The 1924 Sales Manual: Selling Cars by Face ShapeThe 1924 Sales Manual That Matched Cars to Face Shapes: A Bizarre Chapter in Automotive HistoryThe 1924 Sales Manual: Selling Cars by Face Shape

Imagine walking into a car dealership today. The salesperson asks about your budget, your daily commute, maybe the size of your family. They might inquire about fuel efficiency preferences or whether you need all-wheel drive for winter weather.

But step into a Durant Motors dealership in 1924, and the experience would be dramatically different. The salesman wasn’t primarily interested in your wallet or your practical needs. Instead, he was scrutinizing something far more peculiar: your jawline, the shape of your face, and the width of your temples.

This wasn’t the work of one rogue salesperson with unusual methods. This was official corporate policy, codified in a sales training manual written specifically for Durant Motor Company by Edna Purdy Walsh, a prominent figure in the early 20th-century “character reading” movement. The strategy? Physiognomy—the pseudoscientific practice of assessing a person’s character and preferences based on their facial features and body type.

Durant Motors and the Competitive 1920s Auto Market

To understand why a major automobile manufacturer would embrace such unconventional sales tactics, we need to examine the fiercely competitive landscape of the 1920s automotive industry. This was the golden age of American automobile manufacturing, with dozens of companies vying for market share in an exploding consumer market.

Durant Motors, Inc. was founded in 1921 by William Crapo “Billy” Durant, the visionary (and volatile) entrepreneur who had previously founded General Motors and co-founded Chevrolet. After being forced out of GM for the second time in 1920, the undeterred Durant launched his own competing automobile empire. At its peak, Durant Motors produced several car brands including Durant, Star, Flint, and the luxury marque Princeton.

The company was ambitious, innovative, and desperately seeking any competitive edge. By 1924, when this sales manual was published, Durant Motors was one of the largest independent automakers in America, though it would ultimately collapse during the Great Depression. In this cutthroat environment, unconventional sales techniques weren’t just welcomed—they were essential for survival.

The Pseudoscience of Physiognomy Meets Modern Sales

Physiognomy had enjoyed periods of popularity since ancient times, but it experienced a significant revival in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The practice claimed that external physical characteristics—particularly facial features—revealed inner character traits, temperaments, and even future behavior.

By the 1920s, physiognomy had been thoroughly debunked by the scientific community, yet it retained remarkable popularity in business circles, particularly in sales and personnel management. Character reading was marketed as a modern, “scientific” approach to understanding human nature, despite its lack of empirical foundation.

Edna Purdy Walsh was among the most prominent advocates of applying character reading to business. She published a magazine called Character Reading and offered consulting services to corporations eager to gain psychological insights into their customers and employees. Durant Motors wasn’t her only client—physiognomy-based hiring and sales strategies appeared in various industries throughout the 1920s.

The December 1924 article, “If You Were Selling a Car to These Men,” represents the fourth installment in a series Walsh created specifically for Durant Motors sales staff. It’s a remarkable historical artifact that reveals both the desperation of sales competition and the willingness of supposedly modern corporations to embrace pseudoscience.

The Circular Man: Selling Comfort to the Round-Faced Customer

Walsh’s system divided potential customers into distinct types based on facial geometry and body composition. The article focuses primarily on two: the “circular man” and the “mental or nervous type.”

The circular man, according to Walsh, is built on the “principle of the circle”—round-faced, stout-bodied, and above all else, devoted to personal comfort. The manual instructs salesmen to recognize that this customer type has no interest in horsepower specifications, engine performance, or mechanical innovations. His singular god is Comfort, and every sales tactic must appeal to this priority.

The training becomes remarkably specific, almost comically so:

• The Seat Test: Walsh emphasizes that despite already being “padded” himself, the circular man “still insists on the padded deep chair.” Salesmen are instructed to immediately highlight the depth and cushioning of the vehicle’s seats.
• The Complexion Algorithm: The manual presents an elaborate decision tree based on facial coloring. A red-faced circular man requires abundant oxygen and should be sold an open car (convertible) with comfortable seating and a tonneau (rear passenger compartment) because he’s highly sociable. Meanwhile, a pale or dark-complexioned circular man with dark hair and eyes has “sluggish circulation” and despises cold weather—he’s a candidate for an enclosed limousine.
• The Closing Technique: Rather than discussing mechanical specifications or performance capabilities, salesmen are advised to leverage social proof. Tell him “Mrs. So-and-So from the society columns drives this particular car.” The circular man values social connection and status over engineering excellence.

Walsh even suggests that salesmen maintain a “blue book of automobile owners“—essentially a social registry of prominent car buyers—so they could name-drop appropriate society figures when pitching to this personality type.

The manual notes that circular men prefer demonstration drives along boulevards where they might encounter friends, rather than country road tests emphasizing hill-climbing ability. It’s social display, not performance metrics, that closes the deal.

Interestingly, Walsh observes that circular men “usually pay their bills” and notes that “we have a hard time finding these stout types in jail because they love comfort too much.” This backhanded reassurance about creditworthiness reveals the very real financial risks of installment-plan sales during this era.

The Pear-Shaped Man: Beauty, Luxury, and Financial Risk

The second type Walsh examines is the “Mental or Nervous Type” with a distinctive pear-shaped face—wide forehead tapering down to a small, pointed chin. This customer represents both tremendous sales opportunity and significant financial danger.

This temperament is described as idealistic, artistic, and obsessed with aesthetics over function. Walsh describes them as “a lover of beauty, luxury, and graceful lines” who notices details most customers ignore:

• The musical sound of the car’s brand name
• Whether the upholstery harmonizes with the woodwork
• The presence of a flower vase
• The arrangement of dashboard instruments
• The shape of rear windows
• Small running board lights
• Compartments for gloves and notepaper

These customers care about how the car looks and feels from an artistic perspective. They’re drawn to accessories, aristocratic styling, and refined details. Salesmen are instructed to emphasize beauty, harmony, and the car’s “air of aristocracy” rather than practical considerations.

However, Walsh includes a stark warning about this customer type that reveals the harsh realities of 1920s credit sales. She notes that while these individuals possess “exquisite” mental ethics and “high ideals,” they’re also described as “weak in the temples”—the area of the skull supposedly governing “money sense.”

The manual states bluntly: “His promises are not always kept because he lacks physical stamina, sound business judgment and therefore full ability to make every payment, if the car is purchased on time.”

This is a remarkable admission. Walsh is essentially instructing salesmen to identify customers who will be drawn to expensive, luxurious vehicles but may lack the financial stability to complete installment payments. The manual doesn’t advise avoiding such sales—it simply warns salesmen to be aware of the credit risk.

Historical Context: Installment Buying and the 1920s Credit Revolution

This warning about the pear-shaped man’s payment reliability reflects one of the most significant transformations in American consumer culture: the rise of installment credit.

Before the 1920s, automobiles were primarily purchased with cash, limiting the market to wealthy consumers. General Motors’ creation of GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation) in 1919 revolutionized the industry by offering installment payment plans, allowing middle-class Americans to buy cars on credit.

By 1924, approximately three-quarters of all cars were purchased on installment plans. This credit revolution dramatically expanded the automobile market but also created substantial risk for manufacturers and dealers. Default rates could devastate a company’s finances.

Durant Motors, like its competitors, relied heavily on installment sales but constantly worried about payment defaults. Walsh’s warning about the “nervous type’s” questionable ability to complete payments reflects this very real business concern—one that would contribute to numerous automotive company failures during the subsequent Depression.

The Broader Picture: Five Temperaments and Sales Strategy

While the December 1924 article focuses on the circular and pear-shaped types, Walsh mentions three additional temperament categories that complete her system:

• The Bony Man (built on the principle of the square) wants substantiality and durability
• The Muscular Man (built on the principle of the oval) desires sport models with “snap and style” for country driving

Each type supposedly required different sales approaches, different vehicle recommendations, and different closing techniques. This systematic approach to sales psychology—however scientifically baseless—reflects the increasingly sophisticated (if misguided) sales methodologies being developed during this period.

Legacy: A Fascinating Window into Sales History

Today, this 1924 Durant Motors sales manual reads as both fascinating and absurd—a glimpse into an era when pseudoscience was regularly applied to business decisions, and when major corporations would embrace virtually any strategy that promised competitive advantage.

Physiognomy’s application to automobile sales represents a unique intersection of several 1920s phenomena: the explosive growth of the automotive industry, the rise of consumer credit, the popularity of pseudoscientific character assessment, and the increasingly desperate competition among automobile manufacturers.

While Durant Motors would fail within a decade (the company ceased production in 1932), the impulse to categorize and profile customers never disappeared. Modern consumer psychology, data analytics, and customer segmentation strategies serve similar purposes—attempting to predict buyer behavior and preferences. The difference, of course, is that contemporary methods rely on actual data and scientific methodology rather than jawline measurements and temple width.

This manual remains a remarkable artifact: simultaneously hilarious, disturbing, and illuminating. It reminds us that the “good old days” of business were often stranger than we imagine, and that our ancestors were just as capable of embracing questionable ideas when profits were at stake.

Want to explore the original source? Download unwatermarked, high-resolution scans of the complete December 1924 Character Reading magazine—perfect for further study, research, or graphic design projects. Get your digital copy here and dive deeper into this fascinating slice of 1920s business history.

Original Text: If You Were Selling a Car to These Men

(Transcribed from the December 1924 Issue of Character Reading)

If You Were Selling a Car to These Men

The Fourth of a Series of Articles from Lessons Compiled by Edna Purdy Walsh for the Durant Motors, Inc.

[Image: Five line drawings of men’s faces representing different temperaments. Four are arranged in a row at the top, and one is situated below the first face on the left.]

Five general temperaments we encounter nearly everywhere. In this article we discuss the round faced man at the upper right, and the pear shape faced man below.

THE bony man, built on the principle of the square, wants a car mainly for its substantiality.

The muscular man built on the principle of the oval wants an open sport model if possible, for its snap and style as well as its country driving possibilities.

We want to sell a car now, however, to the man at the extreme right, built on the principle of the circle.

Wherever we find circular lines in an individual we find the central interest of his life that of comfort. With all of his padding, he still insists on the padded deep chair, while, strange to say, the bony man minus the padding will sit for hours perfectly at home on a hard stiff chair.

The circular man wants a car therefore with deep seats. If his face is red, he is often interested in an open car but its seats must be comfortable and deep, and there must be a tonneau in back to carry people, for he is very sociable. The red faced vital man requires a great deal of oxygen, and he is more apt to be satisfied with an open car than is the stout man with the very pale face, dark eyes and dark hair.

If the hair is dark, the complexion dark or very pale, the eyes black or very dark brown, and the shoulders more narrow than the red faced man’s, then we find a vital temperament who likes an enclosed car—if possible a limousine.

This dark complexioned stout man with the dark white face does not like to travel unless he can travel in comfort and luxury. He is more exclusive than the other stout types—slower to buy, and not as enthusiastic on the surface. His manner is often lordly, and if possible, he wants a chauffeur. He does not drive Ford cars, for he likes dignity, and it is almost impossible to sell a small open car to him for his own use, if he has any money at all. When the complexion is dark and pale, the crown of the head fairly high, the head held back with dignity, and the hands perpetually cold, the stout individual has a great abundance of nitrogen in his make-up which keeps the circulation sluggish, hence this man or woman is looking for a closed car.

Wherever we find circles predominating in the make-up of an individual, however, we find as a general rule, a love of sociability, comfort and luxury.

It is easier to sell the vital round faced man with the short nose a car if you tell him that Mrs. So and So from the society columns drives this particular car than if you start a long winded argument on the mechanics of it.

A blue book of automobile owners will give the salesman ample knowledge of those who own certain cars, so that he can have a list of these people ready for the purchasers who love sociability more than engineering.

When demonstrating a car to a circular individual he likes to drive down the boulevards where he will pass the houses of his friends, more than he wishes to tear madly out in the country for a test on a hill. The broad shouldered red faced vital man likes the country tests, but the narrower shouldered ones who take on their weight at the hips and legs do not. They prefer the city.

The vital man usually pays his bills. We have a hard (Continued on Page 34.)

Page 34

If You Were Selling a Car to These Men. (Continued from Page 19.)

time finding these stout types in jail because they love comfort too much.

THE MENTAL OR NERVOUS TYPE

Very idealistic, a lover of beauty, luxury, and graceful lines in a car is the Nervous Temperament with the pear-shaped face at the lower right.

The musical sounding name of a car—the upholstery harmonizing with the woodwork—the flower vase—the instruments on the dashboard, the shape of the rear windows—the little lights on the running board—the little compartments for gloves and note paper—these are things which instantly catch the eye of the pear shaped face with the small pointed chin, hollowed cheeks, bright, large eyes, thin delicate nose, and width of the head above the temples.

This temperament is small and slight of body, worries a great deal about what people say, talks a great deal with bright animation, has high ideals, and little money—that is, little money by their own efforts, unless it is through some artistic pursuits such as music, art, dancing, etc.

Yet money and the artistic things it can bring interest this type more than anything else. They care for its results, but not enough for getting actual hold of the money themselves. They are weak in the temples, and wider just above them, indicating little money value sense.

These people are quick and like quick talk, artistic display of a car, and much respect paid to them in a refined way.

The beauty of a car and its accessories—the harmony of its sedan body—its air of aristocracy are points which the pear shaped face will tune in on in the salesman’s talk.

If the Mental, or Nervous type with the pear shaped face and slender pointed chin has money he is lavish with it. His hopes are very high if he does not possess money also. His mental ethics are exquisite. But his promises are not always kept because he lacks physical stamina, sound business judgment and therefore full ability to make every payment, if the car is purchased on time.

Want to explore the original source? Download unwatermarked, high-resolution scans of the complete December 1924 Character Reading magazine—perfect for further study, research, or graphic design projects. Get your digital copy here and dive deeper into this fascinating slice of 1920s business history.