2007-10 October

Also In This Issue! President’s Message Page 2 Chrysler End of Bonus Page 5 Tidbits Page 8-9 Monteiro’s Campout Page 13 Wally Parks NHRA Founder Dies Page 15 Real Life Quotes Page 21 Motivational Poster Page 28 Crossword Puzzle Page 29 Gotta Be Over 40 to Understand Page 30-31 Mopar Speed News Page 32-33 Funny You Should Say That… Page 34 FORE! Page 35 MMG Executive Committee Page 36 Guild Motto Page 36

OCTOBER 2007 LEADERS IN THE SALE OF QUALITY PARTS

MAGAZINE

NADA 2008 Updates! Pages 3-4

Vendor Visit Reynolds & Reynolds

Page 6

Vendor Visit OEConnection

Page 7

Vendor Visit Snap-on Page 12

State Farm to Test Electronic Parts Ordering through Select Service

Page 14

Transitions Pages 10-11

Mopar Masters Magazine Page 2

2007 has been a very strange year! To date, the country has experienced extreme flood-ing in the Midwest and south central U.S; drought in the southeast that has dried up lakes, reservoirs and creeks; massive fires in the west causing death, injury, and millions of dol-lars in property damage. In my home state of Nebraska and on a much less serious note; the beloved Nebraska Cornhuskers are on their way to having the worst football season in over 40 years; a Ne-braska state senator is suing God; and on a personal note I was involved in an auto acci-dent traveling at 65 MPH...both vehicles were totaled...all involved walked away. Thank you God for not being distracted by the lawsuit. Oh yeah, and Mopar rolled out the new Dealer Rewards program. I thought Dealer Rewards was going to consume most of my conscious moments in ‘07…but it didn’t! Somehow, I believe ’08 will be better! And speaking of ’08, the MMG NADA planning committee is putting the finishing touches on our itinerary for our stay in San Francisco. At this point close to 40 have signed on for our meetings. As always we are planning on a very busy schedule. There will be ample time to exchange ideas with each other, our supporting vendors and with Mopar. There will also be time to get down to the convention floor. The deadline for staying at Parc 55 hotel has expired. If you decide to sign up at a later date and need any assistance drop me an email. You most likely will not be able to stay at the same hotel as our meetings, but that should not deter you from attending. Take care and I look forward to seeing you in San Francisco,

Gerry

Mopar Masters Guild President Gerry Oakes

Baxter Chrysler


NADA 2008 February 7‐12

Our Hotel for NADA 2008 in San Francisco is the Parc55

Tentative Agenda (Locations TBA)

The preliminary itinerary thus far is as follows: Thursday February 7th - Arrival and check in. Executive committee meeting. (TBA) Friday February 8th - MMG Business and Vendor Presentations 7:30AM – 5:00PM Parc Ballroom

Cocktail Reception 6:00-9:00 PM

Our reception has become one of the “go-to” events of the NADA convention and is an excellent opportunity for vendors and managers to interact in a less formal way.

Saturday February 9th - MMG Business and Vendor Presentations 7:30AM – 5:00PM Parc Ballroom 1

Sunday February 10th - OPEN for Convention Floor business

Monday February 11th -Mopar Super Performance Group Meeting 8:00AM – 5:00PM

Monday February 11th – MMG Dinner 7:00PM –10:00PM Our Monday night dinner will be for MMG members and spouses, our supporting vendors and Mopar personnel.

Tuesday February 12th- Performance Group Meeting 8:00AM – 1:00PM Depart for home after a full and busy schedule!!!

For More Information Contact:

Attn: Steve Hofer Park Chrysler Jeep

1408 West Highway 13 Burnsville MN 55337

952‐890‐5337


Here is the current list of NADA 2007 Attendees. We will be providing an updated list with spouses and guests in our next issue.

Roy Benner Allan Samuels Dodge N. Richland Hills

Rich Okonsky Allen Samuels Dodge Katy

Casey Brown Allen Samuels Dodge Katy

Steve Benoit Archer Chrysler Jeep

Don Cushing Bald Hill Subaru Dodge Chrysler

Gerry Oaks Baxter Chrysler Jeep Dodge

Susan McDaniel Bill Luke Chrysler Jeep dodge

Phil Krueger Buerge Motor Car Co.

Guillermo Nava Buerge Motor Car Co.

Steve Correll Christopher's Dodge

Mike Gerber Chrysler Jeep dodge of Bellevue

Joe McBeth Dallas dodge CJ

Marvin Windham Don Drennen Motor Co.

Ole Olson Elk River Chrysler Ford

Mike Mulkins Go Chrysler Jeep Dodge

Allen Yancey Hayes Dodge Jeep

Tommy Thrift Haynes Jeep Chrysler

Jason Powell Jack Powell Chrysler Jeep Dodge

Richard Klein Jack Powell Chrysler Jeep Dodge

Jack Powell Jack Powell Chrysler Jeep Dodge

Rick Monteiro Jack Powell Chrysler Jeep Dodge

Brent Christensen Ken Garf West Valley Chrysler Jeep Dodge

Brent Hoge Larry Miller Chrysler Jeep Dodge

Paul Allred Metrolina CJD

Richard Schott Moore Chrysler Jeep

Jonathan Dworsky Park Chrysler Jeep

Steve Hofer Park Chrysler Jeep

Tom Watson Performance CJD

Brian Joynt Power chrysler Jeep

Mark Skinner Power Chrysler Jeep Dodge

Rich Cutaia Rich hendrick dodge

Robbie Jackson Salsbury Dodge City

Doug Price Secutiry dodge Chrysler

Dan Hutton Tom O'Brian Chrysler Jeep Dodge


Chrysler confirms end of volume bonus program

Dave Guilford Automotive News

Chrysler LLC will end its controversial monthly volume performance allowance effective Jan. 1, re-placing it with a $400-a-car payment that dealers get regardless of sales volume. Chrysler executives announced the change at a dealer meeting in Las Vegas, dealers said. A Chrys-ler spokesman confirmed the change. The new program pays dealers $200 when they are invoiced for a vehicle and another $200 when the vehicle is sold, said Chuck Eddy, co-owner of Bob & Chuck Eddy Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep in Austin-town, Ohio, and a dealer council member. A key feature is that dealers do not have to meet a quota to get the bonus, Eddy said: “If you sell one car, you get the money.” The volume performance allowance angered many dealers because only those meeting monthly sales targets earned bonuses, which reached $700 a vehicle. Dealers who opposed the program said it pitted Chrysler dealers against each other and gave an unfair cost advantage to dealers who met targets. Eddy said Chrysler also plans to revise its Five Star elite dealer program to emphasize customer re-tention. CEO Bob Nardelli, hired in August by new Chrysler owner Cerberus Capital Management, received a standing ovation after his speech, as did newly hired co-President Jim Press, Eddy said. “I felt like it was the modern-day version of when Lee Iacocca met with us in 1979,” he said. “It was emotional at one point.” Another dealer at the Las Vegas meetings said dealers appreciated last week’s moves to idle five as-sembly plants, reducing inventory backlogs that caused factory-dealer tensions. That, in addition to the move to kill the volume performance allowance, fired up dealers, the dealer said. “This is the happiest I’ve been in my 30 years as a Chrysler dealer.”


A Visit with Reynolds & Reynolds By Paul Allred, Metrolina CJD, Charlotte, No. Carolina

The Mopar Master’s Guild and Reynolds & Reynolds committee met in Charlotte, N.C. on Oc-tober 11th and 12th. In attendance from Reynolds were Jason Sideris (Director, Product Marketing Fixed Operations), Craig Owen (Product Marketing Manager, Fixed Operations) and Tim Wilson (Product Marketing Manager, Fixed Operations). The guild members attending were John Gilbert, Paul Allred, Rick Cutaia, Rick Monteiro and Tom Watson. Also attending Thursday’s session was Larry Kusler, the service manager at Metrolina CJD. Craig Owen kicked things off by covering all planned Service application enhancements that are coming on the next release as well as approved enhancements for which specifications are in the process of being determined. A lot of the discussion was centered on Service to utilize Larry’s input from a service operations perspective. One of the items that I took as a personal challenge was to assist as a dealer to communicate the importance to Chrysler to share with this company data that helps all of us win. They are in the process of enhancing their Service Price Guide and Service Sales Kit products to include maintenance menus that coincide with what the manufacturer publishes. This will help us immensely in the service drive. I recruit all of you to help bring the issue to light with Chrysler. It appears to me that this fits right into the term “Pull Marketing”. It also fits the process we are all trying to do to increase retention! Craig Owen started up Friday morning covering the Parts application enhancements that will be on the next release as well as those forthcoming. These include enhancements that we have re-quested in the past. The last price update date, additional price fields, special order inquiry enhance-ments and “RO” job# to display in 2525 that gives you the ability to change job line are just a few. Also on Friday, Tim Wilson discussed the new Parts Scanning Tool that has been launched. This product goes beyond scanning. It retains 18 months of process history including bin location changes that were processed through the gun. It also gives you the ability to print bar-coded bin labels with the software through your network printers. It was brought to out attention that there were 206 total ERA enhancements over the past 2 years covering 4 releases. There are 97 coming with 7.1. This is a huge increase. It appears that the new internal structure at Reynolds streamlines the product enhancement decision process. We discussed the letter that most of us received from DMI about Reynolds eliminating modem ac-cess. This is not an accurate statement. As of this meeting they had not made that statement. It was discussed that Reynolds is concerned about the dealer’s security. There is a more secure method of access that coincides with their 3rd party certification program. I appreciate all of the members that communicated concerns and ideas. We made an effort to cover all of them. We summed up the meeting by prioritizing the top few major concerns.1) the ability to push data back into ERA. This can facilitate 50% value parts buys, non ARO stock orders, import triggers to the parts master for sorting and mass change purposes and the ability to create custom capability that some of you ADP users have.2) Import backorders, cross ships and shipper informa-tion back into ERA from Chrysler. 3) More security at the user and counterman level to create ac-countability for parts transactions. The meetings were very productive. I played host with the meeting being in my backyard. I think everyone had a little fun to go along with the business we conducted. We respect and appreci-ate the Reynolds & Reynolds group for their support. This type of interaction creates the relationship that helps all parties grow their business. We look forward to meeting with them at NADA. Hopefully, we will see some of the things discussed brought to fruition by then.


A Visit with OEConnection By Marvin Windham, Don Drennen Motor Co, Birmingham, Alabama

I had the opportunity to visit with OEConnection in late August, along with two other Mopar Mas-

ters, Dan Hutton of Tom O’Brien in Indianapolis and Alan Yancey of Hayes in Lawrenceville, Geor-gia. We first met for a wonderful dinner the evening before that set the mood for information sharing among friends. Present at the dinner was the 3 MMG members along with Janice Schenk, Steve Reeling and Ike Herman all from OEConnection.

Just a few hours of meetings from breakfast through lunch, and so much information! Janice Schenk, Bill Lopez and Steve Reeling represented OEConnection in our meetings. We also had a chance to meet briefly with Mark Tomasetti and Ted Fellowes who are both long time friends and supporters of the Guild. Our first topic was CollisionLink, the online ordering tool for shops to order OE parts from dealerships. My dealership isn’t using it to its fullest potential yet, but Dan Hutton’s team fills dozens of orders each day, and could not say enough good things about it. Alan Yancey’s team had also begun to pick up a lot of momentum using the tool and has seen a large increase in current usage. I know that CollisionLink orders show salespeople the aftermarket parts along with the OE equivalent, and that can help a dealership sell more OE parts. Who doesn’t want that! We’ve just got to get our salespeople to embrace the change! As we monitor Chrysler’s “pilot insur-ance parts program” that is currently underway, having all our shops actively engaged with Colli-sionLink becomes even more advantageous. I was very impressed to see our inside Market Ac-count Representative, Peter Luci calling on Don Drennen customers on behalf of CollisionLink when we did an impromptu tour of the OEConnection facilities.

We learned about OEConnection’s participation at all the Chrysler regional meetings, and how Chrysler has endorsed and recommends CollisionLink for improved wholesale business. We were also reminded that using Mopar Wholesale funds, Chrysler would reimburse 50% of the Colli-sionLink subscription cost!

The next topic was DMS integration. OEConnection is working with ADP toward integrating OEConnection transactions into their DMS. Right now OEConnection and ADP are developing the ability for CollisionLink transactions to automatically create a DMS quote, and for that quote number to appear in the CollisionLink transactions. We can expect to hear more about this over the next few months. Integration is a great way to increase efficiency – especially where we’re always looking to do more with less. As a Chrysler and GM dealership that uses OEConnection’s other programs, you can be sure that getting all our programs to talk to each other is a priority.

The final topic at OEConnection was their new web site, designed for dealerships to offer and buy discounts parts on the web. DisocuntPartsHUB.com gives dealerships the chance to discount idle inventory and offer it on the web. It also gives large wholesalers like us the opportunity to buy other dealers’ idle – at a discount. I’ve signed up for this program during the pilot program and started shopping other dealers’ parts. Buying more parts at a reduced cost from every avenue avail-able has become a huge part of our total profit picture.

In all, our annual visit to OEConnection was a success. As it is every year, we learned about new programs this technology company has developed, or plans to develop – all for the purpose of making a parts manager’s life easier, helping to do our job faster, and helping the dealership to make more money or sell more OE parts. Everyone was extremely hospitable to us and very open to the comments and suggestions that we offered. We owe a special thank you to Janice Schenk who served as our contact throughout the trip and who treated us like royalty!!


Tidbits

Dana rejects alternate buyout plan Supplier gets sweetened offer from original bidder Longtime drivetrain parts supplier Dana Corp. today said it rejected an alternative buyout proposal from New Jersey hedge fund Appaloosa Capital Management LP. Instead, the supplier said it has ac-cepted a beefed up investment plan from Centerbridge Capital Partners LP, which submitted the origi-nal buyout proposal for the supplier in July. GM, Ford stock rise on UAW contract news It was a good week for shareholders of General Motors and Ford Motor Co. The main reason for the spike: investors are looking favorably on the deals automakers are cutting with the UAW. Ross completes deal for Collins & Aikman operations Purchase of Hermosillo, Mexico, plant still pending International Automotive Components Group North America Inc. said today that it has completed two acquisitions of plants previously owned by troubled auto supplier Collins & Aikman Corp. The first part of the deal includes C&A's soft trim division. IAC Group has also completed the acquisition of C&A's plant in Saltillo, Mexico. Lower fuel ratings take effect Automakers are going to have to temper advertising claims about how many of their vehicles get 30 mpg or better on the highway. The government issued its 2008 fuel economy guide today. As ex-pected, many of this year’s models have lower ratings than those of past years. Environmental groups hit Toyota on fuel economy Leading environmental groups pressed Toyota Motor Co. on Thursday to drop its opposition to the tougher of two fuel economy proposals in Congress, calling the automaker's stance contradictory. Lots of give, little take in UAW contract with Chrysler The UAW gave Chrysler LLC similar contract concessions to those given General Motors, but it re-ceived less in return. On Wednesday, Oct. 10, the UAW reached a tentative agreement with Chrysler on a new four-year contract after a six-hour strike. The deal must be ratified by about 45,000 Chrysler workers represented by the UAW. UAW gathers Chrysler locals Monday The UAW has called its Chrysler local leaders to Detroit Monday to vote on the new four-year contract with Chrysler LLC. The meeting is scheduled for 8 a.m. at Cobo Center in Detroit, union sources say. Local and regional benefit representatives are scheduled to hear the contract provisions at 12:30 p.m. so they can later answer questions from workers.


Tidbits Dodge's message in Europe: Macho men wanted Brand is key to Chrysler global growth strategy Chrysler LLC's drive for global expansion will be won or lost in places like Erik Maas' GIVA Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealership in The Hague, Netherlands -- a pretty, prosperous seaside city of 750,000. Chrysler has made international expansion a centerpiece of its recovery plan under the ownership of Cerberus Capital Management LP. Freightliner will become Daimler Trucks Heavy-duty truck manufacturer Freightliner LLC will change its name to Daimler Trucks North Amer-ica LLC, effective Jan. 7. The name change comes after German parent company Daimler AG an-nounced its name change from DaimlerChrysler AG on Thursday, Oct. 4. Chrysler touts international 3Q sales gains as U.S. falls Chrysler LLC said today that its third-quarter sales improved outside the United States by 10 percent compared with the same period a year ago, to 149,800 vehicles. But a 5.4 percent decline in U.S. sales dragged down the company’s global third-quarter sales to 615,530 vehicles, down 3 percent over the same period a year ago. Chrysler to cut about 1,500 additional nonunion jobs Chrysler LLC plans to cut about 1,500 additional white-collar jobs than initially planned, a person briefed on the plan said on Tuesday. Chrysler's restructuring plan, announced in February, planned to cut 13,000 jobs, including 2,000 salaried jobs. Chrysler now plans to cut the salaried work force by an additional 5 percent and the contract work force by 37 percent, the person said. Chrysler to reduce bloated inventories in 4Q Chrysler LLC is taking 82,000 units out of its fourth-quarter production plan to get rid of excess inven-tory, Co-President Jim Press said late Wednesday. Press said it was the right move, but it will cost the No. 3 U.S. automaker “over a billion dollars of cash flow.” A bad stretch for the industry: 4 straight months of decline For the fourth month in a row, sales of cars and light trucks trailed the year-ago month in September. That has happened only four other times in the past 10 years. The September dip means the industry will have to stretch to sell 16 million new vehicles this year. The nine-month total was 12,351,475.

Auto parts maker Magna to welcome unions Magna International Inc. is set to unveil on Monday an agreement that would open the big auto parts maker to organizing drives by the Canadian Auto Workers union, according to reports published on Friday. Stories posted on the Web sites of the Globe and Mail and Financial Post said the agreement would be announced at Magna's headquarters in Aurora, Ontario by Magna Chairman Frank Stronach.


This past summer Tom Govern retired from Chrysler after many years of service. Tom has worked recently in the supply chain area and the 5300 project. Many of us in the MMG have known Tom for quite some time and have appreciated his dedication to getting out a product that is beneficial to all dealerships. The MMG in honor of his work with us gave Tom a small plaque in appreciation of our relationship over the years. Below is a letter from Tom that he requested I share with the members of our guild.

Transitions


Transitions Tommy Thrift has decided to leave his position as Parts Manager at Haynes Jeep Chrysler. Tommy tells us that he will be in touch with all of us soon. And this from Dan Murphy: Moving On After 8 years 10 months and 27 days I am no longer at Earnhardt Chrysler Jeep. Please feel free to contact me by email at [email protected] or by my home phone at 480-739-7623. I wish all of you the best and I will be in contact as soon as I land somewhere. Thanks for all of your support and keep those articles coming into us so we can keep this magazine going. From Karl Halley: Hello everyone, I hope all is well. I’m now working at the Jeff D’Ambrosio Auto Group. They really don’t do any wholesale yet. I brought over two of my wholesale people and 5 drivers. We don’t know anything about Reynold & Reynolds. It’s a lot of fun and quite a challenge! I could really use some help from some of you R&R users on how some of the processes that are used to do wholesale in an efficient way, from getting the order, to the sale and all points in between. Looking forward to seeing everyone at NADA. Just maybe I can learn something about this Reynolds system! If there is anyone with ideas you can contact me by cell 484-459-1985 or by email: WORK [email protected] HOME [email protected] Thanks, Karl And last but certainly not least from John Guzior: Hi Don, I have a similar message also. After almost 29 years at Mancari Chrysler Jeep I have left this organization. I wish Mr. Mancari well and I will miss all the people there. I have started working for Continental Chrysler Jeep effective October 1st, 2007. It is a good dealer group that has 7 separate car lines and a lot of potential. I am looking forward for being here for a long time, I don't know if I can make here another 29 years but I will try. Anyway I need help from our group. They are on ADP using Websuite and I am looking for a label program for my wholesale accounts that will print a label after it has been invoiced, with name price and invoice informa-tion. My Toyota store is using this but there is an issue with getting a printer, they are using a printer that is not made anymore. Anyone who using a program from ADP or another outside vendor please contact me. Also I have over 100k in AP parts. Please add me to parts locater as a preferred dealer I am offering 25% off dealer net on those parts. My dealer code is 26017 and the name is Continental Chrysler Jeep. Thanks in Advance John Guzior Parts Manager Continental Chrysler Jeep 5800 S LaGrange Rd Countryside, IL 60525 [email protected] 708-354-1944 Direct


A Visit with Snap-on By Marvin Windham, Don Drennen Motor Co, Birmingham, Alabama

Snap-on Business Solutions and MMG Executive Committee members met in Cleveland, Ohio on August 27 for an informative meeting to exchange ideas regarding our mutual interests. This was our first time meeting with them since they were acquired by Snap-on. Coincidently, the buyout was announced last year while the MMG committee was in Cleveland. The mood was upbeat and positive from everyone we met. It appears that almost all our old contacts are solidly in place and are happy to be part of the Snap-on team. Product development has gone fast track, and there’s been a lot of ac-tivity surrounding EASy (the new Electronic Accessory System). We actually started our meeting on Sunday afternoon before the more structured meetings on Monday by gathering at the famous Firestone Country Club for lunch, golf, and dinner. Dan (Tiger) Hutton (the MMG winner), Alan Yancey, Brent Hoge and I represented the Mopar Masters Guild. Our hosts Corey Roberts, Philip Firrell, John Rein, and David Pankow completed our two foursomes. We had a nice day on a beautiful golf course—but overall I suspect everyone would give the course the victory that day! We quickly forgot about those bad shots, as the food, service and atmosphere were just perfect when we sat down for dinner. Monday we were all pleased to offer our words of wisdom and our captivating screen presence for some individual taping of “question and answer” sessions with David Foutz. I suspect you’ll see these videos popping up everywhere! I’ve been surfing YouTube ever since but we haven’t shown up yet. We had such a full day of information and were pleased that our friends Corey Roberts, David Foutz, David Pankow, Phillip Firrell, Ren Chirakos, Tommy Clutter and Lalit Jain were willing to spend a full day listening to us and sharing information with us. We spent a good portion of the meeting dis-cussing EASy. We were each extremely impressed with EASy. Manufacturers have put accessories at the top of their priority list. We cannot ignore accessories if we want to grow our dealership busi-nesses and maximize Dealer Rewards. EASy could be the bridge that gets us to the point where we can sell more accessories. The EASy program itself was simple to set up and use. More important is that it gives us all the information we need so our sales teams can exude confidence when working with our customers. Everything from full-color pictures to labor times to part descriptions are right there in the program in a way that we can share directly with our customers. By getting EASy into our dealerships, we can not only ask for sales, but also provide better service by making each vehicle unique for each customer. EASy gives us an opportunity to make customers feel good about their purchases. We were so excited about EASy that we all agreed to sign up for the program. I would person-ally like to hear from anybody that isn’t interested in this tool in order to understand why. With the pressure on with Dealer Rewards, this seems like one of those “no-brainer” business decisions! I think this is what we’ve been asking for from Mopar for a long time. I believe that by partnering with Snap-on Business Solutions, Mopar ended up with a better product, and they got there much more quickly than they could have accomplished alone. We also discussed the new PAIS electronic parts catalog that Snap-on is currently developing, some industry trends and dealership priorities, and some of Snap-on’s diagnostics solutions, like the MODIS Modular Diagnostic Information System and the Mitchell 1 OnDemand5 repair estimator. We also had a good informal talk with Mary Beth Siddons, the President of Snap-on Business Solutions. She impressed us all with her straightforward vision of the new Snap-on venture. After talking with her and everybody else during our time in Cleveland, we each had a better understanding of why this ac-quisition made sense for Snap-on Business Solutions, and how it benefits us as customers!


Monteiro’s Campout In the Customer Lounge

By: Terra Monteiro It was a dark scary morning at 5:00am. My mom shook me till I was awake and I told her ‘’ I didn’t want

to get up’’ because I knew I had to go to school. But then my mom told me that I had no school because of the

fire that was close. My dad and my mom took the trailer to the dealership were my daddy works. Then my dad

had to go to work and everybody else stayed at the house.

We didn’t evacuate until 9:30am because that was when we got the dreadful reverse 911 call. I was mad

at my mom though because I could have had a few more hours of sleep before the reverse 911 call that told us to

evacuate. So my family Rick Monteiro [ dad ], Kathy Monteiro [ mom ], Jessie Monteiro [ sister ], Terra Mon-

teiro [ me ],Lillian Nylander [ grandma ], Taz [ dog ], and Sierra [ cat ]. We all stayed in the customer lounge all

day long during the fire. Since we had to evacuate we just came to my dad’s dealership. Once everybody left my

dad’s work we just sat in the customer lounge and watched the news.

Then eventually we got tired of the news so we went to Farmer Boys for lunch. One of the reasons we

went there was because it was close and it was open. My dad and sister went to the house to make sure it is ok.

After lunch we checked on the cat and we took the dog [ Taz ] into the dealership. He had fun roaming around

the dealership and we all played with him. He had lots of fun there. On the other hand the cat didn’t like it at

all!!! Surprisingly she had never been this far away from her home.

Later that day we decided to go up to the trailer for the night. We went out to dinner at some Chinese

place. My dad and my sister went to the house to check on the house one more time and also to get some pil-

lows. It was a really windy night. The cat was meowing all night. To top it all off I was worried about the house

and also the animals that we left at the house. Some of the animals that we left were 10 chickens not counting

the ones that were recently born!!! My sister had hatched 5 brand new chickens. We also left our bunny, and

while daddy and Jessie were at the house dad put her in the house in the shower because the smoke was so

bad. They also put the baby chickens in a crate and brought them in and put them in the kitchen.

When we woke up early Tuesday morning it was still windy and there was a lot of smoke in the air. My

dad stayed at work and my sister, grandma, my mom, and I all went back to the house. We were a little scared

to be there, the fire was still burning. We left our trailer at the dealership just in case we had to go back. I was

worried about my friends who also had to evacuate. I am glad that my family and friends made it out and we are

all safe.

It was a scary week. There was so much smoke and wind - but - we don't have school all week!


State Farm to Test Electronic Parts Ordering through Select Service

State Farm on Friday released initial details of long rumored test of parts ordering program. State Farm announced Friday that it will begin testing an “enhanced automotive parts process” during the fourth quarter of this year in two local markets. The test does not change the financial or business relationships the participating repair facilities currently have with their parts supplier, providing the supplier signs on to participate with the electronic system. According to George Avery, a State Farm claim consultant, State Farm will begin a limited market test of the process with Select Service repair facilities and their vendors in both the San Diego, CA and In-dianapolis, IN markets using electronic parts-ordering systems from several vendors. The test will be limited to OEM crash parts as State Farm states it continues to evaluate its position re-garding the specification of aftermarket crash parts and will maintain its current policy of not specify-ing aftermarket crash parts during this test. However, the company continues to believe that "policyholders benefit when repairers have access to all sources of quality collision repair parts." According to Avery, “The initial steps in creating the process include building business relationships with part manufacturers, suppliers and electronic ordering system providers for auto parts. It involves electronic ordering and the application of an OEM provided discount. Repair facilities will still pur-chase parts from who they want and it does not involve their parts profit.” State Farm will test repairers’ use of electronic parts-ordering systems that provide access to vehicle information and help increase order accuracy and efficiency. The company believes this new approach will improve both the repair and estimating process. “While we recognize that this will represent change for the repair industry, it is important to continu-ously look for ways to create efficiency in the process and provide value for our policyholders and shared customers,” said State Farm Claim Consultant George Avery. “As this process developed, we asked for and considered input from members of the collision repair industry. We believe Select Ser-vice repairers will have an enhanced ability to obtain quality parts that allows them to provide custom-ers with the best combination of quality, efficiency and competitive price. And as always, our custom-ers are free to choose which repairer will fix their vehicle.” Avery and State Farm spokesman Dick Luedke both stressed the distinction that they are testing, not piloting, the new process. “We are conducting a test. We need to truly test the process involved before or if we decide we are moving ahead with a roll out,” explained Avery. “All of our Select Service part-ners in the markets who are testing the process have agreed to participate and provide us with feed-back.” Reprinted with permission from CollisionWeek (www.collisionweek.com)


Wally Parks,

NHRA Founder, Dies at 94

Wally Parks, founder of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) passed away on Saturday, Sep-tember 28, at age 94. His life spanned the history of hot rodding to date. He was there at the begin-ning, on the dry lakes of southern California in the pre-World War II dawn of the sport. The lakes were the only place to run fast back then - other than the street, and hot rodders ran both. In 1937, Parks helped organize dry lakes racers into the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), a governing body still active today. When servicemen returned from WWII, they had pent-up dreams of fast cars and pent-up dollars in their pockets, so the hot rodding movement flared up even brighter than ever. They continued to run the lakes, and the Bonneville Salt Flats, thanks to the SCTA - and Parks. They convinced Utah state authorities to open up the enormous dry lake bed to hot rodders. Parks also joined Robert Petersen, a photographer he met at the lakes, to start a magazine about hot rodding. It was called, logically enough, Hot Rod Magazine, and it was destined to become the larg-est-selling car periodical. Parks became editor. Meanwhile, the racers were back on the streets. The public byways were much more convenient than the hours-long drives to the lakes. Hot rodding was getting a bad name because of campaigns by the press and the police. The solution was to organize legitimate races on airstrips. It was to become im-mensely popular on the west coast and this form of racing spread to the rest of the country. Hot Rod Magazine covered it and Parks promoted a new organization to govern it - the National Hot Rod Association. It, too, took off and Parks left Hot Rod Magazine to run it. His vision and the unflag-ging help and support of his beloved wife, Barbara, moved the NHRA to the top of the motorsports world, where it remains today. Wally once stuffed a Chrysler 392 HEMI® into a brand-new 1957 Plymouth to set records on the beach at Daytona that year. The car, named the "Hot Rod Magazine Special," had the number 1960 emblazoned on its sides in reference Plymouth's ads that said "Suddenly it's 1960." The car itself was from then on known as "Suddenly." It's now on display in the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, Calif. Tom Compton, president of NHRA, said, "Words simply can't describe the immeasurable impact Wally has had on the sport he created and the millions of people's lives he touched along the way. The name Wally Parks is synonymous with drag racing, and his vision and direction will guide NHRA for years to come."

Wally Parks, founder of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) passed away on Saturday, September 28, at age 94.


Reynolds Service Price Guides now Offers Factory Style Maintenance Menus

Gain More in Both Your Service and Parts Departments

“How much is it going to cost me?” has to be one of the most frequent questions heard in your service department. When customers contact a dealership for service, they want a fast and accurate estimate of what it will cost to service their vehicle. Reynolds’ Service Price Guides (SPG) helps ensure you meet this need by allowing your service staff to prepare quotes that are accurate to the penny – and prepare them in seconds, not minutes. Reynolds’ Service Price Guides does more than simply standardize labor times. SPG also pulls cur-rent parts pricing information from your Reynolds Dealership Management System’s parts pricing ma-trix – as well as up-to-date service, miscellaneous charges and applicable taxes – to be sure that every quote includes all of your costs. Now, Reynolds’ Service Price Guides has a new optional feature – Factory Style Maintenance Menus. With this new feature, your service advisors are able to use the exact maintenance packages recom-mended by Chrysler, helping to avoid confusion when quick calculations of parts and labor costs are needed. Parts Managers can gain:

• Efficiency – Make manual entry a thing of the past! Don’t spend time building parts pack-ages for scheduled maintenance. In addition, you can add requested parts with a single click without manually entering all of them

• Accuracy – Everything you need up front! Ensure you include all parts for a specific vehicle – down to make, model, year, engine, options and driving conditions

• Revenue – Increase your bottom line! Rolling up the pricing of operations means no more “average costing” for packages

• Standardization – Accuracy becomes routine! With Factory Style Maintenance Menus, your service department is automatically updated when new vehicle model years roll out

Service Managers can increase:

• Accuracy – Take away the guesswork! Advisors don’t have to speculate about the correct operation code required for a specific vehicle and driving conditions

• Efficiency – Save valuable time! Quickly locate the appropriate code and component parts for a job estimate

• Customer Satisfaction – Keep them happy! The estimate given to your customer matches the final invoice as well as the vehicle owner’s manual for recommended work

• Standardization – Stay up-to-date! You’ll have the most current model year manufacturer recommendations and dealership recommendations

Thousands of dealerships rely on Service Price Guides from Reynolds – shouldn’t you be one of them? To find out more, contact your local Reynolds Account Man-ager, or call our SPG Specialists at 1-877-225-2406.





CRM for Your Parts Department By Ray Alther ADP’s CustomerTouch Communications Services Over the past several years using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to find, sell and keep more customers has become a common topic of discussion around selling more cars and getting repeat service business. What isn’t widely discussed is how CRM can also be a very important factor in driving additional Parts business. An effective CRM process for your Parts customers should:

• Inform customers when you have Parts specials or when a Parts order is ready • Follow up on a direct Parts sale with a thank you note • Run surveys collecting information on your Parts Department performance

Wouldn’t it be great if all of this could be done automatically, without involvement of your staff? How happy would your customers be if you also gave them the option of receiving your offers and communications the way they chose to get them: through the mail, online, and over the phone? ADP’s CustomerTouchTM is an easy-to-use, automated communications service that informs your customers when a part has arrived or directly markets Parts promotions through a series of channels including email, direct mail, over the phone or even text messages. CustomerTouch also offers a very effective, customer satisfaction survey function with options for a quick 2 question survey or a more extensive 6 question survey. And it’s the only customer communications solution that integrates to ADP’s Dealer Management System. .

To learn more about ADP’s CustomerTouch, email Ray Alther at [email protected]. To find out more about how ADP’s solutions can drive more results for your dealership, please call 888,424.6342 or visit us at DealerSuite.com.


Real Life Quotes Part 1

These days, I don't think ANYTHING qualifies as weird. He who dies with the most toys ..... WINS!! Aim high--it gives you a hell of a jolt when you crash and burn and inspires massive chocolate binges. I've always depended on the kindness of strange people. It's a job, and someone dirty's gotta do it! Boren's First Law: When in doubt, mumble. Why are there flotation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes? If a cow laughed, would milk come out her nose? Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio? You know that little indestructible black box that is used on planes, why can't they make the whole plane out of the same substance? Why is it that when you transport something by car, it's called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, it's called cargo? Q: What's the most frightening sentence in the English language? A: "I'm from the government.- I'm here to help." Be nice to your kids. They'll choose your nursing home. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder… 3 kinds of people: those who can count & those who can't. Why is "abbreviation" such a long word? Don't use a big word where a diminutive one will suffice. ...Every morning is the dawn of a new error… For people who like peace and quiet: a phoneless cord. I can see clearly now, the brain is gone… I used up all my sick days, so I'm calling in dead. Mental Floss prevents Moral Decay. Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. There cannot be a crisis today; my schedule is already full. I'd explain it to you, but your brain would explode. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?




Our Supporting Vendors Support those who support you


Our Supporting Vendors Support those who support you




Up yours!

Motivational Poster of the Month!


Across 1. Span's partner 5. Prefix with body or freeze 9. Pearl or peridot 14. Broke 15. What a litigant does 16. Spanish birthplace of St. Theresa 17. Choir section 18. Con's game 19. Flax fabric 20. Like a stunned beachcomber? 23. ___ loser 24. Choose 25. Mar's follower 28. Part of SUV 31. Flavor enhancer 34. Fleece 36. It could be white 37. Salmon type 38. Anxious cigarette consumer? 42. Go ___ (nag) 43. Use 52 Down 44. Speeds 45. ___-Mex 46. Black and white 49. ___ for the money 50. See 51 Across 51. Uses 50 Across 53. Soviet actors take a bow? 61. Nasty necktie? 62. Seed coat 63. Popular cookie 64. Market opener 65. Takeout place? 66. Await judgement 67. Acid and litmus 68. Put up 69. Lessen

7. Colorful duck 8. Doctrines 9. Hillbilly's car 10. Turn out 11. 'Just kidding' signal 12. Robert ___ 13. Bring down 21. Mythical Muslim maiden 22. Roomy place? 25. Cravat 26. Booth item 27. Send a document again 29. 'Camel' of the Andes 30. Davis Love letters? 31. Slogan 32. Martin in "Apocalypse Now"

33. Furze 35. Buccaneer's back 37. KGB adversary 39. S. Pacific island with important phosphate deposits 40. Goose egg 41. Providence, R.I. university 46. Riot cops at times 47. Schools 48. Daily preparation 50. Early stage 52. It magnifies the game 53. MIT, for example (abbrev.) 54. Libertine 55. Trip taker's exclamation 56. Parking garage feature 57. 30 Down, for example 58. W x H 59. Part of SLR 60. It makes a prospector prosperous

Down 1. Ems et al 2. Vault necessity 3. Tiny Greek letter 4. Ticked off 5. State categorically 6. Cell centers

“Seeing Double Duty” Crossword Puzzle Puzzle Answer on Page 32


Gotta Be Over 40 to Understand

Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't get food poisoning. My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter, AND I used to eat a bite raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper, in a brown paper bag, not in icepack coolers, but I can't remember anybody getting e.coli. Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then. The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system. We all took gym, not PE . . . and risked permanent injury with a pair of hightop Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built-in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened, because they tell us how much safer we are now. Flunking gym was not an option . . . even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym. Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the National Anthem, and stay-ing in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything, and she could even give you an aspirin for a head-ache or fever. I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself. I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations. Oh yeah . . . and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!

(Continued on page 31)


We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked! Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat. We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either, because if we did, we got our butt spanked there, and then we got our butt spanked again when we got home. I re-call Paul Piotte coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck. To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a "dysfunctional family". How could we possibly have known that we needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive? Much happiness to all of us who shared this era, and to all who didn’t? Too bad for all that you missed. Most of us wouldn’t trade it for anything!

(Continued from page 30)


Free Crosswords: Seeing Double Duty Crossword Puzzle

By Dave Fisher


Westcott Takes Win Over Woo at Jegs NHRA

Northern SPORTSnationals HEMI® Challenge Event

Charlie Westcott won a battle of HEMI-powered 1968 Barracudas on Saturday, Sept. 29, defeating Larry Woo in the finals of the Mo-par® HEMI Challenge event at the NHRA Jegs Northern SPORTS-nationals in Hebron, Ohio. The stop at National Trail Raceway was

the first points race of the 2008 Mopar HEMI Challenge season. Westcott, from Parma, Mich., qualified second, claimed the $5,000 purse and took a measure of revenge on the man who knocked off his son (Woo scored a close win over pole sitter Charlie Westcott Jr. in the second round.) Woo, who quali-fied fourth, lived and died on the starting tree, posting a .002 reaction time in a first round win over Bucky Hess and a jaw dropping .000 perfect reaction time in a semifinals defeat of Fred Henson, before fouling with a red light in his final round battle with Westcott. The dedicated Mopar HEMI Challenge drivers get right back at it with the NHRA Pacific SPORTSnationals HEMI Chal-lenge event scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 6, 2007 in Fontana, Calif. The series will then head to the NHRA Pennsylvania Dutch Classic HEMI Challenge event on Oct. 21, 2007 at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa. In 2008 three HEMI Challenge Race Series stops are scheduled -- Mopars at the Strip in Las Vegas; the Jegs.com NHRA Cajun SPORTSnationals in Louisiana; and the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis where the 2008 champion will be crowned. For more information on the Mopar HEMI Challenge, visit moparspeed.com.

Team Mopar Funny Car Driver Beckman Receives Honor in Cumberland, Maryland

Team Mopar driver "Fast" Jack Beckman, who so far this season in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series has driven the HEMI-powered Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to two victories in three final rounds and is third in the Countdown to Four championship playoffs, was honored on Saturday, Sept. 29, in downtown Cumberland, Maryland. En route to the Oct. 5-7 weekend's final event of the Countdown to Four - the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals outside of Rich-mond, Va. - Beckman, with wife Jenna and son Jason Russell, visited his father Bob's hometown, where he received a proclamation from Mayor Lee Fiedler. He was also appointed an honorary citizen of Cumberland. "It's kind of humbling," Beckman said, "but it's exciting. My dad (Bob Beckman) grew up in Cumberland and he was a hot-rodder back in the day. He was in car clubs out there, and he actually had a used-car lot. He moved to California to get into the speed equipment

industry. So, that's kind of where the car-crazy part of me came from, my dad." Beckman joined Don Schumacher Racing for the last five events of 2006 and is in his first full season of Funny Car com-petition in 2007. In those final events of 2006, he set both speed and elapsed-time national records, qualified No. 1 once, and won once after reaching two final rounds. This season he's in a strong position to qualify in the final four in the Countdown to Four playoffs system and vie for his first Funny Car championship in the final two events of the year. For more information on the NHRA, visit nhra.com.

Team Mopar NHRA Funny Car driver Jack Beckman (above right) receives a proclamation from Cumberland, Md., mayor Lee Fied-ler. Beckman was honored in Cumberland, the hometown of his father, Bob, on Saturday.


Funny You Should Say That... Always forgive your enemies - Nothing annoys them so much. If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends? When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane. I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out. I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder. For Sale: Parachute. Only used once, never opened, small stain. Do you have trouble making up your mind? Well, yes or no? If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something. Many people quit looking for work when they find a job. When I'm not in my right mind, my left mind gets pretty crowded. Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film. You know the speed of light, so what's the speed of dark? I poured Spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone. Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening', and then proceed to tell you why it isn't. Before borrowing money from a friend, decide which you need more.(Friend or Money !) Death is hereditary. There are three sides to any argument: your side, my side and the right side. A consultant is someone who takes a subject you understand and makes it sound confusing. Never argue with a fool. People might not know the difference. When you're right, no one remembers. When you're wrong, no one forgets. Cheer up, the worst is yet to come. Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else. Everyone makes mistakes. The trick is to make mistakes when nobody is looking. They say hard work never hurts anybody, but why take the chance.

(Continued on page 35)


Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back. I like work. It fascinates me. I sit and look at it for hours. If you can't see the bright side of life, polish the dull side. Where there's a will, there are five hundred relatives. Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. And our most favorite one: Hire a teenager while they still know everything!

(Continued from page 34)

FORE! Whether or not you're a golfer, you'll like this one! Shortly after the Pope had apologized to the Jewish People for the treatment of Jews by the Catholic Church over the years, Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, sent a proposal to the College of Cardinals for a friendly game of golf to be played between the two leaders or their representatives to demonstrate the friend-ship and ecumenical spirit shared by the Catholics and the Jews. The Pope then met with his College of Cardinals to discuss the proposal. "Your Holiness," said one of the Car-dinals, "Mr. Sharon wants to challenge you to a game of golf to show that you are old and unable to compete. I am afraid that this would tarnish our image in the world." The Pope thought about this and since he had never held a golf club in his life asked "Don't we have a Cardinal to represent me?" "None who plays golf very well," a Cardinal replied. "But," he added, "there is a man named Jack Nicklaus, an American golfer, who is a devout Catholic. We can offer to make him a Cardinal, and then ask him to play Mr. Sharon as your personal representative. In addition to showing our spirit of cooperation, we will also win the match." Everyone agreed that this was a great idea. The call was made. Of course, Nicklaus was honored and he agreed to play as a representative of the Pope. The day after the match, Nicklaus reported to the Vatican to inform the Pope of the result. "This is Cardinal Nicklaus. I have some good news and some bad news, Your Holiness," said the golfer. "Tell me the good news, Cardinal Nicklaus," said the Pope. "Well, Your Holiness, I don't like to brag, but even though I have played some pretty terrific rounds of golf in my life, this was the best I have ever played, by far. I must have been inspired from above. My drives were long and true, my irons were accurate and purposeful, and my putting was perfect. With all due respect, my play was truly miraculous. "How can there be bad news?" the Pope asked. Nicklaus sighed, "I lost by three strokes to Rabbi Tiger Woods. "

THE GUILD MOTTO “THE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION BY LIKE SIZE DEALERS IN A

NON COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT” This is the reason the Guild exists. The strength of our existence relies not on the voices of a select few, but on the combined knowledge of all. With this in mind, everyone should remember to become as pro-active as possible. The Guild is YOURS, be proud of it and be part of it!

2007 Mopar Masters Guild Executive Committee

Gerry Oakes President Baxter Chrysler Roy Benner Vice President Allen Samuels Dodge Brent Hoge Treasurer Larry H. Miller CJD Mike Gerber Secretary Eastside CJ Marvin Windham Don Drennen Chrysler Alan Yancey Hayes Chrysler Rick Monteiro Jack Powell Chrysler Dodge Dan Hutton Tom O’Brien Chrysler Robbie Jackson Salsbury’s Dodge City Steve Hofer Park Jeep

Guild Committees

Membership Committee Mike Gerber Eastside CJ Dan Murphy Earnhardt CJ Steve Hofer Park Jeep Larry Morris Franklin Sussex Auto Mall Robbie Jackson Salsbury’s Dodge City

Vendor Chairman Paul Allred Metrolina Chrysler Jeep Dodge

Newsletter Chairmen Dan Murphy Earnhardt CJ Don Cushing Bald Hill Dodge Chrysler

Performance Group Chairman Ole Olson Elk River Ford-Dodge

Finance Committee Chairmen Roy Benner Allen Samuels Dodge Brent Hoge Larry H. Miller CJD

Reynolds and Reynolds Paul Allred Metrolina Chrysler Jeep Dodge Tom Watson Performance Dodge John Gilbert Preston Dodge Rick Cutaia Rick Hendrick Dodge Larry Morris Franklin Sussex Auto Mall

ADP Jim Stoneman Westoaks CD Roy Benner Allen Samuels Dodge Steve Hofer Park Jeep Mike Mulkins Go Chrysler Jeep Tommy Thrift Haynes Motor Co.

Snap-On Business Solutions Dan Hutton Tom O’Brien Chrysler OEConnection Brent Hoge Larry H. Miller CJD Dealer Tire (Dan & Brent are the chairs for Snap-on. OEConnection and Dealer Tire)

Hanel Storage Terry Doll Earnhardt Dodge Dan Murphy Earnhardt Chrysler Jeep

Interstate Batteries Mark Skinner Power CJD Dan Murphy Earnhardt CJ Tom Watson Performance Dodge

Full Circle Solutions Tom Welz Lou Fusz Dodge Rick Stewart Commonwealth Dodge

NADA 2008 Planning Committee Steve Hofer Park Jeep Rick Monteiro Jack Powell Chrysler Dodge

Website Chairman & Webmaster Mike Gerber Eastside CJ


Documents

2007-10 October