Joe Machens

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History Over the years, with the help of our employees, we have been able to help thousands of customers with their transportation needs. Our volume has reached levels never thought possible in 1969 and we continue to grow. 1969 It all began on May 5, 1969. Joe Machens moved from St. Louis to Columbia and purchased the Ford franchise from Tom Allton, who owned Allton Motor Company. The dealership was located downtown in the building that is now The Fieldhouse bar at 1107 East Broadway. With some imagination, you can picture the garage doors at both ends of the side facing Broadway along with the showroom glass in front of what is now an outdoor patio. The service doors can be spotted on the back side of the building. The body shop was on the other side of Walnut in what is now Central Missouri Computer. 1972 The dealership moved to its present location at 1911 West Worley, in what was then considered to be the far west side of Columbia. Virtually none of the buildings in the area existed at that time. The building was considerably larger than the downtown location and much larger than it needed to be. There were no desks on the showroom, only display vehicles. The body shop was in the main building. The washbays were located in the service department. 1973 To take advantage of the extra space in the building, the dealership expanded into the speedboat, trailer and motorhome business. Unfortunately, this expansion was followed by the oil embargo, which pushed most buyers into economy cars and out of large gas guzzlers--like speedboats, trailers and motorhomes. The recreational vehicles were dropped a year later. 1977 The Body Shop building at 600 Bernadette was completed. The detail shop then moved into its present location. The showroom area of the new building has had a number of uses since 1977: storage of a classic Thunderbird collection, a Leasing Company, BMW sales, the Rental Department, the Import Center and now the Ford Truck Center. 1978 The racquetball building at 900 Bernadette was completed. Originally a Spaulding Racquetball Club, it was later operated as The Body Shop Fitness Center and Club Woodrail. Even though the building was designed to be a free-standing structure without relying on the racquetball courts, no one could have guessed that the building would eventually be remodeled into another dealership. 1979 As an attempt to gain additional sales during the energy crisis, the dealership began to sell mopeds and motor scooters. The need for economical transportation and the location in a college town seemed to be a good combination for mopeds and motor scooters. While they did sell reasonably well, after several months it became obvious that it was better to concentrate on cars and trucks instead of other types of vehicles. 1981 The Isuzu truck line was added. Even with the introduction of the Ranger a few years later, Isuzu proved to be valuable for its trucks and sport-utilities. 1983 Gary Drewing joined the company as partner and General Manager. 1984 The BMW franchise was purchased from Carmichael Motors in Jefferson City and moved to the 600 Bernadette building.

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