In his own words, this is Don's story:
It was 50 years ago, plus or minus
a couple….It was hot and windy, with the north wind dust blowing
everywhere. In line with Ford’s
marketing plan, Reg Flanagan had been searching for a solo tractor dealer in
the Cleve area for a while and he was taking me to meet this bloke, Norm
Fiegert.
We drove up to an all galvanised
iron shed of 2 tractor capacity and in the main street, as I recall. Norm was a big robust man wearing his
overalls and was half-way under a Ford 5000 at the time. You couldn’t help but like Norm, he was an
open, upfront, you-get-what-you-see individual who looked and talked like he
didn’t mind hard work.
To cut a long negotiation story
short, we filled out a dealer application and sent it to Head Office. Back came the reply in the person of Jim
Parker, Tractor Division General Manager.
Needless to say, coming from the high volume tractor dealer operations
of the UK, Jim was totally unimpressed with the proposed dealer premises,
investment, etc, etc, and insisted we show him the competition, which was a
well set up MF dealer and a less than well set up Chamberlain dealer. Jim was reluctant to sign off on the
application especially when he learned that Norm’s then net worth was measured
in an old Ford Consul, a refrigerator, a work bench and a good stock of tractor
mechanics tools. Jim Parker’s English
based training was to say keep looking, ours was to ‘give him a go’.
So in the tradition of lies, lies
and damn statistics, Reg Flanagan cleverly massaged the figures and
undertakings and we finally got Norm on board.
If my memory serves me correctly, David Beak was the Field Manager and
assisted in the success of the dealership.
On mentioning David Beak, I am reminded of a call he gave me one morning
from the west coast to the effect that he had just had a kangaroo land on his
lap, after coming through the front windscreen of his vehicle. It was raining steadily and David asked what
he should do to get it fixed. He never
forgave me for asking him to drive straight back to Adelaide, which he managed
to do, replete with swimming goggles!
Thankfully Norm’s tractor and
business attitude was service, service and service. Soon the message got around. I recall him saying that a farmer he sold a
5000 to had real problems in the middle of harvest one night. He rang Norm and Norm left within the hour,
driving the 150k that took him well north of the Eyre highway and got the tractor
going. As I mentioned, the word soon got
around and Norm soon got busy with Ford tractors.
A bout of nostalgia for those West
Coast days helped me recall that Norm, together with Gordon Abbott and Laurie
Curtis really put Ford broadacre tractors on the map. So much so that due to West Coast demand we
offered a bench type seat on the 5000 and really pricked Chamberlain’s
balloon.
Although I was moved back to
Melbourne head office via a stint as NSW tractor manager. I still retained a close interest in South
Australian performance and particularly pleasing was the West Coast’s continuous
success. I learned that Norm had moved
his tractor dealership near to the sale yards and as someone said, “continued
to brain them”.
Norm obviously had an interesting
and chequered career. He will be
remembered by myself and many others as a larger than life hands on bloke.
Don Mason
