ALITTLE ABOUT US
It was the year that
Americans panicked during the airing of
Orson Welles ’War of the World”. Minimum wage was 40 cents an hour. The ball
point pen was invented by L. Biro. A comic hero, Superman, was to debut. Kate
Smith introduced “God Bless America”. Joe Louis knocked out Max Schmeling in
the first round. The Yankees won their third World Series title, defeating
Chicago. Lloyd Kyle Sr. and his brother John first opened their doors in
Vermilion, OH on Memorial Day Week-end. The year was 1938!
The location was Decatur
Street, which once housed Amvets and now is home to Vermilion Municipal Court.
The dealership featured gas pumps, a one car showroom, and manual sliding
garage doors to the service department. Lloyd Kyle Sr. boasted that they had he
newest gas pumps in the area (this was due to the way that old Rt. 6 used to
take a hairpin corner right in front of the dealership).
In the mid-1940’s Lloyd Jr. bought his
uncle John’s shares of the partnership and the business was renamed Kyle &
Son. In 1957, the Kyle’s moved their
Buick-Pontiac dealership to it’s current location on W. Lake Rd. Just west of
Vermilion. By then they had incorporated into their current name, Kyle Motors
Inc.
A 1941 picture of the “NEW” wrecker (converted Packard). Left to right: Park Kyle, John Kyle and Lloyd Kyle Sr.
This was taken at
our original site which is now the home of Vermilion Municipal Court.
Left: Lloyd Kyle Sr., Lloyd Kyle Jr. and
Dick Green (Salesman) around 1957 right before the headed to a GM meeting in
Right: This was a Christmas photo taken in 1951 of the entire staff. Take a look a the old items on the wall and old model cars on the shelf above them. Back row: Lloyd Kyle Jr., Bud Batch, Rol Angerbach, Unknown, Lloyd Kyle Sr. and bottom row: Bob Kyle and Leo Judy.
This impromptu photo was taken in the showroom in 1965 with the Lloyd Kyle Jr. family.
From left to
right: Jeannine, Brian, Ruth, Lloyd and front Jerry.
Right: Dealer
Anniversary Award received in 1985 from GM.
Left to right:
Chuck, Bob, Lloyd Jr., Ruth and
From our 60th
Anniversary Celebration in 1998 here is one of our original customers (yes back
to 1938) Charles Edge discussing the first days with
