With my life getting a little complicated about the same time this 100 year old dealership was recognized just before GM pulled the plug and terminated the 100 year old continously operated by one family dealership!
Today it is unheard of for a pioneer car dealership to have continued from the early days of motorized transport into the new millennium of mega impersonal dealerships so lets go back to 1921
Wayland NY is where Guy Bennett Sr. opened a new Buick dealership, just to put that in a better light it has been the longest continuously operating Buick dealership and that it has been run by the same family for 93 years!
Guy Bennett Jr. met me in the showroom and took me to his house where 2 buildings full of family,Buick and Wayland NY memories were displayed.
Mr. Bennett saved and kept a diary of just about everything
Guy Bennett Jr is writing a book, a chronicle of early dealerships, Buick's, his life and Wayland NY.
He showed the latest pages speaking of the ferries that once transported New Buick's from Detroit to Buffalo Buick region across Lake Erie following the conversion of those boats into aircraft carriers to train naval pilots.Many a plane went into Lake Erie and he told of an encounter with a diver who was able to explore some of these wrecked aircraft
Wayland is famous for Gunlocke furniture, much of it was in the White House and the dealership was full of custom made pieces. Buick has been trying to update this dealership including a corporate furniture replacement. He told them he has Gunlocke and they backed off!
I was directed to the trophy case and given a sign that explained the trophies represent more than an accolade, but are reminders of time spent with friends and fellow collectors, the expreience was more important than the trophy
Not too many of these were built and this one is very unusual as it has steel spoked wheels,but no side mount spare, a very unusual rear mount came on the car when new
They kept this one from day one,it is as new
Much of the clothing was his wife's including in one corner the dress she wore in the Church when they wed
The Riviera above has photos of previous owners, 1st owner was a foreman for Gunlocke
Every car had a story and if I remember this one below was sold to one of his grade school teachers and sent back for the collection eventually
This is one of the 1981 Buick's that took part in the Indy 500 race activities and still has all the added numbering IDs still in place
600 miles on this GNX
On the way back to the dealership Mr. Bennett stopped by the home he was raised in and the one his dad was raised in, all within spitting distance of the dealership.The man is very proud of this town and extremely proud of his dads accomplishments.
This is not a museum,but if you reach out Mr. Bennett is glad to give you a tour and some great stories!
I will update when his book is finished
I'll take th GNX please.
ReplyDeleteI was googling things and this came up. Glad to see you enjoyed visiting my grandpa! My dad has a bunch of cars in his barn, did you get to see the GSX and the Corvettes?
ReplyDeleteElyse your Grandpa is a great guy and I am glad he is putting all his stories and early car dealer stories in a book!
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