Dec 15, 2022

Published book captures the legacy of Hoisington’s car dealership

Posted Dec 15, 2022 1:00 PM
The cover of MChevy: The 92-Year Legacy of Manweiler Chevrolet. The book outlines the history of the four-generation dealership in Hoisington.
The cover of MChevy: The 92-Year Legacy of Manweiler Chevrolet. The book outlines the history of the four-generation dealership in Hoisington.

By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post

For the past two years, the Chevrolet dealership in Hoisington has been operating as Ehler Chevrolet. Before that, the dealership was known as Manweiler Chevrolet for 92 years. There were four generations of Manweilers to own the dealership, with the last being Gene.

Before Gene retired, he attended a business boot camp in Colorado that discussed ways to strengthen your business and make it more of a destination. Manweiler said the course focused on highlighting the history of your company.

Wanting to tell the story of 90-plus years of the family business, Gene began organizing information for a book.

"It was fun to tell the story," said Manweiler. "I did it in a way that I'm telling my family, friends and people that know me. There are a lot of people involved with this story, including past employees. I took what I heard about other employees that were there before me. I heard stories from my grandparents and my parents. That's what I relied on."

Gene took over ownership from his father in 1987. He then sold the dealership to Micah Ehler in November 2020.

Manweiler was put in contact with author Gene Stowe, based out of North Carolina. Stowe helped Manweiler piece together the 101-page book that goes through the dealership’s history of business changes, sales and service, marketing and the lives of family and friends that worked at the dealership.

While Stowe wrote the book, MChevy: The 92-Year Legacy of Manweiler Chevrolet, it has Gene’s name on the front, something Manweiler wasn’t expecting.

"I thought Stowe was going to be the author," said Manweiler. "He said to me, 'Gene, you're the one that wrote all the stuff down, I just organized it all for you to make it easier reading.' I was kind of flabbergasted when I first saw the cover, because we never talked about that. I really wanted him to get credit for it."

A copy of the book can be purchased for $15 on Amazon. Buy the book HERE.