Gentlemen, 
I’m a new member here but an old Pontiac fan.  My father founded Bud Beck Pontiac in Scottsdale AZ in 1967.  I started working there on weekends as soon as the dealership opened and full time during the summer.  I bought the store in 1985 and was the owner/operator until 1997.  In our 30 years we delivered over 26,000 new Pontiacs!  Today I own and drive a beautiful 1970 Trans Am.  All the best!

Chip Beck

Thats awesome! Have any photos of the dealership back in the day or your TA? We love photos here  

Chip - welcome to FP and the madness!

We love pics around here. Show us your Trans Am and share any stories you’d like to tell abiut your family’s dealership!

Edited October 13, 20241 yr by Frosty

I’ve got some good photos of the dealership but it may take me a bit to dig them up.  Here’s a few for now of old awards I still have in my office and pictures of my Trans Am.

The bottom picture is of my father, Bud Beck, and me receiving our 25 year Pontiac Dealer award.

And this last one is my favorite.  I was an 11 year old boy in that room on December 4, 1967 watching my father fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a new car dealer when he signed the franchise paperwork making him the original Pontiac Dealer in Scottsdale Arizona.  Bud Beck is 41 years old in this photo.  That was such a great day for him and our family.

The first new cars we received were 1968’s.  Pontiac loaded us up with Bonneville’s, Catalina’s, LeMans, GTO’s, & Firebirds to get us off to a good start.  At our Grand Opening party Senator Barry Goldwater and Senator Paul Fannon as well as Governor Jack Williams were there.  A fine day.

Chip

Those are great memories Chip. I’d love to hear more.

Im curious though. Most dealers here in the Midwest picked up other GM brands over time. Did your dealership add GMC, Buick or some other GM brands as time went on, or did you stay an exclusive Pontiac dealership until you sold it?

Wow! Fantastic stories and glad your dad was able to achieve his lifelong dream of being a new car dealer. You got some great toys there with your TA! Love the color combo of your TA too.

Welcome, much to be proud of there.  Thankz for sharing your story N Pic's. 

On 10/12/2024 at 10:07 PM, Frosty said:

Those are great memories Chip. I’d love to hear more.

Im curious though. Most dealers here in the Midwest picked up other GM brands over time. Did your dealership add GMC, Buick or some other GM brands as time went on, or did you stay an exclusive Pontiac dealership until you sold it?

Frosty, 

We had GMC Trucks from the beginning.  Dad signed the GMC franchise agreement that same day.  Our new truck sales were typically 50% of new car sales and used car & truck sales were about equal to new Pontiac sales.  GMC trucks were always in short supply and that kept sales much lower than they should have been.  In the 1980’s we could have easily sold 20+ Suburbans a month and GMC supplied us with ONE a month.  It was maddening and in our 30 year run it never improved.

Chip

Nice to have you aboard. You truly are not a new comer to Pontiac.

Here's a dealership photo.  I'm delivering a new GMC Suburban to Glen Campbell.  And a watercolor of the store remodeled with the new Pontiac fascia a couple years before I retired and sold it.

Chip

sent you a message.  also in Az and remember your dealship quite well, even as a little boy!

  I would also love to see some pics of Bud Beck Pontiac.   Visted there dozens and dozens of times.  Spent a small fortune at your parts dept in the early 1980s buying all kinds of parts for my GTO collection.  At the time, I had no idea there would be a reproduction industry for these cars.

Searches on the net for me have not yielded any pics of But Beck Pontiac and would like to have some.  thanks

 

Edited October 15, 20241 yr by Steve Barcak

Chip - the Glenn Campbell photo is great. Do you mind if I use it? I am president of the GMC truck specialty chapter of the Pontiac Oakland Club International (POCI). I’d love to share this photo and any info/story you have with my chapter members.

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

Chip - the Glenn Campbell photo is great. Do you mind if I use it? I am president of the GMC truck specialty chapter of the Pontiac Oakland Club International (POCI). I’d love to share this photo and any info/story you have with my chapter members.

Frosty,

Sure you can use that photo.  Glen Campbell moved to Scottsdale, AZ sometime in the 1980's and I met him when he joined the Arizona Country Club where I was a member.  He drove a pale yellow Rolls Royce back then and was admonished to never wield his celebrity status at the Club but the first time he showed up at the Men's Grill for lunch he parked by the curb in front of the door instead of the parking lot.   The club manager walked into the grill and told Glenn to "put your car in the parking lot like everyone else or I'll tow it".  Never had a problem after that.  I probably sold Glen 3 or 4 GMC's over the years and he was a pleasure to deal with.  One of his best friends was Scottsdale resident Alice Cooper who traded his brown Rolls Royce in on a metallic blue Trans Am.  I wish I had a photo of that delivery!  All the best.

Chip Beck

Bud Beck Pontiac-GMC

You owned a Pontiac dealership and met Alice Cooper and Glen Campbell? You’re my new hero. 

Much appreciated for the use of the photo and the story Chip!

Like Ringo, I am impressed with your relationship with Alice and Glenn.

Another member of FP, GuitarsExtreme (a.k.a. GE), was a roadie for Alice many years ago. They are still friends. He tuned and took care of Alice’s guitars on tour.

Gentlemen,

I found another photo of Bud Beck Pontiac.  Here you go!

Chip

Old and a bit faded but from the sky.

Very, very cool pics Chip. Thanks for sharing these!!

I've had the pleasure to chat with and meet Chip Beck from this posting!  How about that.   I am working on a Pontiac museum here in Az and have my own Pontiac salvage yard, race cars, Pontiac powered boats , etc.  Among other things, also working on a you tube channel for Pontiac power fans.

Mr Beck has been nice enough to spend considerable time with me the last month or so doing a nice conversation/interview on Bud Beck Pontiac and all his experiences, etc

We are not quite done yet but, these will be featured on my upcoming you tube channel to document life in a family Pontiac dealership.  I promise it will be most informative and entertaining as well.

 

 

 

 

Sounds great. I can't wait to see it.

Gentlemen, 

My long conversations with Steve brought back a ton of memories.  Stuff I hadn’t thought about for decades.  The history of Pontiac Motor Division, GM, the cars, and advertising are pretty well documented.  What is being lost are the stories of the wild bunch, mostly WW2 veteran, Pontiac dealers that operated from the mid 50’s to the mid 80’s.  Independent, fearless, fast living & hard drinking describes a lot of them.  Unlike today’s chain, corporate operations, back then almost all dealerships were owned and operated by one man.  The vast majority of dealers (including my father) owned just one store and it was their baby.  Car dealers were celebrities in their communities and most were philanthropists when business was good.  Political correctness was far off in the future, women & minorities didn’t play a big roll, language was foul, humor & practical jokes abundant, and fortunes were both made and lost.  Almost everyone smoked and the long hours and high stress took a heavy toll on both dealers and managers.  Death’s from heart attacks, strokes, & cancer before age 65 were common.  Extraordinary times by any measure.  

Even with the stress, long days, nights, & weekends working, I had a blast and remember it all fondly.  Oh, and being able to order and drive virtually any new Pontiac or GMC and changing  vehicles 4 to 6 times a year was pretty sweet too.  All the best.

Chip Beck

Sounds like there are some seriously good stories there. Please don't be afraid to share some. Especially the practical jokes. We love a good laugh around here too.

Good morning Mr beck! I joined this group just to say how much I enjoyed reading your posts here. Born and raised in Phoenix. It's nice to see things like this that bring back good memories. And your post triggered a lot of good memories! Countless times of running into Glen Campbell across the city at various places. I'm 6 ft 10 and I almost knocked over Alice Cooper when he was walking out of Borders at the Biltmore and his comment was "my God I thought I ran into a wall!" LOL! Unfortunately that very close-knit small town feeling is fading from the Phoenix Scottsdale area. But we will always have our memories! And you have made me fondly look back at several of them today. Thank you very much! I hope you have a great day! 

Brian Johnson

Edited March 6, 20251 yr by Phxtallguy