Tears of joy at Conyers dealership
Any question about the stress and apprehension Chrysler dealers were feeling was removed Thursday morning when Steve Harris pulled a piece of paper out of a UPS Express envelope at Town and Country Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Conyers.
"We are pleased to inform you . . ." Harris began to read from a letter. He broke down before finishing. It was all he needed to read.
"We're OK," Harris said, fighting back tears of joy. "We're moving ahead." Then he called his wife, Judy.
Weeks of uncertainty disappeared with the news contained in the one-page letter from Jim Press, vice chairman and president of Chrysler LLC.
About 3,200 such letters arrived at Chrysler dealerships throughout the nation by 10 a.m. Thursday morning. But about 800 -- or 25 percent -- of those letters informed dealers they were being cut from the "new company."
Town and Country, the dealership Harris has owned since 1997, was one of the lucky ones.
"I can't tell you how I feel for the people that are getting the other letter," said Harris, who had just returned from a Bible study class when he got the news. "Most people have invested their whole financial lives in these businesses. It's just very unfortunate for the ones that didn't make it."
Harris, a Smyrna native who has been in the automobile industry since he graduated from the University of Georgia in 1966, has been associated with Town and Country since 1995. He said he and his 50 or so employees have been "sitting on pins and needles" for weeks as they awaited news of whether they survived the struggling automaker's reorganization.
At first they thought a decision would come last week. Then they were informed by the company headquarters that a letter was going to arrive Thursday telling them whether or not they were "moving ahead."
"What the criteria was, I have no idea," Harris said. "No one did."
"It's been stressful," said Scott Harris, Steve's son and general manager of the dealership. "We've just worked our guts out around here trying to take care of our customers and get this thing pushed to the other side. For us, this is a family business and we're just happy for our employees and their families."
Scott joined his father as general manager four years ago. Another son, Walker, is apprenticing in the body shop.
Having received the good news, Steve Harris told his son to "burn a copy" of the letter for every employee. A short time later, the rock music playing over the dealership's sound system was turned up a notch or two.
"It's just a relief for everybody right now," said Robert Land, 44, who has been Harris's service manager for 10 years and worked with Chrysler since 1985. "Everybody knew what was going on. It's been all over the news and the Internet. We didn't know what was going to happen. I thought I was going to have to go back to turning wrenches."
Town and Country has been in business in Conyers for more than 30 years, and times are still tough. The dealership has cut back significantly on its inventory and sales are slow. The majority of the revenue is being produced on the service side of the business.
"I didn't think Chrysler could let this one go because it's been so good for so long," Land said. "Business is slow. We've all had to take pay cuts. But we're surviving."
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