March 2017 | Business View Magazine

72 73 iting dealers around the country for suggestions and support. Factory relations and dealer profitability were pressing topics throughout the 1930s. And until Prohibition ended in 1933, NADA lobbied on behalf of dealers who suffered losses when cars on which they held unpaid liens were confis- cated by the Revenue Department because the owners had violated liquor laws. 1940s: NADA and WWII In 1941, NADA moved from Detroit to Wash- ington, D.C., to work more closely with govern- ment agencies and keep tabs on legislative events. NADA also worked with automakers to obtain many changes in factory policy favorable to dealers. In those early war years,NADA bulletins urged members to be more profit-conscious, to work on improving gross profit, and to adopt “saner selling methods” to prepare for higher taxes and higher costs of doing business.And through prepared newspaper articles,NADA tried to show the public the importance of cars to the economy. The NADA Story The 1942 convention marked NADA’s 25th anniversary, and 2,300 dealers attended.With American’s entry into WWII, the talk was of sur- vival, the threat of gas rationing and the gov- ernment freeze on vehicle delivery. It was a tough year for dealers. The public wasn’t buying used cars for fear that the gov- ernment would appropriate them; dealers were reluctant to acquire used cars because of rumors that their inventories would be frozen. Uncle Sam had already prohibited the sale and delivery of new cars and trucks; only custom- ers who had placed orders before Jan. 1, 1942, could take delivery of new cars. Business was further eroded by nationwide gas rationing. President Franklin D. Roosevelt brought relief to struggling dealers, signing into law a measure allowing them to sell to the government new cars and trucks that had been subject to rationing. Dealer service business took a hit when the Army asked NADA to help recruit mechanics in 1942-1943 in so-called NADA Battalions over- seas. The 950 officers and 26,000 enlisted men saw action in Tunisia, Italy and Germany, and