When Jim Inster, sole proprietor of Inland Chrysler Dawson Creek, looks back over the years as he celebrates four decades as a dealer, it’s a career highlighted by historic events.
They include John F. Kennedy’s assassination, interest rates rocketing to 25 per cent, major upheavals in the auto industry with business guru Lee Iacocca pulling a hat trick for Chrysler, and the engine design revolution. The events have all impacted and shaped his life.
“I’ve actually been in the auto industry longer than 40 years,” said Inkster, who was 18 and living in the Fraser Valley when Kennedy was assassinated. He was young, impressionable and part of that liberalized generation wanting to reshape the world. Two days after the assassination, and disappointed with the “state of the nation,” he turfed his marine biologist studies, loaded his gear in his car and started driving north. He turned off the ignition in a small town called Dawson Creek, where individuals worked in farming (it boasted the largest inland grain terminal in Canada) or the oil patch.
A few days later he celebrated his 19th birthday and found work in the oil patch, first at a catering company and then in construction on the WAC Bennett dam. One spring, with enough cash in his jeans to buy a new pickup truck, he wandered into the local Ford dealer and ended up staying to work.
By 1972 he was with the Nissan dealership, which was cancelled to make way for Chrysler. He later bought the owner out and then had partners until he became the sole proprietor 30 years ago. He now runs the dealership with the help of his daughter and son-in-law.
Looking back over his career, Inkster maintains that foreign competition has been good as it has made the North American products much stronger.
“My product is miles ahead of what it was at one time,” he said.
Inkster is also known for his long association with the New Car Dealers of B.C. where he finished a term as chairman. Becoming involved in industry issues on behalf of the NCDBC has been an insightful experience. “
The success is really the work of the staff (such as 30-year-veteran Forrest Shoemaker) and everyone who has worked here,” said Inkster. “I’m really just the guy who has a key for the front door and signs the cheques.”
