What used to be on the west side of north May at about 40th-42st streets? We've been away from the city for eight years and were driving around town today. There's a big paved area with many white concrete pieces - like maybe mounting stands for lights. Thanks.

That was the site of Lynn Hickey Dodge auto dealership for many years. After Hickey sold the business, it rapidly went downhill...

That was the site of Lynn Hickey Dodge auto dealership for many years. After Hickey sold the business, it rapidly went downhill...

Thanks. My husband had said it might have been a car dealer.

There is a new project planned for that old car lot but I don't have the details as of yet.

Lynn Hickey. Suspended from a crane doing commercials. They had the tire puncture devices so you couldn't pull out of the lot. They would take your keys and throw them on the roof. Heck of a dealership.

It's going to become a retail and restaurant strip center.

There is a new project planned for that old car lot but I don't have the details as of yet.

Pete, how recent is your info on that? I saw the proposal from a few years ago, which was perfectly average, but nothing since then.

Pete, how recent is your info on that? I saw the proposal from a few years ago, which was perfectly average, but nothing since then.

A new application for a Planned Unit Development was filed about a month ago.

Cool.

Lynn Hickey. Suspended from a crane doing commercials. They had the tire puncture devices so you couldn't pull out of the lot. They would take your keys and throw them on the roof. Heck of a dealership.That (except for the crane) was all after Hickey himself no longer controlled the dealership. When he was in control, it was possibly the best Chrysler-Corp dealership in the city (after Fretwell and Jack Clark bit the dust)...

I used to live right down the street at 46th & Mayfair Drive and could clearly hear them announce over their loud speaker system whenever they would make a sale...

" Congratulations to Bob and Suzie Johnson of Okarche Oklahoma .. Just drove off in a brand new Dodge Caravan!"

They drew enough complaints that the city finally make them shut it off.

I bought a used car there in 1992 and it was one of the easiest car deals I ever did. I think they closed not long after that.

I bought a pickup from them in the early 80s; my Fiat X-1/9 lost its timing belt as I left work one afternoon and that demolished the engine. I had AAA tow it home and drop it on the curb to rest in pieces, and my wife took me down to Hickey's about 6 p.m. I drove the pickup home around an hour later, after arranging to bring it back that weekend for the normal first tupe-up and dealer prep work. Never saw such fast action either before or since! And the truck lasted me until 1990...

I bought a pickup from them in the early 80s; my Fiat X-1/9 lost its timing belt as I left work one afternoon and that demolished the engine. I had AAA tow it home and drop it on the curb to rest in pieces, and my wife took me down to Hickey's about 6 p.m. I drove the pickup home around an hour later, after arranging to bring it back that weekend for the normal first tupe-up and dealer prep work. Never saw such fast action either before or since! And the truck lasted me until 1990...

I, too, used to have an X-1/9. It was like driving a street legal go kart! And at 6'6" tall I got a lot of strange looks when I unfolded out of it.

OKCnBA,
I'm sorry, that Fiat is a Mac Truck compared to my MG Midget. I'm 6 feet and that sucker had about a four inch clearance. I called it a "motorized creeper". A creeper is one of those boards you lie on to scoot under a car to work on it.
C. T.
I, too, used to have an X-1/9. It was like driving a street legal go kart! And at 6'6" tall I got a lot of strange looks when I unfolded out of it.

I, too, used to have an X-1/9. It was like driving a street legal go kart! And at 6'6" tall I got a lot of strange looks when I unfolded out of it.Yep! I'm 6'2" myself, and when I got out and stood beside the car the roof was right at my belt line. It was the best-handling vehicle I ever drove, although it did have a tendency to go airborne just above 90 MPH. Whenever I felt it start to lift, I'd ease off the gas a trifle...

OKCnBA,
I'm sorry, that Fiat is a Mac Truck compared to my MG Midget. I'm 6 feet and that sucker had about a four inch clearance. I called it a "motorized creeper". A creeper is one of those boards you lie on to scoot under a car to work on it.
C. T.I know what you mean. One afternoon I drove over a small rock in the road and punched a big hole in the oil pan. I killed the engine quickly enough to avoid additional damage, though. Had that timing belt not broken (23 years ago) I might still be driving it. It was fun to pull up beside a VW Super Beetle and look UP at its parking lights...

I, too, used to have an X-1/9. It was like driving a street legal go kart! And at 6'6" tall I got a lot of strange looks when I unfolded out of it.

I had a metallic lime green x-1/9. Neat car but spent more time broken than it did running. An amazing use of space though for such a small car as far as room inside and trunk space.

Ha! I had an X1/9 too. Blew a head gasket out of it, when we changed it we lifted the car up off of the motor instead of pulling the motor out of the car.

I bought a used car there in 1992 and it was one of the easiest car deals I ever did. I think they closed not long after that.

I am almost positive I bought an 02 Dodge Ram there and it seems like the place closed not long after that. I am pretty sure it wasn't Lynn Hickey at that time. It was another dealer that also had a place out on SE 29th in MWC. Can't think of the name of it but I would know it if I heard it.

Old Lynn Hickey sure did spend a lot of time up in that crane. Can't remember the name of the pitch man but he would go all over the country pitching for car dealers,Tom somethinanother I think. Maybe Tom Parks?

Tom Parks it was. He had a regular circuit.

I used to live on 43rd street just east of May. Every time they sold a car they would announce over the loud speaker "Weeeeee sold another one" and announce the buyer's name. It was so loud (or I was so close) that I could hear it if I was working outside in my garden.

02 is probably closer. A little research and I found that Lynn Hickey sold out to a large investor and went back to ranching in the mid 90s and it stayed a open for a few years under the new owners. I grew up off of 38th and May and remember the van-in-the-air thing well. Also, one Memorial Day weekend Evil Knievel taught one of the Hickey sons to jump a motorcycle over cars and at the end of the weekend the son jumped one car for every ten they sold. He had to jump 8 according to the article I read.

02 is probably closer. A little research and I found that Lynn Hickey sold out to a large investor and went back to ranching in the mid 90s and it stayed a open for a few years under the new owners. I grew up off of 38th and May and remember the van-in-the-air thing well. Also, one Memorial Day weekend Evil Knievel taught one of the Hickey sons to jump a motorcycle over cars and at the end of the weekend the son jumped one car for every ten they sold. He had to jump 8 according to the article I read.


I think it might have turned into Jim Glover Dodge. I have bought so many cars/trucks over the past 25 years that I can't keep them all straight. But I do know (or I think I know) I bought a brand new 2002 Dodge Ram PU there and think it was Jim Glover then. I think it closed a year or 2 later. That was the 1st Dodge PU I had bought and I have owned till 2005 and I do remember going back to the dealership in 2005 to trade it in and buy a new one and they were closed. I ended up going to Bob Moore on NW Expressway and getting a new one. I am pretty sure that the place has been empty going on 10 years now. I don't remember anything else moving in there which is kinda odd when you think about it.

Sorry to disagree with you Jim, but the shenanigans like the tire slashers, "losing" the keys to your trade-in and the "guard" in the "guard shack" actually being a last-chance sales manager actually happened when Lynn Hickey owned the dealership. Lots of people had wonderful experiences there, but those were usually people who specifically to buy a Dodge and who found the one they wanted there. If you were just kicking tires, or looking for "a car" but not specifically a Dodge, you could expect some high pressure tactics before you were "allowed" to leave.

Now, whether the buyers who left happy ALSO got good deals is up for debate. It's a truism in that business that often those who got the best deals are the least happy, and those who are the most happy unwittingly also got a solid screwing.

Sorry, amigo, but that post reminded me of this scene from the classic bicycle movie, "Breaking Away" . . .

fQaavQNGsMY


Now, whether the buyers who left happy ALSO got good deals is up for debate. It's a truism in that business that often those who got the best deals are the least happy, and those who are the most happy unwittingly also got a solid screwing.

Perfect.

Ah, yet another example of the "good ol' days".

Imagine a dealership trying any of those tactics now... They'd be crucified in social media.


Buying a car used to be an absolute nightmare, even at the nicer dealerships. I bought my first new car in 1982 from Jack Robbins Porsche/Audi on Broadway (an Audi 4000) and it was a horrible experience, more or less like the infamous scene in the movie Fargo.

Those old time car dealers made absolutely tons of profit, mostly in dishonest and/or unethical ways.

I believe that the younger Hickeys were running the show by that time. We did go there, once, after the high pressure tactics came in, and the experience was very different from what we had experienced in the very early 80s.

As an insurance adjuster handling the dealership's account before 1984, my wife had become quite well acquainted with the whole upper management echelon there (and her firm also handled accounts for other dealerships so she had a good basis for comparison) and felt that it was the best in the city at that time. However, things can and do change greatly when control passes to a new generation. After getting her company car out of bondage on that last visit, we never even considered going back.

I have vague memories, too, that the younger Hickeys retained ownership of the land when selling the business, which might explain why it has remained empty for so many years...

Pete,
I agree, I bought my 1971 MG at Bolen Imports on N. Robinson and even the financing was a huge deal. I told the salesman up front that I was paying cash (I had already gotten a commitment for a loan from my credit union) and he said that was fine. Then when it came time to write the check and sign the paperwork, I was taken in to the manager's office. He was irate that I wasn't borrowing the money from them and I wasn't sure he was going to allow me to leave if I didn't change my mind and take their loan. All that for a lousy 1/2 percent, the dealers profit from the loan. Needless to say, I had no kind words to say about that dealer. I should have gone to Fretwell's on N. May.
C. T.

Sorry to disagree with you Jim, but the shenanigans like the tire slashers, "losing" the keys to your trade-in and the "guard" in the "guard shack" actually being a last-chance sales manager actually happened when Lynn Hickey owned the dealership. Lots of people had wonderful experiences there, but those were usually people who specifically to buy a Dodge and who found the one they wanted there. If you were just kicking tires, or looking for "a car" but not specifically a Dodge, you could expect some high pressure tactics before you were "allowed" to leave.

Now, whether the buyers who left happy ALSO got good deals is up for debate. It's a truism in that business that often those who got the best deals are the least happy, and those who are the most happy unwittingly also got a solid screwing.

I too disagree with Jim. We bought an 88 Shadow there. Despite many efforts and a screaming fight with the service manager, they refused to fix ANY of the things that were wrong with the car (and no, it was not a used car). Refused to go back after that.

I think now that what Jim was saying was NOT that the high-pressure stuff started only after LH was bought out; just that it didn't happen until after LH's son(s?) were running things. That could certainly be true. I recall Wade Hickey being also prominent in the advertising during that period, so he possibly was running things without much involvement by his dad. The fact still remains that there were some seriously shady shenanigans during that time.

I worked for Fred Jones Companies for about five years in the mid-nineties and got to know people who had previously worked at LH (and many other dealerships). One was a finance manager who had worked there during the height of that monkey business, and the stories he told were straight-up shocking. Of course, I was probably easily shocked; FJ was the only company I ever worked for in that industry and though rarely some folks went off of the reservation, there was a strong corporate bias against screwing customers.

One other comment: if you think a dealership can only mark your loan up half a point, you probably have had a few notes that made the dealer/lender a BUNCH of money.

Urbanized,
At that time, 1972, that was a normal amount that a dealer would receive for his cut. The dealer did nothing except convince the customer what a good loan it was, all the risk was with the parent company, the credit checking was covered, and at that time (maybe forever since I believe Bolen's was always a GM dealer) Bolen's auto loans were actually financed by GMAC. I have never had a loan from the dealer, although when I married my late wife, she had purchased her 1966 Chevy Malibu from Murdock Salyer in Norman and she took the GMAC loan.
C. T.
One other comment: if you think a dealership can only mark your loan up half a point, you probably have had a few notes that made the dealer/lender a BUNCH of money.

Tom Parks it was. He had a regular circuit.
It was Tom Park. Google the name and find his website - still in the business, I guess. You can even get a DVD of his commercials. Darn! I wish I'd known about that before Christmas. What a lovely gift that would have been.;)

Remember when poor Lynn was suspended on that crane for about a week, and failed to sell the amount of cars he vowed to sell until he came down? Last I heard of the guy.

I think Lynn got his start in the car business down the street at Dub Richardson Ford. My dad bought his 1966 Mustang new from DRF, and Hickey was the salesman.

Just saw a new posting that this property has been sold for a new Sam's Club.

Sam's Club to 39th & N. May - OKCTalk (http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?title=Sams+Club+to+39th+N+May)

If anyone wants to see what Lynn Hickey Dodge looked like, you can look at the area on Bing's map website. The old Mayfair Market and Smicklas Chevrolet on there too. I am glad to see some new businesses come to the area.