a fool to let these two slip away. Well, Mr. Stanley got involved as he so often was want to do on Saturdays over at the used car super-center where I mostly worked. We'd made them deal after deal, but this man had a "faded glory" wife who anyone could see used to be a beauty beyond his means. Well, she of the "can't make up her mind" variety, couldn't make up her mind-and they'd thus far wasted four hours of not only my time, but Mr. Stanley's time.

"Mr. Stanley, what do you want me to do? I'm not sure what to say to them."

"Sir, you tell them to get the fuck off of my car lot."

Of course I didn't do that. I'd said something like this:

"Sir, Mr. Stanley says that it doesn't look like we'll be able to strike a deal today?. Please come again, here's my card, ask for me-you can see that I've been working for your best possible deal today. Maybe next week, or next month we'll have exactly what you're looking for!"

You can bet that If I'd said exactly what I was told to say, then Mr. Stanley would have had my back. The late Doug Stanley did everything that he did exactly how I would have done things.

The First Obit I'd Wrote About Mr. Stanley.

My Friend, the late Douglas Stanley Jr.

Current mood:awake

It was a cash deal, a 1997 extended cab F-150 four by four XLT package with a Triton 5.4L v-8 engine. The truck had over two hundred thousand miles on it, and the front end jumped to the passenger side when you hit the breaks, but I received the stack of bills totaling five thousand five hundred dollars and took it straight to the sales booth to hand to Mr. Stanley. "Boy, don't you know better than to hand that much money to an old drunk," he asked? "Yes Sir, Mr. Stanley, I know better; but you shouldn't leave that kind of money in the hands of a young drunk," I answered.
It was the second go round for me at Doug Stanley Ford, and I knew that I was one of his favorites, everyone knew. I sold a truck on my second day of work there, and tied the record for earliest sale by a salesman at what is one of the Dallas/Ft.Worth Metroplex's largest and most profitable Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealers, I was the leading salesman on the used car supercenter more than once as well, and even held senority there for a while.


"I hear Mr. Stanley is an hard man to work for!"

Sure, I'd heard that one before, but it's not true at all.Mr. Stanley was a throwback to the old days, and he didn't need any of us, at least not any of us new guys. What, exactly, are you gonna say to a man who never stops smoking Kools, carrys several thoughsand dollars in his pockets at all times, calls every man "Sir," and carries a pistol?

"Dude, your boss is a Texas legend in the car buisness!"

Yes, I heard that one a time or two as well.

"Is that Mr. Stanley over there?"

No, everyone would be outside right now waiting for customers if Mr. Stanley was over here right now, nevermind the fact that it's 110 F outside. . . .


I'll never forget one occassion when someone with an 800 something credit score came in, and he had us work up a deal on three totally different vehicles all because his flighty wife was putting him up to it-the man could have had anything on either the new or used lot if only he'd make up his mind, but he kept beating around the bush for hours, and causing me to have an extremely unproductive day. "Sir," Mr. Stanley said to me, "Tell him to get the funk off of my car lot!" I think I said something like "Sir, Mr. Stanley said that we are just not going to be able to come to terms on anything today, come see us again sometime," to the man instead. . . . . .

Another time a guy came in and was dead serious about buying one of the used trucks on our lot-but this man hadn't financed anything in about fifteen years. "Todd, where the fuck has this guy been the last fifteen years, has he been in the pen?" "No Mr. Stanley," I responded, "He said that he doesn't like to buy anything unless he can pay cash for it." "Well hell, Todd," said Mr. Stanley, "I don't either!" Later I found out that Mr. Stanley called executives at Ford Motor Credit on behalf of my customer, vainly trying to get him approved-because he liked him.

"Todd, I sell nice cars to nice people." Rest In Peace Doug Stanley!

This Hub was last updated on August 23, 2012s.

Taken in my Parent's dinning room, this is my typical Winter's Doug Stanley Ford costume

At My desk, myspace in the background

On the showroom floor.

The Marquee

A Ford G.T., exactly as the one inside the Doug Stanley Ford Super-center show room floor.

The Ford 500. My Mother drives one, and once the Late Doug Stanley drove one.