Goodwrench Service Commercial 1986

 

Goodwrench took to the airwaves in 1977 as a way to market General Motors franchised dealers' service departments, replacing a patchwork of separate GM-divisional offerings. At the time, GM marketed vehicles in the US under the Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC brands. 

The Mr. Goodwrench program, as originally conceived, required each dealer to adhere to a set of service delivery standards: requiring high levels of factory training, parts on hand, and service department amenities. The program was backed with a national advertising campaign which featured the iconic Mr. Goodwrench, as the helpful mechanic who could fix whatever ailed your vehicle.

Through several iterations, the advertising campaign worked its way into the lexicon of Americana by becoming shorthand for someone who can fix things. For many years, Jay Leno included his portrayal of Mr. Badwrench, the Evil Twin of Mr. Goodwrench in his stand-up act; The NASA Space shuttle astronauts compared themselves to "Mr. Goodwrench" when they were fixing the Hubble Space Telescope. Beginning in 1995, the brand was changed to become GM Goodwrench Service. In 1997, the word "Plus" was added, and they dropped the word the "Mr." and the human representations.

In February 2011, General Motors phased out the Goodwrench brand in the United States, as it sought to focus its marketing efforts on its four brands. The Goodwrench name was still used for service in Canada until March 2014 when GM Goodwrench was re-branded as GM Certified Service.