Chamberlain Motor Company being sold

It put Clarendon on the map in terms of car sales and engrained the city’s location in the minds of people throughout the Tri-State area. But in just a few days, Chamberlain Motor Company will be no more.

Officials with the dealership confirmed this week the sale of the business to Mark Suna of Dallas, a deal which is expected to be finalized as soon as General Motors gives its approval.

Trey Chamberlain, whose father Fred E. Chamberlain, Jr., established the business in 1956, says it’s a time of mixed emotions for him and his family. Ultimately, Trey’s health led to the decision to sell.

“We talked about it,” he said. “But it was my decision, and they agreed with me.”

The motor company had seen many changes over the years. The business used the slogan “The Happy Face Place” before Fred Chamberlain came up with something better about 35 years ago – “It’s downhill all the way to Chamberlain Motor Company in Clarendon.”

“My father came up with that,” Trey said. “It’s from a song that he liked which said, ‘It’s down hill and shady all the way.’”

The use of that catch phrase in radio and television commercials forever associated Clarendon with Chamberlain’s and vice versa. The popular slogan even inspired a copycat for a brief time several years ago when a Claude business claimed it was “Halfway down the hill.”

“Dad was pleased with the popularity [of the slogan] and the fact that the name Chamberlain was linked to Clarendon.”

In the course of the business’ life, three generations of Chamberlains have worked there at one time or another. Fred got his start as a used car dealer before starting Chamberlain Motor Company in the location it still occupies today.

“He started with Buick, Pontiac, and GMC trucks,” Trey said. “Later, he added Oldsmobile and Cadillac.” In 1991, Chamberlain’s became a full-line GM dealer when the Chevrolet franchise was added.

Fred’s wife Jean kept books for the dealership for more than two decades, and Trey grew up around the dealership and got his first job there at an early age.

“I started work hoeing weeds in the fifth grade,” he said. “I got an inside job in the parts department when I got my drivers license at 14.”

After attending local schools, Trey attended and graduated from the General Motors Institute. He went to work for GM and Buick and joined the engineering team for Opal cars. During his time with GM, Trey worked on the team that put the first electronic fuel injection system on a car made in America.

He came back to Clarendon in 1975 and took on the role of general manager because Fred was in poor health. He planned on going back to work for GM, but when Fred’s health improved, they embarked on an enlargement of the business and in 1978 built a new showroom and office building adjacent to the old combination showroom-parts department-service center.

Upon Fred’s death in 1980, Trey took on the leadership of the business. His sister Carol worked for the business after college, and in due course, Trey’s children, Chris and Catherine, also spent time employed by the family business.

Trey said the early- and mid-1980s were good years for business with a resurgence in the early-1990s, but he can’t say that was the pinnacle of the motor company.

“I think the high point for the dealership may still be down the road,” he said.

The business and the family suffered a blow in 2001 with the death of Jean Chamberlain, but it was Trey’s coming down with pancreatitis in 1996 that really brought on the need to sell.

“I just couldn’t work at it any more,” he said. “It needs someone who can work it 18 hours a day.”

While selling the business his father built is bittersweet, Trey Chamberlain says he’s happy about who is buying it.

“[Suna] will become part of the community,” he said. “I did not entertain offers from corporate dealers who would not live here. And I left some money on the table because of that. But I did it because I was scared that they might fire a bunch of people and just use the dealership for the franchises.”

Chamberlain says the sale probably won’t fully dawn on him until he wakes up one morning to realize he’s no longer responsible for a tremendous overhead – not in terms of physical inventory but in terms of being one of the city’s largest employers.

“Your decision is what makes [the employees’] lives better or worse,” he said. “That a responsibility you can never get over.”

Other reality checks are not as weighty. During the interview, Chamberlain stops suddenly like there was something he hadn’t thought of before: “He took my post office box number… I’ve had that number all my life!”

Chamberlain’s immediate plans are to get healthy. Beyond that he doesn’t have any definite plans other than not leaving Clarendon.

“I like it here.”

Chamberlain says he doesn’t think he will miss the daily responsibility that came with the dealership but helping customers is another matter.

“I appreciate all the friends I’ve made and the people I could help,” he said. “Of course you want to make money; that’s why you’re in business. But it’s when you can help people that makes it really worthwhile. I appreciate all the repeat customers and helping them. I will miss that part of the job.”