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'Ohana Dealerships
Courtesy of:
Hawaii Motorbeat Monthly
By
Paul Maddox
Yet another great thing about living
on the Big Island is that we still pretty much have kama'aina
family-owned car and motorcycle dealerships.
I suppose there must be some benefit
to buying at a Superdealer who carries a smorgasbord of domestic and
imported cars and trucks. But I always liked it the original way ~
buying from a local family who'd been selling the same brand for
generations. We knew our Ford dealer knew his product inside and
out, and he had sales and service people who knew even more.
That's all the Miller's sold. The old
black and white photos on the wall told me all I needed to know
about the family. There was grandpa, who started the dealership back
when it all began, as a teenager grinnin' ear-to-ear with his arm
around Henry Ford himself. They were at the races somewhere.
There was a smattering of other old
photos from bygone races with a variety of cars, all had "Miller
Ford" on the side. The family was either racing in or sponsoring
local jalopy bullring events from the beginning.
It was certainly true in Hawai'i as
well. 'Dutch' Schumann, whose family had the GM distributorship on
O'ahu, raced in the old Honolulu Stadium with cohorts like Jimmy
Pflueger and Al Montgomery, the Harley-Davidson dealer in Hawai'i.
When muscle cars exploded in the 60's,
it was the family dealers carrying the banners to war every weekend
at Kahuku or Hawai'i Raceway Park. Castner Ford was the first
sponsor for Earle 'Safari' Char's Galaxy Super Stocker. Universal
and Hawaiian Motors put big Hemi Mopar's on the track and George
Murphy's Aloha Motors helped plenty of customers with performance
Chevys and Oldsmobile's.
When the imports first began to
trickle into the islands, it was Tommy Fukinaga who got the Servco
Toyota name on cars and banners at local races.
They were successful because the early
car dealers were generally car guys. They loved 'em, raced 'em, sold
'em and built their family lives and businesses around them.
Today, one by one, the mom and pop
dealerships are disappearing as mega-lots buy them out. Now we have
salesfolk who could just as well be selling you a refrigerator. They
know lots about financing "to-put-you-in-this-car-today" ~ but very
little about the actual vehicle. Only now and then do you find a
modern car dealer who actually loves cars.
So I was very pleased to hear the Big
Island's DeLuz family is going to fire-up the defunct Chevy line in
Hilo, and hopefully Kona as well. Judging from the job they've done
with the Toyota brand, I think Chevy sales will return stronger than
ever. And... we avoided having the first of the Mega Dealers poke a
toe into our Hawai'i Island lives. For now anyway.
Enjoy your September Motorbeat ~ see
you Oct. 1st!
Aloha ~ PM
Hawaii Motorbeat Monthly
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More from Paul Maddox at:
www.hawaiimotorbeat.com
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