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Old 05-13-2014, 05:41 AM   #1
steve_biegler
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Default 5 Years

Well it has been 5 years since 789 letters of fate were written and mailed. I remember this day because it is the one on the top of my letter, many remember the 14th because its when they opened the UPS package. Lets not forget our GM brothers that received the "gut shot" a few weeks later. A very sad time in the history of the United States, theft of businesses by our very own government. Court cases continue to creep along, with no end in sight, as the injustice that was done continues to fade soon to be forgotten by all but an effected few.

So with that I again will toast the "789" and our GM brothers with a double Crown Royal at 9:00 PM central time. Please raise your glass filled with your favorite beverage with me, in the hopes this travesty NEVER happens again.

Thanks to my Dealership Forum friends, you have truly helped me through.
Steve Biegler

Last edited by steve_biegler; 05-13-2014 at 06:07 AM.
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Old 05-13-2014, 08:18 AM   #2
Lakeshow
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I will surely join you in that toast tonight drinking Crown as well. Here's to those of us that survived and those who didn't. And here's to being able to move on from the event as easily as the rest of the country has, someday.
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Old 05-13-2014, 09:47 AM   #3
XDCX
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I was thinking about the Five Year Anniversary last night and I found the thread in AREA 51 where many of our members shared their fate.

As I read some of the posts in that thread it brought back vivid memories about how much chaos the dealers and their employees had to deal with.

As I reflect back on the OLDCO terminations I view it as an incredibly sad event in American history. I continue to believe that the terminations never needed to happen, the OLDCO selection process was often flawed and corrupt and there has been little justice received so far for the dealers who hoped the legal system would return something that was stolen from them.

And perhaps even worse, most of the public, the media and government officials have forgotten about the plight of the OLDCO dealers and view the bailout of Chrysler and General Motors as a success story.

I'll join Steve in a toast to the OLDCO dealers this evening and pray that one day our country will elect a group of leaders who will abide by the Constitution and never let the political process select the winners and losers in a bankruptcy case again.
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Old 05-13-2014, 06:52 PM   #4
DealerEx
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got two fingers of Knob Creek breathing in the shot glass for 9pm..."to the 789"
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Old 05-14-2014, 10:38 AM   #5
57years
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Agreed...but different brand!!
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Old 05-14-2014, 10:43 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steve_biegler View Post
Well it has been 5 years since 789 letters of fate were written and mailed. I remember this day because it is the one on the top of my letter, many remember the 14th because its when they opened the UPS package.
As Steve noted, while the letter was dated 05/13/09 it wasn't actually received by the dealers until 05/14/09 - via UPS delivery.

Five years ago today was the busiest day in the forum's history in terms of the number of members who logged on and added posts. It was a surreal time as dealers/employees were searching for answers and wondering what was going to happen next.

For those who have access to AREA 51 here's the thread where our members shared their fate - click here

That thread is the most viewed thread in AREA 51 and is 16 pages long - posts about dealers who received their UPS package begin on page eight of the thread.
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Old 05-14-2014, 12:52 PM   #7
DealerEx
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Originally Posted by XDCX View Post
As Steve noted, while the letter was dated 05/13/09 it wasn't actually received by the dealers until 05/14/09 - via UPS delivery.

Five years ago today was the busiest day in the forum's history in terms of the number of members who logged on and added posts. It was a surreal time as dealers/employees were searching for answers and wondering what was going to happen next.

For those who have access to AREA 51 here's the thread where our members shared their fate - click here

That thread is the most viewed thread in AREA 51 and is 16 pages long - posts about dealers who received their UPS package begin on page eight of the thread.
wow...couldn't help myself from clicking back to that thread and reading through all 16 pages again. My first post on this forum was on 5/7/09, the week before the letters arrived. Reading all the posts at that time just brought it all back so vividly...the stress and strain everyone was feeling from NOT KNOWING what was really going to happen. As it turned out, the worst case scenarios that were being talked about were EXACTLY what DID happen. Five years later, hardly anyone outside the industry has any idea what took place in May and June of 2009. Now, hardly a month goes by that I don't wind up spending at least an hour talking to someone here at my office about how our government facilitated the theft of private property from the dealers and bondholders and gave it away to the UAW and Fiat, in direct violation of the U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Code. I give them examples of dealers THEY know, in this area, that had there businesses taken away and then gifted to someone else, and they all say they just assumed the old dealers got bought out. Every one of them is shocked when I explain what really took place, and that they also were taken advantage of since the UAW received 50% of the stock, with no legal claim, and the taxpayers funded it through the bailout money.

Last edited by DealerEx; 05-14-2014 at 12:55 PM.
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Old 05-14-2014, 06:56 PM   #8
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Yes... wild to think that it has been five years already. I was merely a lurker here in 2009 (and all the way until last year... haha) but stories are crazy to think back to.

In the midst of winding down and selling off our final 68 2009 Jeeps that month five years ago I must have never perused the terminated dealer list that closely... I still have it saved on my computer, but I never read through in full until today. I was actually surprised to think back to a few GLBC dealers who were on the chopping block and later instated... these were small A size stores that really didn't make sense... but the soldier on today. The first was Siemans Jeep in Michigan... now relocated to an even smaller DMA but with a brand new building and now full-line CDJT.

Another is Dale Carter Motors in Eaton, OH.. the guys there are absolutely great to deal with on everything, but they are primarily a Ford store... sell less than 5 Chrysler vehicles per month. Today it's known as Preble County CDJ, but it's the same company just under a new assumed name. I'd have to imagine that they might be on a future "bad" list if there is one.

Anyhow, we sold off our new car inventory invoice less holdback to a local dealer and kept all of the parts inventory and whatever special tools didn't go back so we could go it as a standalone Volvo dealership still servicing our Jeep customers... I left in the summer after the BK though to go to a newly awarded point and get things up and running.

Well... that's my story five years later than everyone else since I remained a lurker for so long! In the end, for my long-time former Jeep store, the post-BK era has been fruitful with the additional of Volkswagen and GMC truck franchises, and for my new store we've gone from 4 cars in stock three years ago to averaging 65 new in a small town... baby steps, baby steps.
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Old 05-15-2014, 11:31 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DealerEx View Post
wow...couldn't help myself from clicking back to that thread and reading through all 16 pages again. My first post on this forum was on 5/7/09, the week before the letters arrived. Reading all the posts at that time just brought it all back so vividly...the stress and strain everyone was feeling from NOT KNOWING what was really going to happen. As it turned out, the worst case scenarios that were being talked about were EXACTLY what DID happen.
I read through that entire thread yesterday too - it left me in a melancholy mood for the rest of the day.

It brought back such vivid memories - the fear, doubt, confusion and uncertainty associated with what was going to happen and then what would happen next. As you pointed out, sadly in many ways those who were most pessimistic about the prospects for the 789 turned out to be correct. So many false hopes and broken promises - with rare exception there has been almost zero justice for the 789.

It was also somber that two of the OLDCO dealers who posted in that thread are no longer with us.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DealerEx View Post
Five years later, hardly anyone outside the industry has any idea what took place in May and June of 2009. Now, hardly a month goes by that I don't wind up spending at least an hour talking to someone here at my office about how our government facilitated the theft of private property from the dealers and bondholders and gave it away to the UAW and Fiat, in direct violation of the U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Code. I give them examples of dealers THEY know, in this area, that had there businesses taken away and then gifted to someone else, and they all say they just assumed the old dealers got bought out. Every one of them is shocked when I explain what really took place, and that they also were taken advantage of since the UAW received 50% of the stock, with no legal claim, and the taxpayers funded it through the bailout money.
I once read a post on the forum from someone who thought that the plight of the OLDCO dealers would be rediscovered at some point in the distant future. They gave the analogy of how long it took before what happened to the Native Americans was fully reported and understood.

At this point, my hope is the current lawsuit against the Treasury will put this event back in the media when executives from Chrysler and "experts" from the Task Force have to give their depositions.
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Old 05-15-2014, 07:10 PM   #10
79LilRedExpress
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Why can't Michael Moore (hometown Flint MI) do a documentary on this abomination.
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Old 05-15-2014, 10:22 PM   #11
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Why can't Michael Moore (hometown Flint MI) do a documentary on this abomination.
Moore wouldn't do it mostly because the dealers and bondholders are perceived as conservatives and Moore is definitely on the other side of that fence. As a sidenote, his film Fahrenheit 9/11, has my son (12 yo at the time) in the opening scene at our golf course, standing on the first tee box with George W. Bush, 10 days before 9/11. Bush was staying at the ranch, about 20 miles away, for several weeks in August, and made arrangements to come over and play early one Monday morning and requested a couple of the local players be there to show him around, and somehow Moore got a copy of some video of him teeing off and used it in the film to say that while the terrorists were putting their plan in motion, the Prez was out playing golf instead of tending to business. So, even though I don't care for Moore's films, I have several copies of that one...lol.
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Old 05-16-2014, 09:42 AM   #12
79LilRedExpress
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As a sidenote, his film Fahrenheit 9/11, has my son (12 yo at the time) in the opening scene at our golf course, standing on the first tee box with George W. Bush,


How cool is that !
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Old 05-16-2014, 01:31 PM   #13
DealerEx
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Originally Posted by 79LilRedExpress View Post
As a sidenote, his film Fahrenheit 9/11, has my son (12 yo at the time) in the opening scene at our golf course, standing on the first tee box with George W. Bush,


How cool is that !
It WAS a cool experience...and an eye-opening one...until you see what all the Secret Service has to do and plan ahead of time, and the amount of manpower it takes to accomplish it, you would never believe it. The night before, 10 fifteen passenger vans full of Secret Service agents in full black combat gear and night vision helmets arrived and took up positions around the perimeter of the golf course, spaced about 30 yards apart, to make sure no one entered the property once they shut the gate. When I arrived at 6:30am, they had an additional 30 plain clothed agents on hand to accompany the playing group and each individual on site. When Bush arrived, he was in the center vehicle of a convoy of six Suburbans, with a Blackhawk helicopter flying directly overhead. The other Suburbans carried more agents to secure access to the clubhouse and check ID's and inspect all cameras, clubs, bags, etc...before teeing off. Four Texas Highway Patrol units parked across the access road once Bush was inside the gate...in all probably 200 agents. I knew about it 4 days ahead of time, but was instructed that I could not tell anyone ahead of time with exception of my family, and even my wife and son could not be told until the night before, if I wanted to bring them to meet the President. After seeing all the preparation, it makes you stop and think about what it would be like to not be able to do ANYTHING on the spur of the moment while you are in office....every minute of your day is planned out ahead of time during your term.
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Old 05-17-2014, 05:12 PM   #14
adastra
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huh, can't go to the area 51 link. Do I not have enough posts or does that take special permission to enter that room?
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Old 05-19-2014, 11:19 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 79LilRedExpress View Post
As a sidenote, his film Fahrenheit 9/11, has my son (12 yo at the time) in the opening scene at our golf course, standing on the first tee box with George W. Bush,


How cool is that !
I agree - that's awesome.

The only Michael Moore movie that I ever watched was the one that made him somewhat famous - Roger & Me. While I was never a fan of GM's Roger Smith I felt the movie went too far and didn't portray an accurate assessment of what actually happened.

That said, now that I know that DealerEx's son has a cameo role in Fahrenheit 9/11 I may have to watch the opening scenes of that movie.
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