Wytheville car dealer sells new car businesses

By WAYNE QUESENBERRY
The Wytheville Enterprise
Published: July 2, 2008

After 32 years as a new car dealership, Tucker Pontiac-Buick-Subaru Inc. is making some changes. The longtime Wytheville business has sold its General Motors franchise to Huff Chevrolet and the Subaru franchise to Huff Ford.

Tucker is now a used car dealership and a service center. The dealership closed the deal June 27.

“Business has not been great for new cars for the last few years,” noted Rick Tucker, president of the corporation. “In April 1977, we sold 40 new cars. We’ve not sold 40 new cars in over a year.”

The uncertain economy, an increase in imported vehicle sales and the rising cost of gasoline are factors, according to Tucker. Owners are keeping their automobiles longer or buying more fuel-economic vehicles.

He noted, “In 1976, a new Regal or Grand Prix cost about $7,000 and gas was 50 cents a gallon. The average price now is $25,000. That’s pretty even with inflation. Gas is the problem now.”

Except for a stint at the University of Tennessee and the U.S. Army, Tucker has been in the automotive dealership business most of his life. He and his brother Mike followed their late dad’s lead.

“Dad was in the car business,” Tucker stated. “He had had a dealership in Johnson City, Tenn., since 1947. He helped Mike and me get the dealership here in 1976.”

Mike Tucker sold his share of the business in 1978. Rick Tucker’s wife, Brenda, joined the corporation that year.
The Tuckers bought the business from Tulio Ramella who had owned and operated it since 1974. Ramella bought the dealership from the late Richard Oglesby, who had had the business since 1956.

Tucker Pontiac-Buick-Subaru Inc. was originally located in a then new building Ramella had constructed on Chapman Road. Rick Tucker bought the property his business now occupies in 1983.

“We were Tucker Pontiac-Buick in 1976,” he pointed out. “We added the Subaru in 1977. We brought Subaru to the area. It was not real known at the time. People didn’t even know how to say the name.”

Tucker’s expansion into Bland County as a Chevrolet dealership was short-lived. It lasted a couple of years before closing.

Automotive technology is the major change Tucker has witnessed during his 32-year career in the business. Computerization of vehicles, he said, is a whole new concept.

“It’s passing me by,” Tucker stated. “It used to be if a part broke you replaced the part. Now you have to put the vehicle on a computer and diagnose the trouble. You make more diagnosing the problem than you do fixing it.”

Technical training of employees and buying the necessary machinery and tools are realities of the business.

Most of Tucker’s 15 employees will keep their jobs. Closing of the dealership’s parts department may affect some of the workers.

“Wytheville has been good to us,” Tucker commented. “It has been a great environment to raise our kids in and we’ve made so many friends here. We consider Wytheville home. We do thank everybody who has supported us over the years. We appreciate it and we hope they’ll continue to let us take care of their automotive needs if possible.”

Wayne Quesenberry can be reached at 228-6611 or .