"The Longest Day Will Have an End"

I know it has been months but I'm jumping right back in to finish up with our time in Detroit. As for the dealership termination process, I last left with the day of closing the doors of Dalgleish Cadillac and saying goodbye in a ceremonial way. After Friday, November 20th, 2009, Dalgleish Cadillac was no longer operating as a dealership. On The following Monday, about 15 employees came to make up a skeleton crew to close up a business, make ready for the auction of tools, furniture,etc.and to empty the building of everything that had been there for over 50 years. You don't just lock the door and walk away. Accounts had to closed, services cancelled. There were outstanding invoices to be settled. Years of records had to be dealt with. Some were destroyed but many, because of document retention laws, had to be organized, boxed and put into storage. To this day, we are still paying those storage fees. Kwame Kilpatrick's records were subpoenaed by the Feds in 2010. It cost us money just to get them out of storage and then again to put them back in. Some records have to be held for 10 years. The storage fees are $150 a month and then $500 a year to destroy records that no longer need to be kept. GM gives press releases about the terrific progress they've made and we are still paying to store Hilda B. Hubbard's purchase from 2007. Arrgh! So anyway, that Monday the guys met and discussed what had to happen next. A liquidation company was chosen to auction off everything that was left. A price was not to be put on anything. The bidding would dictate the price. GM parts were not to be part of the auction. We sold about $75,000 worth of GM parts to another dealer for $6,000! GM refused to buy back their parts from terminated dealers and the market was saturated as these dealers tried to sell them off. So, office furniture, hoists, everything you can imagine for a business that had been in the same location for over 50 years had to be sorted and made ready for the auction and removal. One example is a paint booth that was purchased 3 to 4 years before for approx. $100,000. It was on the 3rd floor and was the size of a small garage(big enough to drive a car in). Purchased for $100,000 and sold at auction for $5,500. We had 3 paint booths. To sum it all up - maybe a million dollars worth of items went for $100,000. If we had been allowed to sell the building with its contents as an existing franchised dealership, it would have brought several million dollars to our family. A couple years prior - an offer had been brought to us by another dealer who wanted to buy us out. At first, GM endorsed his offer and then suddenly, with no explanation, pulled their backing. So we know what the dealership was worth before "restructuring". Now you know what it cost our family. One day it is worth several million dollars and the next day 0. The Big Empty - What had once been a profitable business, filled with people, was now quiet, empty and sad. Customers did come knocking, beeping their horns to be let in the service door or calling because they were unaware. They would get mad, saying "Now what am I supposed to do? Where do I go now?". The task of preparing for the auction was like getting your dead relatives' things ready for dispersement. It was depressing. Every day you just go through the motions until it is all done. The date for the auction was set for January 20th. That day was like watching vultures swooping down on their prey. People were looking for deals and free stuff. It made for a long day because there were about 1,000 items to go through. Keith said it was like strangers in your house, pawing through your things. It was very draining. After that day, they emptied every nook and cranny. They loved this building like a home and they took care so it would look its best. On February 19th, they handed over the keys to Wayne State. Keith was the last guy there. A local firefighter, a stranger, really, came by and they spoke. He said how sorry he was and they both cried and the firefighter hugged him. Keith got in his car and left for the last time. When I hear on the news how President Obama saved the auto industry... I get so sad! It kills me a thousand times over again to hear it broadcast like a parade banner. What about us? He didn't save us! In fact it cost us everything! Shakespeare said give sorrow words. I try... I try. Next time: The Think Tank