'97 Lumina brings me into the W-body fold

[Vetteman61]

Hello everyone,

 

I recently acquired a 1997 Lumina with a 3100 and somewhere around 136,xxx miles.  My cousin passed away and his wife game my family his Lumina because I had worked on his '56 Chevy Bel Air in the past.

 

My family owned a small GM dealership for 33 years.  It was one of the old, small, family owned dealerships.  When the government took over GM in 2009 they closed us, and most others like us down, in favor of the million dollar, corporate guys.  Our building was grandfathered in the franchise and had been there since the 20s.  We had neon signs in the showroom that had been there since the 50s.  We didn't make a fortune, but we had a wide range of loyal customers, some of which had never set foot on site in over 15 years.  They simply called, told us what they wanted and we delivered it to them.  It was common after work for my father and I to go pick up customers cars and leave loaner cars, and if they were elderly we would tow their cars in or change a battery in their driveway.  We actually had some customers that have sworn off GM vehicles because of how we were treated during the closing.  As a result, I typically drive older GM vehicles because I'm more familiar with them, but I don't know much about the mechanical workings of vehicles passed the 80s.

 

One neat thing about this car is that we sold it new and after it was traded back in my cousin had bought it.  Now it's come back.  It seems relatively well cared for.  Since my cousin was incapacitated for the last year or so of his life the car sat outside and gathered some mold and dirt.  I plan to compound and polish it back out and I think it will be a fine looking example.

 

Thanks

[Imp558]

Welcome!

[Psych0matt]

Welcome aboard!!! Post up some pictures

[MemphisMan]

Welcome aboard.  The family dealership you describe is one of the things I miss about the world today.  The simple act of changing a battery in a driveway...helping out an elderly person because if felt right, not just trying to make a buck, sounds like something I would've done.  Today, you might get fired for something like that.  Sounds like a great dealership you had.  

[95GS]

Welcome, nice history.

[Vetteman61]

Thanks guys.  I'm back from vacation and started to work on it today.

[Imp558]

Check ouut the write ups in the faqs section, there's a lot of good information in there. Also we use the "Whatever" thread as kind of a wall for nothing but fun stuff, come on in.

[Euro]

Welcome!  Great story, too bad it had a sad ending like most other GM dealerships like that across the country.  Post up some pictures of the Lumina, and of the dealer if you have any oldies! 

 

 

Similar story to the Chevy dealer in my hometown.  Had been in the same town since the 1930s, I believe the last building was the 2nd..the other was downtown until the 80s.  Closed up after the bail out and operated as a used car lot for a year or so until it folded up.  Both buildings are still there.  

[Deb T]

Gotta love trickle-down economics, huh?

[Vetteman61]

Thanks guys.  I'm not sure sure it was trickle-down economics as much as government manipulation in a free market.  Had GM not become bloated and arrogant and aware of a safety net, they would have responded to the market better or they would have failed and been bought out.

[Nas Escobar]

GM was always bloated as a company, but it became an issue in the 80's when there was no reason to buy an Olds over a Buick when they both had the same Chevy V6 or Buick V6 and the only difference was trim.