Tanks Are Half Full on Blvd. of Cars

It was an overcast sky Tuesday morning that hung over the Harbor Boulevard of Cars in Costa Mesa, but perhaps we shouldn’t get too carried away with the symbolism. After all, morning haze is the normal summer pattern for Southern California. But come on, sunless skies and the auto industry--if that isn’t a metaphor begging to be made, what is?

The connection seems especially apt as you stroll Harbor between Adams Avenue and Baker Street and pass what in better times would be a row of thriving dealerships with spacious showrooms and an overworked sales force. Instead, you pass a couple of vacant lots in the midst of auto row--lots that resemble Abilene in the 1880s and make you want to break into a verse of “Tumblin’ Tumbleweed.”

Accordingly, it was with some trepidation that I strolled part of auto row Tuesday, in search of life on the Harbor Boulevard of Cars.

And, voila , there is life.

There’s much life in Tim Connell, one of Connell Chevrolet’s sales managers, who had all the let’s-lick-the-world vigor of, well, a car salesman.

“The graph is upward in the car business,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve ever felt such a positive outlook in the last 10 years about the car business and, specifically, about being a GM dealer. I fully believe we’ve turned the corner and are on the upward spiral. It’s exciting to be in the car business again. In the past three years, it’s been a real drain.”

Connell, a third-generation auto dealer, conceded that salesmen are born to be upbeat, but national statistics back up his optimism. Auto sales rebounded nationally during the first half of the year, although analysts said California wasn’t contributing much to the recovery.

Not the case at his dealership, Connell said. “Business has been climbing since the beginning of the year and we’ve been selling more and more each month,” he said. Sales volume is up about 20% over last year--admittedly a down year--but more importantly, Connell said, the dealership is approaching new sales figures of the late 1980s when business was good.

He acknowledged, however, that the Dry Gulch look of his next-door neighbor on Harbor Boulevard doesn’t dispel the public perception that the car business is still lagging. “Let me tell you, I don’t like to see it either. It absolutely drives me crazy.” Even if it might mean competition for him, Connell said he’d like to see a new business opened as soon as possible.

Mark Benson owns three dealerships--Honda, Mitsubishi and Infiniti--along Harbor between Adams and Baker. The Mitsubishi dealership just opened a month ago.

“We’re expanding because we see an upbeat market,” Benson said. An association of car dealerships along Harbor Boulevard started TV advertising in March, resurrecting an alliance of dealers that had “fallen apart,” Benson said.

One source of the dealers’ optimism is that Americans’ cars are getting older. Published reports say the average age is eight years, meaning people need to replace them, Benson said. Even more obvious is that Southern Californians, in particular, need cars.

Benson is convinced that the Harbor Boulevard stretch is the best auto row in Orange County. He said the city of Costa Mesa, however, needs to be more aggressive in reacting to vacant lots like the two between his dealership and Connell’s.

Marty Willerford started five days ago at Tuttle-Click Nissan on Harbor. “I’d be lying if I said (the car) business was great,” he said. “It could always be better. The economy isn’t doing well, but we’re managing to at least keep our heads above water. I’ve been in the car business 23 years and it always gets better, even in bad times.”

Salespeople are nothing if not confident and resilient, traits that probably have helped them survive the recession. Willerford said he has “total confidence” in what he’s doing.

But you have to say you’re upbeat, I said.

“I don’t have to say it, I am upbeat,” he said. “It’s just my personality. I am not a pessimist. That’s not how I was trained; that’s how I was raised.”

Such is life, folks, on the Harbor Boulevard of Cars. If you think the glass is half empty, you’re on the wrong boulevard.

Speaking of positive thinking, would it be stretching the metaphor to point out that the clouds went away and the sun did eventually break through Tuesday?

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.