Bethlehem automobile dealership ending its 85-year run

By Patrick Thornton
The Morning Call

Jack Jones Buick at W. Broad Street and Second Avenue in Bethlehem wasn't the flashiest car dealership.

The wood paneling in the main showroom was decades old, the phones at the bare-bones sales stations were discolored with age.

But customers didn't come to Jack Jones Buick for the glitz and glamour.

They came for the customer service.

For 21 years, Honey Raider made a two-hour trek from Manhattan to Jack Jones Buick to buy new cars and have them serviced.

Raider endured the traffic backups at the Lincoln Tunnel and the long trip because she didn't like other Buick dealerships she tried.

"You're not just a number when you go in there," she said.

Now, Raider and other loyal customers will have to find a new dealership. On Dec. 21, Jack Jones, 80, and son, Scott, 52 and the company president since 1991, sold Jack Jones Buick to Key Pontiac-GMC on Route 512 in Hanover Township, Northampton County. While Jack Jones is no longer selling new Buicks, it will remain open until all the used cars at the site are sold.

Key President Gregory Gulick has said the deal was discussed for years. General Motors wants individual Buick, Pontiac and GMC franchises to combine in an effort to make them more competitive, and the company has been trying to make the Buick and Pontiac lines complementary.

Many of Jack Jones' former customers say they are skeptical of larger dealerships.

"I don't care how big and shiny it is," said Keith Rust, a customer of 50 years. "I had a personal relationship with Scott and Jack."

Over the years, Rust estimates he purchased 60 to 70 vehicles from Jack Jones for personal and professional use as company cars. "I could call him at home," he said. "I could call him on Sundays."

Jack Jones Buick was No. 1 in sales and No. 8 in service out of the 63 Buick franchises in its northeast sales region in GM's October 2005 report for customer satisfaction. In an era of mega-dealers, Jack Jones was doing it the old-fashioned way, the kind of place where everyone knew your name.

"I'm amazed on how many customers actually took the time to stop by and say "Hello' and said thank you to me, thank you to our people and thank you to our dealership," Scott Jones said. "We're the ones who should have been saying thank you to them."

Jack Jones contends his was the oldest Buick dealership in the Lehigh Valley, founded in 1921 when it was Miller Buick.

He got started in the automobile business after World War II and worked at several Buick dealerships. One day in 1961, he got a call from one of the owners of Miller Buick.

They wanted Jones to become their general manager and help jump-start their ailing franchise. In 1964, Bob Miller approached Jones and asked him if he'd like to buy the dealership.

"Buy it?" Jones recalled answering. "All I got are kids and bills. I haven't got any money."

The Millers offered him an unbelievable deal -- they would increase his salary to cover the payments each month.

Jones couldn't pass up the opportunity. In 1971, Jones became the sole partner and changed the name to Jack Jones Buick. He said he took the franchise from selling six cars in one month to selling almost 500 cars a month during peak years.

Jack Jones Buick is one of the last of its kind as the business trends toward larger dealerships. It usually had around 100 new cars on display, but most dealerships now have several hundred -- if not thousands -- on hand. All that's left at Jack Jones Buick are a few used cars, office equipment and mementos dating back over 80 years.

In the upstairs showroom the two biggest are tucked away and covered -- a '65 Electra convertible and '78 Regal. Jack Jones' favorite Buicks are the convertibles of yesteryear and his shiny '65 Electra is in mint condition. His son hopes the car will one day be his.

No decisions have been made on what to do with the property. The family could sell it and sit on the money, but Scott Jones said he has no intentions of doing that.

"Plus I'm concerned about my father," he said. "He needs a place to go every day." Jack Jones is retired, but still shows up daily in a sport coat and tie. He reads the local papers and helps out around the office.

Customers like Raider and Rust will also have to adjust, perhaps with a little help from their longtime friends. Scott Jones put in a call to another dealership to make sure Raider, his loyal customer from Manhattan, would be well taken care of.

Raider then prepped her car for the new dealership: "I did say to my car, "Please don't be upset, it's a different place."'