Cadillac Sales Craft film strips

[1960eldorado]

Dose any one have any idea what a complete set of 1959 and 1960 Cadillac Sales Craft film strips would sell for in mint condition ? A

[veesixteen]

No idea, but I'll bid $47.85 !  Anybody want to oubid me?

[robert millian, Jr]

Thanks for the offer, But I'm not looking to sell them just yet

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Just FYI:

My understanding is that you need a special projector that's syncronized with a record player to play these back and listen to them.  That was "state of the art" in the 50's and into the 70's.

These units were supplied to each dealer, who received the films monthly and played them for their staff.  BTW, I'm on the CLC Museum Board, that's how I came by this imformation.

The CLC Museum has a number of these films in inventory, but so far, no equipment to play them.

Also, I have a few of these films / records myself from 1955 and 1973.

Mike

[veesixteen]

Robert, I was just being facetious when I posted my ridiculously small offer. I was an Email friend of your Dad's and was saddened, like many CLC members, by his passing. I acquired from him, over the years, much of the information on 1959 and 1960 Cadillac merchandising that you can see in the Club's "Cadillac Database".  He also put together a couple of video tapes from period advertising movies; I have them both.  Like other CLC members, I too acquired over the years some slide strips and audio commentary recoded on old-style vinyl discs; I was never able to find an appropriate projector nor a turntable large enough to accommodate the 15" records, so I gradually traded off the stuff.  BTW, there are some pages in the "Cadillac Database" that I compiled over the last 10 years, which provide some information about this facet of Cadillac in-house training. I am always adding to it, so if you have anything that appears to be missing there, I'll be glad to add it (check out - http://cadillacdb.planeteldorado.com/Dbas_txt/Flm_strp.htm)

[TJ Hopland]

I was just going to ask what size the records were.  It appears 15"?   Its been a while since I worked with one of those.  I dont remember any of the record versions having the auto advance feature.  The ones I remember just had a beep to go to the next slide.  In the 70's with the cassette version I do remember them having an inaudible control track.  I will keep an eye out for one of those projectors if the museum needs one.    A friend of mine had one about a year ago.  It was in a nice case and was part of some sort of bowling instructional kit.  He had it on ebay several times.  Only nibble was from a small museum in the guys home town that did the 'video'.  He was apparently a big bowler in the 50's.  My friend gave it to the museum for the cost of shipping. I believe Dukane was the brand name of the projector.

[Tom Hall 7485]

Things to consider are whether it's really a complete set and condition of the film (which I believe is black and white, at least for the service ones) and the records.  They usually got played only a few times at the dealership but bad storage ruins this sort of fragile stuff pretty easily.  I don't think that the 1959s are on nitrate. (The oldest films date to the Twenties or Thirties, are nitrate and need to be kept in cool, dry storage.  To display the nitrate ones, have a fire extinguisher at hand or convert them to a more stable medium.)

If I recall, there are ten to twelve sales training films and at least as many service training films for 1959.  Maybe Yann's web site lists them.  Don't confuse the sales and the service ones.  The service ones generally bring less money.  Very often, collections are a hodgepodge of sales and service.

The projector need not be equipped with a phonograph, but you'd need a phonograph to play them with sound.  It can be a separate unit.  The projector changed over time.  In the 1930s there was no record; the training message was printed on the film, as in a silent movie.  Yes, Dukane made a combo projector/phonograph.  I saw one on eBay just the other day.  I expect that GM arranged for a particular projector to be supplied with these films but I don't know which one it was for the late 1950s.

I bought one month's Cadillac sales training for 1959 a few years ago on eBay and paid about $100 for film and record in good shape and original packaging.  So, maybe up to $1,500 if it's a complete, mint set of Salescraft films and records for 1959.  About the same for the 1960 set, I imagine.