(submitted by Merv Barr)

Biggar became our home in the fall of 1973, as I was transferred within the Royal Bank from Leask, Sask., to Biggar, as Branch Manager. The General Motors dealership in Biggar was closed, as the owner, Mr. Frank Wagner, had passed away. During the winter of 1973/74, Larry Stevens and Ron Silvernagle purchased the dealership. While working in the Royal Bank, I purchased a number of used vehicles from Larry Stevens. Approximately January 1975, Larry mentioned selling the dealership to me, and in February 1975, I received approval for financing.

In a small town, word travels quickly, and while I was still employed by the Royal Bank, Dennis Irven paid me a visit and expressed an interest in working at the dealership in his off time from the CNR, which was his regular employer. March 1975, I resigned from the Royal Bank and in April 1975, became the owner of Barr Motor Products Ltd., the local General Motors dealership.

The staff at that time were Gabe Silvernagle, Henry Peiffer, and Wayne Surik - technicians....and Dave Hawes in Parts, Paul Gamble as bookkeeper, and Dennis Irven (part-time) salesperson, driver, detailer. As in any dealership, we had regular visits from the GM territory sales rep and he suggested I order 6 new units for inventory. I ordered two 1/2 ton 4x4's and when the sales rep received the orders, he called to say that I had made a mistake, as only two dealerships in Sask. stocked 4x4's - those being Maple Creek and Meadow Lake. I wanted to try that market and GM reluctantly agreed to build one 4x4 for us, the only new one we sold in 1975. During the 1978 model year, our new 4x4 sales were near 80 units, and then it seemed every dealer in the country had 4x4's.

1975-79 the economy was reasonable and I was working 16-18 hours per day, 7 days a week, and business was good. On taking over the dealership, we increased our service to 6 days a week and in the first few months, I was often alone on Saturday unless Dennis was in town. In the early years, as the shop was small and repair work, including the school buses, was abundant, new unit prep work and used unit clean up was done after regular hours. In those days, it was normal for Dennis and I to go for coffee before the Chicken Corral closed at 11 pm and then go back to the shop and work. I would then be back at work between 6 and 7 am to get the shop organized for another work day. It was during this time that Ron Jezowski joined our staff, and was with us until we closed in March 2000.

In 1976, we took on the Polaris snowmobile franchise and Bethel started doing books and warranty work orders, and still has the bookkeeping job! The Polaris franchise turned out to be alot of work and expense for very little return, and was discontinued after the 1980 model year.

1980-82 the economy was slowing and interest rates were going up, thus new vehicle sales were very slow. In order to keep factories going, GM "dumped" dealer order banks. This means that dealer orders were placed for future supply as needed. Some of you may recall our having two extra rented lots full of vehicles - one north of the Anglican Church and the other on what is now the North American Lumber store. General Motors was not happy with our outdated facility on 3rd Ave West and the Nodwell property was for sale. A deal was struck and after some renovations, we moved to 901 Main St in January 1982. At this time, Ron Amy joined our staff as salesperson.


1983-88 the business grew somewhat and there was always lots of work. Our sons were old enough to drive vehicles and also old enough to help at the shop. Sundays would find the whole family at the shop doing janitorial, book work and cleaning vehicles. This routine went on for a few years until our boys found other employment in the town. During this period, GM in their wisdom, took away our franchise for Medium Duty trucks. The rules they set out left only 2 or 3 Medium Duty dealers in Sask. They also split numerous 4-line dealers (us included) to 2-line dealers, and we became a Chev-Olds store.

1988-94 we still had alot of work to do, service jobs, parts sales, vehicles sales, but keeping up with technology, controlling expenses, getting and keeping good staff, were taking a toll. I no longer felt up to the long hours and would often take a Sunday off. My original plan was to work until all our sons graduated high school. Our youngest son, Ian, graduated in 1990. We quietly tried to sell but never did find a satisfactory buyer. It was the summer of 1989 that Darin Perih came to work for us.

1995-2000 By 1995 GM was pushing their "image 2000" and wanted all their dealers to build a new building, furnish it with approved furniture, etc., to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even a million. This would be a requirement to have your GM 5 year contract renewal. During my first talks in this regard with GM staff, I told them I would not build a new facility. By 1999 with no buyer in sight - any purchaser would also have to build a new building to get a franchise - and by now very tired of what we were doing, we resigned our GM franchise. The final wrap up of our business in Biggar, Sask., was a March 2000 auction.

Now, April 2009, GM is talking of a further reduction of nearly half their remaining dealerships, down to about 400 in Canada. When we started in 1975, GM had about 115 dealers in Sask. Barr Motor Products Ltd. operated as a retail used vehicle operation in Edmonton, Alta., until March 2004. We still operate today, just to keep me busy on a "can you find me" basis for friends and family.

STAFF

Over the years, numerous people were employed by us and while each one contributed to the overall operation of Barr Motors, there are some we feel require an extra comment.

Dennis Irven: As I mentioned earlier, Dennis started working as a "long hour" part timer when Barr Motors opened and while we always got along and were friends, we did part ways for awhile. Dennis tried going on his own from two different locations in town before coming back to work for us again until his traffic accident and death in May 1997.

Ron Jezowski: During our early years, we advertised for a qualified General Motors technician and received a response from Ron Jezowski. At that time he worked for Saskatoon Motor Products, but he preferred small town living. When Ron started working for us we were amazed at his "flat rate" skills. We allowed all morning for one of the first jobs we booked for him. By 10 am "RJ" wanted to know what job was next! RJ stayed with us until we closed in March 2000 in Biggar.

Ron Amy: After giving up his own GM dealership, Ron came to BMP as a salesman. We also made good use of his other abilities in parts/service, tow truck operator, etc. During his time with us, Ron continued to own his shop in Conquest, Sask. Ron was in our employ until we closed our store.

Darin Perih: On July 1/89, on a hot weekend, I was cutting grass on our lot with a garden tractor and Darin paid me a visit. He wanted to know if he could cut grass for me, and assured me that he knew how to operate a garden tractor. I thought that any kid who wanted to work on July 1st should have a job, and he was hired. He did odd jobs and detail work during his school years, then took the training required to become a Journeyman technician. Except for a short stint with Prairie Malt, Darin was an employee until we closed our retail operation in Edmonton, Alta., March 2004.

Lindsay Barr: My "much younger brother" came to work for us approximately summer of 1977, then went on to other jobs, and then back to run our Parts and Service. In later years, those jobs separated and Lindsay concentrated on the Parts. He became very skilled at that job and could often quote part numbers, bin locations and prices to the rest of us. I recall one instance in Edmonton, where I was trying to buy a part for a Chev Tracker. The Parts manager at a large dealership told me GM didn't carry that part. I thought they did, so called Lindsay and got the part number! The number was right and the Edmonton Parts manager wanted to know how I got it. I still go to that Edmonton Parts department and the manager remembers me. Lindsay was with us until the later days of our Biggar operation.


As for our personal lives, Bethel and I live in Edmonton, Alta., and spend some winter months at our home in Mesa, Az. Jason is Managing Director, Alberta Northern & British Columbia, RoyNat Capital out of Edmonton; Morley is Director, Real Estate Management, Oxford Properties Group in Edmonton; and Ian is a Corporal with the Regina Police Service. We also have 8 grandchildren to keep us busy.