From 1979-82, all the local GM dealerships were folded into one. First the Chevy and Buick dealerships closed, then a local oil distributor decided he wanted to be able to buy new Chevy trucks, so he bought the Olds dealership--at the owner was looking to retire--and then added Buick and Chevy. The dealership muddled along until about 1990-1991, when a multiline GM dealer from another county bought the dealership and made the previous owners "vice-presidents". That meant that they were partners in a dealership with the new owner's name, and had to share in the losses but had next to nothing to say about how the dealership was run.
About the same time, the local Pontiac-GMC dealer was told by GM that he either had to build a new building or give up the franchise. He'd been in the same location since the 1940's, and really never did a huge volume anyway, so he continued as a truck and school bus repair shop and added Bobcat rentals to his business when GM went away to the multiline dealership.
The local Ford dealer's franchise is probably safe, because Ford built the dealership in the early 1980's as a dealer-development shop, since the dealer is a black man in a predominantly white community. He recently remodeled the place, and Ford will probably keep him around as long as possible.
The local Mopar dealer started out selling used cars in the '60's with his two brothers as partners, and they managed to get a Chrysler/Plymouth Dodge dealership in about '68. Unfortunately, they built in a part of town that's now off the beaten path, since the bypass and I-64 went in around 1973-74. Two of the brothers died in a farm accident about 20 years ago, and the surviving brother has become a bit of a community philanthropist, as well as building a reputation for fair deals, especially making sure that widows and old folks are treated fairly in his shop. Odds are that the number-crunchers at Chrysler won't be impressed by all this, if his sales numbers drop off.
The county immediately west of here has NO new car dealers, the last one closing shop in the late '80's as well. So that's a consideration in keeping the current dealerships open.
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Today's Featured Article - A Brief History of Tractors in Australia - by Bob Kavanagh. After Captain Cook's exploration of the east coast in 1770 the British Government decided to establish a penal colony in Australia. The first fleet arrived in 1788 and consisted mainly of convicts who were poorly equipped and new little of farming techniques. The colony remained far from self-supporting and it was not until the early 1800's that things started to improve. Free settlers started to arrive, they followed the explorers across the mountains and where land was suitable set up farms. T
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