The change was made more concrete in 1991, when Doug Markley was listed as the dealer in charge of the company’s newest line – Saturn.īut the title change didn’t alter the dedication and amount of time Gene spent at the dealership – he says he only just got used to not showing up every day about a year ago. Doug Markley took over the title of president of the dealership, with Gene Markley becoming chairman. In the late 1980s, father made way for son, again – somewhat. Despite the feeling of separation, it’s a decision Gene Markley said he has never regretted. “Dad said it felt like asking for a divorce,” he recalled. “We thought it was a better franchise,” Markley said.ĭoug Markley remembers the trip to Denver to tell the Chrysler executives that they would not be selling the brand anymore. In 1979, the company decided to split from Chrysler in order to sell the General Motors line. Today, Honda represents 60 percent of the dealership’s new car sales.Īnother major decision for Markley Motors came a few years later. “All you had to do to sell a Honda was be able to answer the phone,” she said. Judi Payton, an employee since 1956, added that the dealership kept the waiting list hanging on the wall that ran all the way to the floor. “We had a waiting list,” Markley remembered. The following year, the country experienced its first major fuel shortage, and people were lining up to trade in their Lincolns and Cadillacs for a more fuel-efficient means of transportation. ” I thought they only made motorcycles.”īut Gene Markley persisted, finally securing the Honda franchise at the end of 1974. “I thought that Honda didn’t even make a car,” Doug Markley said. At the time, the brand wasn’t well known here. He had been hearing from other dealers about the Honda line – all raving about the brand – but the Japanese auto maker was not immediately interested in a franchise in Fort Collins, reckoning that the town did not have the right demographics. The move also allowed for an expansion that Gene Markley says was the best business decision the company made. Less than a year after Markley closed on the property, plans for the Foothills Mall were announced. Son Doug Markley, who now serves as president of the company, recalls his duty of moving the vehicles every few hours to avoid parking tickets. “We were showing cars out in the street.” Within a few years, Markley Motors enveloped most of the 200 block of North College Avenue. In 1959, Markley expanded the company through a purchase of a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership, adding it to the existing Dodge line housed at 330 S. He and his partner sold the concrete company and by 1950, Gene Markley had made Markley Motors his full-time focus. When Ferd Markley decided he would try his hand at politics, it was time for his son to dedicate himself to the family business. ![]() ![]() “On rainy days, I’d work at the dealership because we couldn’t pour concrete,” he explained. At the time, it was the only mobile ready-mix company in the region.Įven as a business owner, he didn’t completely escape the draw of Markley Motors. Returning to Colorado a year later, he tried his hand at entrepreneurship, co-founding a concrete company. After earning his civil engineering degree from Colorado A&M – now Colorado State University in 1947 – Gene traveled to Montana to work in highway construction. “The auto business has been my life.”īut Markley did not intend to take on the automotive business founded by his father, Ferd. Gene Markley has passionately wound family, community and business into a long and successful career.
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