I was having a beer on the weekend going through the post match technical analysis with some of the disappointed Redmen, when as it often does, inspiration as to how to describe Grafton’s uniqueness came to me. Circumstances could have been different, our gallant Redmen tried their hearts out for us but came up empty in Lismore on Saturday afternoon, while they were understandably disappointed they were not disheartened or dispirited and are looking forward, in healthy anticipation, to going at it again next year.

I digress, inspiration, yes for some time I have known there was something special about Grafton but have been unable to describe it. Lubricated by good cheer it occurred to me that Grafton is one of the most underrated places I have ever been to, but why is that?. For months I have been copping ‘why Grafton?’ from family and friends down south I now know why.

The Pacific Highway is partially to blame kissing the town on the gentlest of tangents, but mainly it is the solid, productive and cautious nature of Graftonians. This psyche has allowed the town to prosper without the need to attract a transient population either through education, government interference or in particular by attracting backpacker tourism. To my knowledge, I don’t know of a backpacker hostel in town, there may be one, but it certainly isn’t Bondi.

Over the years as streams of tourists particularly younger ones have returned home to wax lyrical about their amazing adventures on NSW North coast Grafton has been conspicuous in its absence in these recollections. So over the years Grafton missed out on becoming sexy to travellers. Is this a bad thing, not unless you miss street crime, unemployment, noise, drug cultures, graffiti and the social problems encountered by the sexier neighbouring towns along the coast.

The cautious nature of the Graftonian psyche manifests itself in many ways. From the beautifully preserved homes (and cars), to the time it took the get the recently approved shopping centre development through, but most of all to a manifestly undersold community in general. Whether or not we need to market ourselves more aggressively, or even change at all, is a complex and two sided debate for smarter blokes than me. I am just glad I have more of a handle on the situation.

What does all that mean to us here at Mighty River. Firstly our selling style is very different to our industry peers. Hard as it is to swallow we are prepared to walk away from business, knowing they may buy out of town, rather than crunch a local. I don’t mind telling you it was a lot different in Sydney, the hugely competitive market required and expects dealers to be aggressive. The sales interface was a once only experience, a lot like dentistry, and not a particularly pleasant one. Doing business in Grafton is far more civilised, we try to be farmers instead of a hunters, always looking at the bigger picture .In Sydney I used to wonder where all the cars went we sold, they just seemed to disappear, no such problem in Grafton, I see them every where, every day, by the way the bips and waves are appreciated. To be fair from what I have seen, all local dealers operate on the same basis. What does hurt is when we see the hunters out of town belt locals. Used to do it myself, check where the folks came from and if it was from a long way away, get stuck in, knowing Id only have one shot and if they escaped Id never see them again, either way it didn’t matter..

The message today I suppose is that we buy our cars from the same shop as City and bigger provincial dealers and can compete with them in every respect, except occasionally time of supply, it might take us a week or two extra to get the car. We would rather assist locals buy from out of town using our knowledge and experience, than see them risk getting smashed, not just because we are good blokes, but also because for us there’s always next time.

Happy motoring,

Spratty