Victory Auto Wreckers was an auto salvage yard in

Bensenville, Illinois Bensenville is a village located near O'Hare International Airport in DuPage County, Illinois, with a portion of the town in Cook County. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 18,813. First known as Tioga, it was formally establishe ...

, near

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport is the primary international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, United States, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, Loop business district. The airport is ope ...

. It is well known in the Chicago area for its former

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

, in which a young man struggles with a car door that has just detached from its hinges. The commercial aired with limited changes from 1985 to 2015, making it the subject of frequent discussion in the local media. The ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' once described the advertisement as "an indelible commercial image known to almost any television viewer."

Business

Victory Auto Wreckers was founded in the 1940s by a pair of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

veterans. The company was purchased by Kenneth Weisner in 1967 and is now owned by his son, Kyle. Victory purchased wrecked or decommissioned vehicles and then allowed customers to browse through their lots in search of workable parts. Any unusable parts were crushed and sold to scrap metal dealers. As of 2005, the facility was processing approximately 14,000 automobiles every year.Justin Kmitch. "Bensenville's loss means legal victory for business". ''

The Daily Herald ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' is the name of various newspapers. ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' Australia * ''The Herald'' (Adelaide) and several similar names (1894–1924), a South Australian Labor weekly, then daily * '' Barossa and Light Heral ...

'' ( Du Page County). July 20, 2005. 4. In 2002, the Bensenville Community Development Commission threatened to close Victory Auto Wreckers within two years as part of a

zoning ordinance In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

prohibiting junkyards, incinerators and wrecking yards. However,

appellate court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...

judge Robert McLaren ruled that the facility should be considered a

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

center, allowing the business to remain in operation. In November 2023, it was announced that the business would permanently close at the end of the month, with November 18 being the last day the yard would take in vehicles.

Advertising

Victory aired its first television commercial in 1981. By 1985, the video of the advertisement had deteriorated, and Victory turned to commercial director Ron Patris to create a replacement. That replacement commercial, filmed on May 20, 1985, remained on the air for nearly 30 years, with some minor modifications. According to one estimate, the spot appeared on

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

and other stations up to 30 times per week. Television historian Steve Jajkowski argued that the commercial was "as much a part of Chicago TV as

Bozo the Clown Bozo the Clown, sometimes billed as "Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown", is a clown character created for children's entertainment, widely popular in the second half of the 20th century. He was introduced in the United States in 1946, and to tel ...

, Fahey Flynn and

Svengoolie ''Svengoolie'' is an American hosted horror movie television program. The show features horror and science fiction films and is hosted by the character Svengoolie, who was originally played by Jerry G. Bishop from 1970 to 1973, before Rich Koz ...

." The 1985 commercial was filmed in a residential area near the salvage yard. It starred Bob Zajdel, a shaggy-haired young man who had been working for Victory at the time. In the commercial, Zajdel attempts to enter his noticeably old and run-down car, but his car door suddenly detaches from its hinges and falls to the ground. An exasperated Zajdel jumps back (possibly to avoid shattering glass from the car door's window) and sighs in frustration, but an announcer advises that the car may be worth money, and briefly describes Victory's services. In the next scene, Zajdel receives a cash payment when a

tow truck A tow truck (also called a wrecker, a breakdown truck, recovery vehicle or a breakdown lorry) is a truck used to move disabled, improperly parked, Vehicle impoundment, impounded, or otherwise indisposed motor vehicles. This may involve recoverin ...

from Victory arrives to take his car.Tom McNamee. "He's been getting cash for that car for 24 yrs." ''

''. February 14, 2005. 20. Victory introduced some changes to the commercial between 1985 and 2015; later versions had new announcers (including Dean Richards for airings on WGN and

Rich Koz Rich Koz (born March 12, 1952) is an American actor and broadcaster best known for his portrayal of horror-movie host Svengoolie, as well as his early '90s children's cartoon showcase ''The Koz Zone''. Koz is also the host of the syndicated '' ...

for airings on

WCIU-TV WCIU-TV (channel 26) is an independent television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is the flagship television property of locally based Weigel Broadcasting, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to two ...

and

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television progra ...

) and some new graphics, along with several

area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...

updates to the on-screen phone number and eventually, Victory's

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. However, the footage remained the same, as evidenced by Zajdel's period clothing and hairstyle.William Hageman. "Commercial success - After 21 years, auto wreckers' TV ad never fails to light up the switchboard; but whatever happened to that poor guy with the beater?" ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

''. January 27, 2006. Tempo, 1. Radio personality

Steve Dahl Steven Robert Dahl (born November 20, 1954) is an American radio personality. He is the owner and operator of the Steve Dahl Network, a Subscription business model, subscription-based podcasting network. Dahl gained a measure of national attention ...

joked, "I've always been a fan of the ultra-wide watchband and the mullet – or perhaps in those days it was called a gypsy shag." Zajdel was never paid extra for his role in the commercial, but he has become a minor local celebrity, appearing in several newspaper interviews. He remarked to the ''

'', "I still own the shirt I wore. And I still have the watchband from the commercial. . . I should take the watchband and the shirt, with a Victory T-shirt, and put them on

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

. I could make some money off it." Kyle Weisner said of the advertisement, "There are companies that do a lot of advertising, like, for example

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

, but they change their commercials weekly. With us, our message is the same, so we've never felt the need to change it." In May 2015, however, Victory Auto Wreckers retired their famous commercial in favor of a new spot produced by Xpress Video Productions of

Northbrook, Illinois Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County, Illinois, Lake County. It is part of a collection of upscale residential communities north of Chicago and belon ...

. The new commercial featured a computer-animated homage to the 1985 footage.Robert Channick.
Victory Auto Wreckers rolls out new commercial
. ''Chicago Tribune''. May 1, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2015.

Notes

External links

*{{YouTube, BH95UTtbmr8, The iconic commercial Culture of Chicago Bensenville, Illinois 1945 establishments in Illinois 2023 disestablishments in Illinois American companies established in 1945 American companies disestablished in 2023

Business

Advertising

Notes

See also

External links