Most of his ads and 600 jingles were created in his own fertile mind, but this time a client had his own “brilliant idea.”
“The client was University Ford in South Philly,” Waas recalled in an interview that made its way to Youtube. The idea was to sell a new car for $999 with “power options extra.”
The power option was a motor.
“I thought it was funny,” says Waas who wrote the newspaper ad. He can’t remember the year, but the next day he says there was a line at the Ford dealer that stretched around the block.
Scores of customers waited to get their bargain auto. The first folks admitted to the showroom soon learned it was a cruel hoax and the word spread to the others in line.
When Ford heard about the trick, it pulled the franchise and the dealer was out of business.