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Seventies super-salesman challenges new car-sales record

Some of the fondest memories from my youth were the Sunday afternoons spent walking between rows of new and used cars. This preceded the advent of widely available internet, so the cars didn't sell themselves online: A tentative buyer had to come see the cars in the metal, with old-school salesmen taking well-earned smoke breaks after putting someone behind the wheel of a new Saab 900. All-inclusive subscription services were unheard of. If you open a Guinness records book and look up car salesmen, you'll find Joe Girard. The definitely old-school Detroit salesman regularly sold over 1,000 new cars per year, with a particular high point of 1,425 cars in 1973 guaranteeing him a mention in the Guinness book. To reach that kind of sales figure, you had to be a pretty special salesman, and Girard was. He didn't take breaks unless absolutely necessary, and even his lunch hours were dedicated to selling more cars instead of shooting the breeze with other sales persons. By 1977 he was worn through, having sold over 13,000 cars in his career, and his physique couldn't take it anymore. He's been a motivational speaker since. Now, 44 years later, a Dearborn, Mich., Cadillac and Chevrolet salesman named Ali Reda has reportedly broken Girard's record. The books at Les Stanford Chevrolet Cadillac say Reda sold 1,530 new cars and 52 used cars in 2017, averaging 130 vehicles per month. But after Girard, 89, heard of the sales record, he called his attorney, not letting his record be broken without a fight — or at least an audit. The Dearborn dealer isn't too concerned about Girard's doubts, at least according to Gary Stanford, whose father founded the dealership. "It's very official, trust me," said Stanford to the Detroit Free Press. "Ali is the hardest worker I've ever seen. And if someone doesn't believe the data, well, they're more than welcome to consult with GM. It's all there in black and white." What Girard doesn't get is that Reda was honoring him with the accomplishment. "I read his book, 'How to Sell Anything to Anybody,' and it said it would teach you how to become the best," said Reda, who at age 44 was a newborn when Girard hit his peak. "He's an absolute legend in the industry. Your whole career, you're chasing his name.

Daily Driver: 2016 Cadillac ATS-V Sedan

Daily Driver videos are micro-reviews of vehicles in the Autoblog press fleet, reviewed by the staffers that drive them every day. Today's Daily Driver features the 2016 Cadillac ATS-V sedan, reviewed by David Gluckman. You can watch the video above or read a transcript below. And don't forget to watch more Autoblog videos at /videos. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Hey, it's David Gluckman with another Daily Driver. Today I'm driving a 2016 Cadillac ATS-V. This is the sedan model and it has the optional eight-speed automatic transmission. The ATS-V is the small performance car in Cadillac's lineup. It sits below the CTS-V, which is also new for 2016. Ever since the base ATS came out a few years ago, this has always been a wonderful chassis in search of a great engine to compliment it. This car really changes that. [00:00:30] They've dialed up the chassis, the suspension is a little stiffer, the body is even stiffer, and they've put this really nice 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 engine under the hood. In terms of power and torque, the new V6 outguns it's main bogey, the BMW M3 and M4. The Cadillac engine puts out 464 horsepower and 445 pound feet of torque, which is tons. [00:01:00] The one issue, though, is the way it delivers that power. It's not as smooth as the BMW and there's a bit of turbo lag that you really don't feel in the German engine. Once you get moving, however, this engine really just wakes up. There's no lag once you're at highway speed. You can floor it and there's plenty of power and torque for easy passes and runup to extra-legal speeds. [00:01:30] It's tons of fun there but around town it just kind of lacks a little bit of the smoothness and responsiveness that we're kind of expecting for a car in this class. The engine does sound pretty nice, though. It has this nice little growl when you start it up and when you get on it, it actually sounds more like a supercharged engine than a turbocharged one. It's a little strange, I think that's maybe some active noise cancellation that Cadillac is doing to cancel out the whooshes and whirs that we're used to from a turbocharger. [00:02:00] That's fine with me. Whatever it is, it sounds good. This car gets the same fancy rear limited-slip differential that the Corvette introduced a couple years ago. It does a really good job of keeping everything manageable. You almost can't tell that the car has 464 horsepower. It keeps everything in line.

Weekly Recap: 2016 CTS-V gives Cadillac new momentum for the new year

It's been a rough year for Cadillac. The historic luxury carmaker been in the news for all of the wrong reasons: Declining sales, ditching its advertising agency and the relocation of its headquarters from Detroit to New York. But in late December, Cadillac reminded everyone what it does best: Build some of the rawest and most compelling luxury sedans in the world, as evidenced by the 2016 CTS-V. This monster churns out 640 horsepower from a supercharged 6.2-liter V8. Sound familiar? That's the Corvette Z06 engine, and it makes this CTS the most powerful production Cadillac ever. It also puts the sporting divisions of the Germans on notice. The new CTS-V easily overpowers the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S 4Matic and its 5.5-liter biturbo V8 rated at 577 hp, and the BMW M5 (with the competition pack) and its 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 that pushes out 575 hp. The rear-wheel drive Cadillac can sprint to 60 miles per hour in 3.7 seconds, which is close to the 3.5-second time turned in by the 4Matic-driven E63 S, and a bit quicker than the 4.1 seconds posted by the M5. With Magnetic Ride Control, General Motors' stout eight-speed automatic transmission (also used in the Corvette), Brembo brakes and a carbon-fiber option package that pretty much builds your car out of carbon fiber – it's clear this Cadillac means business. Truth be told, we expected this CTS-V to deliver. It's been a serious sports sedan for a decade, and the recent generation and its 556-hp arrogance have been particularly memorable. But notice what we're doing here? We're talking about product. Not who makes Cadillac's ads, or if the brand's headquarters has a mailing address in NYC. Like the 2016 ATS-V that's due in the spring, the debut of the 2016 CTS-V (on sale in late summer) is a shot in the arm for Cadillac, and its arrival comes during time of transition. The brand is trying to reinvent itself as a modern luxury maker. It wants new customers, a different image and obviously more sales. Those things are going to take time, but with a 640-hp sledgehammer of a sports sedan on tap for next year, Cadillac can still maintain some of its swagger through all of the change. Other News And Views 1984 Audi Sport Quattro heads for the auction block If you're into '80s rally cars, you're really a car person. But if you're into that stuff – and we are – this 1984 Audi Sport Quattro is sure to get your blood flowing.