Volvo of Daytona Beach

Minnesgoda läsare minns kanske att Volvo of Daytona Beach besöktes i december 2014 där jag träffade sonen Fred Hougham till säljaren till min ES och som letade fram från deras arkiv papperen som fanns kvar om min bil, säljkontrakt, arbetsorder innan leverans. Nu läste jag att verksamheten tyvärr är såld och firman som funnits i familjens ägo sedan 1971. Bilden nedan är från vårt besök dec 2014. Den lokalen flyttades det till under början 1970 talet så min bil såldes där som nr 134 sedan starten på 601 Mason Avenue, vilket även kan ses på arbetsordern där A/C, radio monterades av Volvo of Daytona. Firman startade på en annan adress i närheten på 127 So. Charles Street... på den adressen har det sålts Volvo innan familjen Hougham köpte dåvarande Jernigan Volvo i oktober 1971 "DAYTONA BEACH — The oldest family-owned auto dealership in Daytona Beach has been sold to Fields Auto Group. The sale of Volvo of Daytona, a dealership at 601 Mason Ave. that was founded in 1971, closed on Oct. 14. Its inventory of about a dozen new vehicles were moved over that weekend to Daytona International Auto Mall, where initially the Volvo dealership will become part of the Fields Volkwagen dealership at 1270 N. Tomoka Farms Road. The purchase price, which included the property where Volvo of Daytona was located, was not disclosed. David Hougham, who co-owned Volvo of Daytona with four other siblings, said Fields Auto Group intends to sell the property, which includes a dealership building that his family built in 1985. Steve McDonald, general manager of Fields' auto dealerships at Daytona International Auto Mall, which include BMW and Mini, said his company plans to build a dedicated dealership facility for its newly acquired Volvo dealership, with a target date of June 2019 for completing that new complex. The yet-to-be determined site for the new facility will be somewhere at the Auto Mall, which covers a 1.5-mile stretch on the west side of Interstate 95, between LPGA Boulevard and Dunn Avenue. "We're going to squeeze it in," McDonald said. McDonald said two of Volvo of Daytona's staff of about 10 people have joined the staff at Fields Volkwagen. David Hougham — who co-owned Volvo of Daytona with brothers Fred Jr., Ken and Rob, and sister Liz Gibson — said his family wasn't looking to sell the dealership but agreed to do so after Fields made them "a decent offer." Other factors included pressure from Volvo to build a new modern dealership facility that would have cost at least $3 million and the fact there were no third-generation family members in line to eventually take over, Hougham said. Fred C. Hougham Sr., who died in 2008 at age 84, moved his family to Daytona Beach from Bloomfield, Illinois, after a brief stay in Gainesville, to acquire Jernigan Volvo in October 1971. He immediately renamed it Volvo of Daytona. The dealership, originally on Charles Street, off of what today is International Speedway Boulevard, moved to Mason Avenue in the mid-1970s, when that thoroughfare was the city's second-busiest east-west corridor and home to several other auto dealerships, David Hougham recalled. David Hougham, 66, and his older brother Fred Jr., 70, took over majority ownership of Volvo of Daytona in the early 1980s and brought on their siblings as partners in the 1990s when their father sold his remaining interest in the business. McDonald said he contacted the Houghams to gauge their interest in selling because "We love the Volvo brand and we're constantly looking to increase the number of dealerships we have locally." In addition to the handful of new Volvo vehicles his dealership acquired from the Houghams, "we have a bunch of (new Volvo) cars coming — 27 this week," McDonald said."