Hodson Motors from Phoenix/Arizona restores old pick-ups and raffles some again and again. Interested parties only have to buy a bit of merch.
Good money can be made with "merch", short for merchandise or in German promotional items. Numerous Internet providers, where you can have shirts, caps and all sorts of odds and ends printed with brand logos or slogans, prove this emphatically. And the branded accessories from manufacturers and retailers have been telling the same story for decades.
Ford Bronco from Hodson Motors in the video
At Hodson Motors from Phoenix in the US state of Arizona, they have come up with a special idea to boost business with odds and ends: Whoever buys from Hodson Motors in the in-house online shop qualifies for the raffle for a restored off-road truck. There you can buy the usual things from T-shirts to key rings and flashlights to survival food.
The simple rule: For every five dollars in sales in the web shop, there is a "raffle number" for the regular raffles for classic trucks, most recently a beautiful 1979 Ford Bronco found its new owner in this way (presentation in the video above). Currently (as of July 2021) there is a 1992 Dodge Ram W350 Extended Cab that is a bit tousled, but looks pretty cool on its 37 tires. A real "workhorse" with 5.9 liter Cummins diesel, as it was in use in thousands of workshops.
For understandable reasons, Hodson Motors is not going through the full restoration program for the raffle vehicles, the vehicles are being made technically fit, will receive a major service, a reasonable chassis and tires in men's sizes. But that definitely has its charm.
In the case of customer vehicles, which you can buy as usual from other restorers, we draw from the full and the cars - with appropriate fun-promoting modifications - are repaired from the ground up and brought into mint condition (see also our picture gallery with a few examples). Hodson Motors emphasizes that the cars were created more as a hobby and not necessarily intended for sale. That's why there are no sales prices, but on request and with a corresponding bid you can come to an agreement. That doesn't sound like a bargain.
Pick-up with a personal party
But before you surf past Hodson Motors and hope to win the smart Dodge by buying a key fob - you must be a resident of Canada or the USA for this. If that's not a problem, then handing over the prize isn't either: The winner gets the car delivered free to their home (unless they live very far away, in Alaska, Canada or Hawaii).
However, the boys prefer it if you pick up the car yourself. In that case, you get the plane ticket for free and a little party on top of that, as Hodson writes: "Whenever possible, we love to hand over the trucks personally and hang out with the winners for a day!"
Conclusion
Buy a t-shirt and win a cool truck - this is an interesting business model, but it seems to be working. A US classic car specialist regularly raffles off older off-road vehicles and pickups; With a bit of luck, you can get your dream off-roader at a reasonable price. The advantage: In contrast to a normal raffle, there are no rivets, because you get the merchandise items for your effort in any case.
