Corbin auto dealer featured in Wall Street Journal

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A Corbin auto dealership was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal as an example of resiliency and perseverance in a tough, troubled economy.

Larry Gambrel, owner of Gambrel Toyota, said he was surprised at the front-page feature in the nation’s leading financial news publication, published this past Saturday. The story, headlined “The Trials of the Auto Dealer” told the story and history of Gambrel’s dealership in contrast to a former competitor who has not fared so well.

Gambrel Toyota owner Larry Gambrel stands in front of the sign to his Corbin auto dealership, recently featured in the Wall Street Journal as an example of surviving tough economic times.

“It was kind of a shock to me they way they did it,” Gambrel said. “I just thought it would be a few quotes buried somewhere in the business section on the back page. I was surprised they did that sort of take on it.”

The story, written by Wall Street Journal staff writer Kate Linebaugh, tells a “tale of two dealerships” comparing the relative success of Gambrel’s Toyota lot in north Corbin to those of former car dealer Johnny Watkins, who owned two dealerships in London he was forced to close in late 2007 after failing to find a buyer for them and with creditors nipping at his heels.

“You can’t say I’m smarter than this guy or better than someone else. I think everyone around here that’s in the car business are good people. Johnny Watkins is a very good man.”
“It was a tragedy what happened to him. Really a tragedy.”

Gambrel’s father, Elmer Gambrel, got into the car business in 1965 in Pineville and purchased his Toyota franchise two years later from Bugg Abbot – a man Gambrel describes a sort of a “distributor” for Toyota. The business was moved to Corbin in 1977 after a large flood in Pineville; the family bought the old Wyrick Motor Company across from First Baptist Church and located the dealership there. It is now used to house Gambrel Collision Center.

The family operated two stores across from each other on US 25E until it moved to its current location in 1996. The dealership’s inventory of new vehicles consists only of Toyotas.

Linebaugh said she became interested in auto dealerships in the region after she read a letter, written by Watkins, in Automotive News – a publication that provides in depth information about the automotive industry. She said the letter told a compelling story.

“We were trying to find people for whom the automotive industry was a path to wealth … we liked the fact that it was somewhere that was off the beaten path.”

Linebaugh spent about four days in the area and interviewed numerous auto dealers, public officials and community leaders. She said the story evolved into the “tale of two dealers” concept on its own, and was one her editors liked. While Gambrel is still “on an even keel” by his own description in the tough market, Watkins has personally fallen into financial ruin, living in a foreclosed home and uncertain about his future.

“I think this story is hugely representative of what is going on in the country,” Linebaugh said. “I’ve talked to a lot of people who relate to this story.”

About a month removed from the initial interviews that spawned the story, Gambrel said things have changed a little bit for the good, but are still tough.

“What we have seen lately is kind of a reverse since Christmas,” he said. “It seems like people are getting out and moving a little more and doing a little more. I don’t think it was the fact that they couldn’t buy; it was just a matter of consumer confidence … a lot of doom and gloom in the news media. I think people are starting to feel more comfortable.”

Still on his own lot, Gambrel says things are tight. He said he has an inventory of about 135 vehicles, more than he likes. He said he would like a more pared down 75 to 80 cars on the lot with 30 to 40 in transit.

Gambrel Toyota employs 35 people, including Larry Gambrel’s two sisters and brother. His father died in 1991 and his mother is part owner of the dealership, but does not take part in day-to-day operations.
He said the recent closure of dealerships in London and Corbin has not really benefited his business and said a strong automobile market, for both domestic and non-domestic vehicles, is good for everyone.

“It’s not just tought in our business, but it’s tough for everyone,” Gambrel said. “I talk to a lot of people in this business and they are saying the same thing.”