The Wheaton family has grown from a small GM dealership to the largest
GeneralMotors merchandiser in Canada. Don Wheaton Sr. started with a hot dog
stand inBessborough Park in Saskatoon. In 1948 he got married and moved to
Porcupine Plain Saskatchewan, population 600. He entered into a business partnership
at the town's only General Store. He saw an advertisement at the local Post Office,
asking people to write their name down if they were interested in buying the GM dealership. Don
became the owner in 1955 and ran a successful business. In 1961 Hood Motors became
available in Edmonton. The second dealership was purchased in New Westminster and operated by
Will Wheaton. Will moved to begin with the purchase of Art Hauser's
thriving Chevrolet store. Dave Wheaton took over the reigns of the New West location, being the
youngest person ever to be awarded a GM store. After a short stint, Dave moved to Victoria with
the purchase of Empress Pontiac Buick. Other moves included Ross taking over the reigns of the
Pontiac Buick GMC line in Saskatoon; while Herb, the youngest Brother, moved to Red Deer.
Herb is currently the dealer principle at the Regina location. Jane Wheaton became the driving force in Nanaimo until moving to
England. Steve Laird, the brother-in-law runs this store, and in 2009 acquired Tom
Harris Chevrolet. Dave Wheaton has been on the move in Victoria by also owning the
Saturn Franchise. He moved the Saturn car line twice to keep up with the expanding car
line. In 2009 GM started winding down the Saturn line, but fortunately Dave had already
purchased Cornell Chevrolet Cadillac two years earlier. This purchase gave the Wheaton's the much
desired Cadillac line of cars and trucks for half of Vancouver Island. 2008 and 2009 brought many changes to all businesses and as you know
to the car business in particular. In Nanaimo, Victoria, Prince George, and in
the Vancouver area where two separate dealerships have been combined to operate as we call it
to "operate all carlines under one roof top". Having the full carline that includes Chevrolet,
Buick, GMC, and at some locations Cadillac actually strengthens the entire business. You, the
customer can do all your shopping at one Wheaton location. The expense of operating two
separate service departments, parts and sometimes body shops is now gone.
Each Wheaton dealership whether owned and operated by the Wheaton
family or not has made an investment in every community. The investment is not just
in bricks and buildings, but in the many employees that it takes to run a dealership today and
to many charitable organizations that help other people to build strong families and
strong communities.
Today 7 of the 8 Wheaton children are involved in the day to day
operations of the car business in Western Canada. This all started because Don Sr. would
take a child to the car dealership on a Saturday. They learned how exciting the car business
could be. Now the second generation of Wheaton's are taking their kids down to their work on
Saturday mornings.
For over 50 years the Wheaton family has proudly served Western
Canada. With the dedication of the Wheaton's, the strengthened dealer network, the new
GM and the experienced staff, success will continue in the automotive industry.
This means YOU the customer will get the best service as affirmation to commitment.
Submitted by Ken Osman
Fleet and Lease Manager with the Wheatons for over 30 years
