How it all began…

1981 was a very bad year .

I had just gotten divorced, was forced to sell my house, gotten dumped by the  ’other’  woman, quit my job, become homeless, totaled my car…and lost my self-respect…all in the space of 12 months.

Yes, 1981 was a very bad year.

During that year I also learned how to ride a motorcycle, out of necessity, because I had no car (it was totaled, remember) and all I could afford was a used rice burner.  And to top it off, I was renting a room in a house for twenty bucks a week.

As I said, 1981 was not a good year.

But then 1982 rolled around.

And one March day as I scanned the classifieds, I found a local Pontiac/Buick/Isuzu/GMC dealer looking for a car salesman. I had had very little experience in sales (although I had briefly been a Realtor) and decided to give it a shot. I set up the appointment and, on a brisk Monday morning, rode my motorcycle, striped tie flapping in the breeze, to the dealership for the interview.

And, as fate would have it, I was hired on the spot. Thus began my three decades long love/hate relationship with the retail end of the car business.