A Conversation With ... Don Wessel

I started in 1954, and came to Springfield in 1966. I went to law school for about a year and a half. This was way back when a lawyer coming out of law school made about $50 a week as a go-fer. I got a weekend job selling Chevrolets, and I made more on the weekend than I would have made in a full year as a freshman lawyer. Chevrolets back in 1954 and 1955 were hot … . And that’s how I got into selling cars, for a Chevrolet dealer in Cincinnati, Ohio, where I’m from. I did that for a while, and that dealer was kind enough to ask me if I would like to be a dealer … so we bought a Buick dealership in Tulsa in 1962. At that time, Buick was not near as hot as Chevrolet. It didn’t work out, so I sold it and moved to Springfield in 1966.

When you came to Springfield, you had an Oldsmobile dealership?

Yes, only Oldsmobile. In 1972, a young man from Honda came by and said, ‘Would you like to be a Honda dealer?’ and I said, ‘I don’t ride motorcycles.’ But he said it was cars. In 1972, little Honda cars were almost unknown to everybody. So I said yes. It started off kind of slow, and then came the fuel crisis in 1973 … Hondas exploded. It’s just grown since then.

The Oldsmobile line dissolved four years ago. Do you miss it?

We don’t miss Oldsmobile one single bit.

You recently moved into a new showroom. What has helped your success?

Our staff is very, very stable. All of my salesmen have been here at least 10 years. … My son, Jon, runs the Honda part, and Randy Madsen, my son-in-law, runs the used car department. They’re all waiting for me to die (laughs). Every morning they say, ‘How are you feeling?’ I work six days a week but they’ve got to have a day off during the week. I’m 80 years old and they’re only 40 or 45, so they have more vigor than I do. We’re very cozy … the service department employees also have been here a long time. … We sell an average of 100 or so cars a month.

How have gas prices affected business?

Of course, that’s what makes Honda such a valuable (product) right now … economy. Whenever gas goes up a couple of cents, we trade a lot of pickup trucks and SUVs. If gas goes to $3 a gallon, we’ll never be able to get enough Hondas.

How has selling cars changed?

You still have the sticker on the car, and you still have the used car to worry about. Everybody’s got a trade-in, and they want the most that they can get for it, and we’re going to try to give them the most they can get for it. But sometimes, they think it’s worth a lot more than it really is. … We used to have new-car announcements. We used to have to put brown paper on our showroom windows (to) hide the new cars, because they had big, big to-dos when there was a new car. It was a big thing. Now, it’s ‘Get rid of it,’ no matter what you have to do. We used to have search lights at night, and had to do a five-minute presentation to everybody who walked through the door (when there was a new car). But anymore, if (the cars) are coming in, move them, all because of the manufacturers.

How would you describe competition in this market?

Well, of course it’s always stiff, but it depends on the franchise you have. Toyota’s my competitor. When I was an Oldsmobile dealer, we worried about Buick and Pontiac. Right now, the market for domestic cars is disturbing … but we’re all good friends. We have a dealers’ association and we sit around and talk once a month. … George Thompson (of Thompson Pontiac-GMC-Cadillac-Saab) lives right next door to me, so we check out what each other is driving.

What was your first car, and what cars do you have now?

My very first car was a 1938 Oldsmobile that I had to park on a hill so it would start. I drove it to college. I’m a bit of a collector, unfortunately. I’ve got a couple of Rolls Royces, a Jaguar, three or four Cadillacs. I’m a Cadillac collector, mainly, because I always wanted to be a Cadillac dealer, but I settled for Chevrolet and Oldsmobile. Somebody always calls me with some kind of a car for sale. But I’m backing up on that … the darn things are starting to get in the way. You have to drive them once in awhile, and I get tired on a hot day, driving a car with no air conditioning. Every Saturday afternoon, I drive a couple of cars. Early on Sunday mornings, I take my Rolls Royce out. I love my old cars.

What else do you like to do for fun?

My wife passed away five years ago. I have a wonderful friend, Rosie Simon, and we have dinner once in awhile. I spend a lot of time at The Moxie. I’m not a golfer. I always worked too hard to waste my time on a golf course. I played tennis for about 25 years, then the legs went bad. When you get to be 70 or 75, the legs don’t go like they used to. But I’m very happy.[[In-content Ad]]