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In the early 20th century the Carlson family ran a grocery store in Wheaton Illinois. Part of the service they provided was delivering groceries to their customers. Sometime in the 20's they were approached about becoming a dealer for Chevrolet. After some success with selling Chevrolet's, they expanded by taking on the Oldsmobile line. In the late 1950’s Chevrolet redefined the Chicago market and decided that Wheaton was a part of the metro market. As part of this redefinition of the market they told George Carlson that he had to become exclusively Chevrolet. In other words, get rid of Oldsmobile. George said the heck with that. With help from the factory he found an Oldsmobile dealership to buy in St. Louis.
In 1960 George Carlson and his uncle Dick Carlson moved to St. Louis to take over Fred Evans Oldsmobile, which was located in Clayton at the corner of Forsythe and Hanley, where the Pierre Laclede building now stands. By 1964, the business had grown enough that the Clayton location had become too small. The Carlson's looked for a place to build a new, larger dealership. On April 2, 1965 Carlson Oldsmobile opened its doors in Frontenac at 885 South Lindbergh. At the time, George was criticized for moving so far west. How times have changed!
In the early 1970’s after looking for an entry level car to supplement the Oldsmobile lineup, Carlson Oldsmobile became one of the original Honda dealers in the Midwest. By the mid 1980’s it became clear that further growth with Honda would only be possible with the addition of an exclusive facility dedicated to nothing but Honda. This vision was finally realized on November 16, 1987 when Huey’s Carlson Honda opened its doors at 10144 Page Avenue. Becoming an exclusive Honda dealer allowed us to become one of the top 20 Honda dealers in the Midwest.
During 1995 it became obvious that the Oldsmobile brand was not doing as well as it had in the past. The decision was made to sell the Oldsmobile franchise and concentrate the companies resources on Honda. With Oldsmobile gone, the Honda franchise was moved back to its original location in Frontenac. On December 15, 1995 Huey’s Honda officially opened its doors at 885 South Lindbergh.
In the mid 1990’s American Honda developed a prototype design for Honda dealerships. This design incorporates several distinct design elements including a blue entry cylinder and a blue wave across the front of the showroom. During a very hectic six months in 1999, the dealership was completely remodeled using the Honda prototype as a guide and incorporating the distinctive design elements. The remodeling added approximately 1400 square feet of space to the building, allowing for a separate sales workroom and additional showroom space. The building was wired with Cat5 cable to allow PC deployment throughout the dealership. The result is a modern, up to date facility with the latest in technology. With these improvements, Huey’s Honda is ready to serve the transportation needs of the St Louis area well into the future.
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