Dealership still hits home runs at 100
By Tom Hennessy
It was 1927, the year the astonishing George Herman Ruth would hit his record 60 home runs.
Before the season began, however, word leaked out that the New York Yankees, including the Babe and first baseman Lou Gehrig, soon to become known as baseball's "Iron Horse," were to visit Long Beach to play an exhibition game.
This was an astonishing event, and in an automobile showroom on Anaheim Street, entrepreneur Glenn E. Thomas wondered how to make the most of it. His plan, when he came up with one, was simple but effective. Ruth and Gehrig were hunters. So was Thomas. He invited them to join him at a local hunting club, figuring they couldn't resist. They didn't.
A photo was taken on the great day; Ruth and Gehrig in hunting attire with the somewhat diminutive Thomas standing between them. Since magnified about a zillion times, it covers a wall of the Glenn E. Thomas showroom, which in 1990 moved to 2100 E. Spring St. The photo is too big to miss. On my first visit to the showroom, early in 1980, the first person I saw was Babe Ruth
The Ruth-Gehrig photo was a small step in a business story that began in 1909 when Glenn's father, Walter, founded the Long Beach Auto Co. on Pacific Avenue. Now 100 years old and renamed Glenn E. Thomas, the company is believed to be the oldest car dealership in Long Beach.
The first cars sold by the dealership were made by E.M.F., a company that merged with Studebaker in 1911. Glenn Thomas soon purchased the Long Beach Auto Co. from his father. In 1934, he entered a franchise agreement with the Chrysler Corp. and became a Dodge dealership.
Wild-goose chase
Rising from the Great Salt Lake, the Bear River flows 350 miles through Idaho and Wyoming, then back into Utah. It is a popular locale for hunters, and in 1944 Glenn Thomas, still an avid hunter, tried his luck there.
World War II was coming to an end by then, and Thomas hired J. Lamont Davis, a young local man home on leave as a Navy fighter pilot, to be his guide. Davis' son, Bob, tells what happened.
"A goose was wounded, and my dad chased it for about a mile to retrieve it." Thomas was bowled over. "`If you have that kind of determination,"' he told Davis, "there is a place for you in my car dealership. Dad came down the following year and started in the parts department."
Monte, as Davis was known, brought with him his bride, Alene. As Thomas had predicted, Davis found a place in the dealership. In 1968, after serving as general manager, Monte became sole owner of Glenn Thomas Dodge, now the third-largest Dodge dealership in California.
Generation gave way to generation. In 1992, the dealership moved to its present facility in Signal Hill, near the 405 Freeway. Bob had considered a career as a sports broadcaster after graduating from Brigham Young University, but found he spoke too slowly to describe the lightning pace of sports announcing.
"I had always been involved with the dealership since working on the wash rack when I was 12." He began working more significant hours after turning 16, learning the business from his father, who died two years ago at age 83.
"He taught me four things that really stuck," says Bob. "First, treat people, including employees, as you would like to be treated. Second, cash is king. Third, there is always someone or something that will lead an assault on your capital, so protect it. This advice really helped during the recent economic crisis."
And "in good times," Monte had said, "one dealership is enough; in bad times, two is too many." Says Bob, "That really hit home in 2008-2009." Instead of expanding, they crossed their fingers to exorcise the economic dragon breathing down their necks.
Looking up
In mid-year, things took an upturn. Glenn Thomas acquired the Chrysler-Jeep franchise, and Chrysler announced an alliance with Italian carmaker Fiat. And President Barack Obama launched the Cash for Clunkers program, which, says Bob, prompted a significant boost in dealership visits. He expects Fiats to be on display soon at the Signal Hill facility.
At age 58, and despite recent setbacks, Bob Davis seems pleased by his 100-year-old dealership's prospects for the future. Two of the reasons are his sons, Brad and John, who "are currently working with us and doing well."
Bob has two married sisters, Susan and Nancy. Both are Dodge fans, but have shown no inclination to get into the auto business. (Bob drives a Jeep Grand Cherokee.)
He also has a not-so-silent partner, Alene Davis, the bride who more than 60 years ago accompanied her husband, Monte, from Utah to Long Beach.
"My mother never worked here, but her contributions to my Dad's career are immeasurable. She was a great sounding board for him as he dealt with the daily challenges of business, and also possessed a sharp business mind and helped him with his business plan.
"When she first came to Long Beach, she worked for a bank. She has always a been really good with numbers and handled their personal finances as well as recommendations for our business. She still reviews our ads in the newspaper and loves to keep me abreast on what other dealers are doing."
In this age of bankruptcies and other business failures, the Davis family has thrived on old-fashioned values, and bit of help from a wounded goose.
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