Frank Hutchins entered the car wash business in 1958. He was hired at Constan’s Car Wash in Columbia, South Carolina.
When I asked Frank how he came into the business he replied, “Looking for a job.”
As Frank worked his way into management, a very unique marketing opportunity came into Frank’s life.
Esso, whose gas brand was used at the car wash, began a marketing scheme that used the jingle, “Put a Tiger in Your Tank!”
There were several prongs to the scheme. I remember as a pre-schooler watching my mom and dad collect those tiger glasses and the matching pitcher as premiums for purchasing Esso gasoline.
As a more complex part of the scheme, Esso teamed with Marlin Perkins of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom fame to get baby tigers into the hands of dealers so they could put them on display and create a draw from the public.
This opportunity was seized on by the innovative owner of Constan’s Car Wash and his right-hand man, Frank Hutchins.
Happy the Tiger arrived in Columbia, South Carolina, weighing in at a whopping 12 pounds, and her health and well-being fell into the hands of a car wash manager.
Imagine searching for a manager today who could wear the dual hats of running a massive car wash operation and become the successful surrogate father to a tiger. Frank Hutchins was no ordinary man, and Constan’s was no ordinary car wash.
Constan’s was averaging around 30,000 full-service cars a month at the Gervais St. location, where the Tiger resided. When I asked Frank about their record for number of cars washed in a day, he replied promptly, “3,300”! He said it took 90 employees to accomplish this feat.
Frank told me recently about “the best marketing concept I have ever seen.”
Perry: My wife and I moved to Columbia shortly after we were married in 1984, and as we rode past Constan’s, my wife exclaimed, “That’s where Happy the Tiger lived.” What can you tell me about Happy the Tiger?
Frank: We bought the tiger from Marlin Perkins up in Chicago. We bought the cub, and she weighed only 12 pounds. She was shipped here and we built a place for her to stay on a trailer. When we got her, I had to feed her every two hours, like a child. I have forgotten how long that had to go on.
Perry: Wow! Milk?
Frank: It was a formula. I took care of her for a long time, like a child. The mortality rate on cats at that time was about 90 percent, so for us to raise the cat and make it survive was phenomenal, as far as they were concerned.
Marlin and his helper, Jim, would call all the time and see how the cat was doing because they did not expect the cat to live. They never thought we could do it.
We got her up to where we could feed her food and of course, it was six days a week, I fed her beef for five days, a chicken for one day, and one day she had to fast. I also had to give her vitamins and minerals, as well as a couple of prescribed pills. I gave this to her in the cavity of a chicken.
Perry: Well, I have to tell you, I have never talked to a car wash guy with your experience. How long did this go on?
Frank: Til the 70s.
Perry: So she lived 15 or 20 years?
Frank: Yes. We gave her to the zoo, and she lived another 5 years. We had a drawing, and the winner got to be recognized as the person who contributed the tiger to the zoo.
It was an experience.
Perry: As a marketing scheme, do you think the tiger was successful?
Frank: Oh, yes, it was wonderful. All the schools would bring their children there as their day trip, and we had bus loads and bus loads as long as we had her. We had a cage for her during the day and a different one at night. She was used to the noise of people, and it did not bother her. When she went to the zoo, they closed her off and I think she grieved herself to death.
Perry: Did you get in the cage with her?
Frank: Oh yes, and I played with her until she was 350 pounds. I played with her every day.
Frank and his team displayed Happy in the local parades and made the front page of the paper each Christmas as Happy wished a generation of Columbians a “Happy Christmas.”
Frank went on to own several Frank’s Car Washes and a successful distributorship in South Carolina.