Century of tradition drives Buick dealer.

Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard

Buicks run in the Scherer family.

Otto Scherer sold horse buggies and farm implements in Palmyra, Wis., when he noticed the new horseless carriages motoring down the roads. He started selling Buicks in 1905, two years after David Buick started making them.

His sons - Howard and Jerry - took the franchise West. Howard opened a Buick dealership in Medford in 1928. Jerry opened Scherer Buick City in Eugene soon after.

In 1947, the third brother, Clarence, quit his job as an auditor with the Internal Revenue Service in Seattle to help his brother run the Eugene dealer- ship.

The next year, Clarence moved across the river and started Springfield Buick. In 1949, he opened a building at the corner of Seventh and North A streets that remains the dealership's home today.

Historic black-and-white photos grace the dealership's walls, depicting Otto Scherer standing proudly at endurance races won by Buicks in 1909 and 1910.

Today, Robert Scherer, Clarence's eldest son, carries on that legacy at Springfield Buick.

Scherer, 48, has worked at the dealership since he was a boy. Now he owns it.

He remembers talking about cars around the dinner table, and the excitement leading up to the release of new car models - the windows of the dealership would be taped up to conceal the new cars until they were ready to be unveiled.

He was 10 or 11 when he started working at the dealership, coming down on Saturdays to wash cars with his younger brother, Richard.

When he got older, he worked as a lube tech, changing oil and lubing cars. Later he worked in the parts department before joining the sales force.

As he was about to graduate from the University of Oregon with an accounting degree, his father was getting ready to retire.

As the oldest son, his father expected him to take over the franchise, he said.

Regardless of the Scherers' 80-year relationship with Buick, he said getting the dealership was not a done deal.

After he applied, it took five years to get approval, and only after extensive training, he said.

He likes cars, but he said he doesn't spend his days off turning wrenches or polishing some vintage ride.

"I don't have cars running in my veins," he said.

A 23-year veteran of the Willamette Pass ski patrol, Scherer prefers to get outdoors: skiing, kayaking, bicycling or rock climbing.

In 1987, Buick named him dealer principal.

Scherer said he relies heavily on word-of-mouth, referrals and return business for sales at his dealership, which has 14 employees. He works 60 to 70 hours a week, and still walks the sales floor.

"You wear a lot of hats," he said. "I know what's happening on the floor. Because of our size, I almost have to do it."

Buick has changed since the days when his father started his dealership.

Back in those postwar days, Buick's top-of-the-line model was the massive Roadmaster, with an imposing toothy grill, powerful engine and trademark portholes on the side. Howard Hughes drove a 1953 Road- master.

Buicks were thought of as doctors' cars.

"In the '40s, '50s and '60s, it was an automobile you attained to," he said.

Today, he said, Buick represents "affordable luxury" as a "premium automobile" that's won high marks for quality.

Earlier this year, J.D. Power and Associates gave Buick models top honors for best premium midsize car (the Century) and full-size car (the LeSabre), both in its initial quality survey and its vehicle dependability study.

Buick's parent corporation, General Motors, has struggled mightily in recent years.

In June, GM announced it would cut 25,000 jobs and close an unspecified number of plants over the next 3 1/2 years in an effort to stem huge losses.

"It's always a challenging time," Scherer said. "It's a very competitive business."

Scherer said those corporate struggles indirectly hamper his business, but he's confident GM will bounce back, and he's upbeat about Buick fortunes.

A recent GM sales promotion, in which buyers got "employee discounts" on new GM cars, resulted in one of its biggest sales months in 19 years, Scherer said.

And Buick has introduced two new models, the LaCrosse and Terraza, in the past year. It is bringing out a replacement for the LeSabre, the Lucerne, next year.

Scherer doesn't foresee Buick suffering the same fate as Oldsmobile, which GM shuttered in 2004. Buick was GM's first division and helped make the auto giant what it is, he said.

"I'm confident GM will keep Buick," he said.

Scherer has two children, twins Sam and Emily, both 8. Whether they carry on the Scherer-Buick partnership remains to be seen.

"It's way too early," he said. "We'll see what their interests are."

SPRINGFIELD BUICK

Founded: 1949

Address: 702 A St., Springfield

Owner: Robert Scherer

Family members involved: Just Robert Scherer, for now

Annual sales: Not disclosed

Number of employees: 14 full- and part-time

CAPTION(S):

Race car driver Lou Chevrolet poses with Otto Scherer in 1908 in Wisconsin. Scherer started selling Buicks in 1905. Springfield Buick Frank Anderson (left), Don Briody and Clarence Scherer helped celebrate the Springfield dealership's 10th anniversary.