Jesse Hughes has been selling cars for 54 years. He left the Cities Service station at Eighth Street and Park Avenue in 1958 and hasn’t looked back.
“I went to work at Proffitt Ford Sales in Pendleton,” he recalled. “I sold my first vehicle to K.W. Poteet, a 1957 Ford.”
From there he went to Ralph Hockett Ford in Fortville. When Proffitt became sales manager at Jerry Alderman Ford in Indianapolis he recruited Hughes.
“I sold five cars the first week and made $90,” he said. “The next week I sold four and made $75.”
After two more moves he decided he didn’t like selling cars in Indianapolis. “It was altogether different,” he observed. “It was more high pressure.”
Hughes worked for Norm Norris, then at Hunter Chevrolet, Elmer VanMatre’s Mounds Road Auto Sales, Heckaman Buick, Fairway Ford and his own business at Sixth and Jackson.
He went to Ed Martin Oldsmobile, then to Gary Schlafer’s Broadway Sales and its successor, Payton Wells. He returned to Ed Martin, and now is at Myers Autoworld.
While he was at Ed Martin, Hughes was named salesman of the month 106 times.
“I worked at every new car dealer in Anderson,” he pointed out. “I sold both the last Olds and the last Pontiac from a dealership here.”
He recalled the easiest sale he ever made. “I was going over a 1956 Chevy and a guy walked up and asked me how much I wanted for it. I said $1,295. He left and a little later he came back with a check for that amount.”
Hughes remembers the countywide tent sales the new car dealers used to have at East SideMiddle School. “They got national recognition,” he said.
He also remembers the radio and TV commercials with their catchy slogans. And the galas that surrounded the introduction of new vehicles.
There have been many changes in the car-selling process, he pointed out.
“Everything now is computerized,” he said. “It’s not as personable. And financing is a new game. When I went to Ed Martin it was the first time we had a finance manager; now they all have them. And now we have leasing.”
Hughes recalled Jiggs Morrison leading the campaign that resulted in the Sunday closing law. But dealers learned to live with it.
The list of associates over the years is endless. “U.W. Heckaman was one of the finest men I ever met,” he said. “And Jim O’Neal at Broadway Sales was a super man. Nobody was fairer than Tom Bushey at Mounds Road. Dick Allen was a close friend, and John Rhea.” He mentioned many more, including Steve Vest, Gene Sutton, Wayne Alspaugh and Fred Welker.
At 78, Hughes has no intention of retiring. “I told them I want to work a half day on the day of my funeral,” he quipped.
Jim Bailey’s reflections on Anderson’s past appear on Sunday. His regular column appears on Wednesday. He can be reached by e-mail at jameshenrybailey @earthlink.net.
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Jim Bailey: Hughes looks back at half century of selling cars in Anderson
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