In 1963, first-class postage cost five cents, “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom,” debuted on NBC and Ernie Miller bought the Rockdale Chevrolet-Buick dealership from Louis Gest.
“The last time this dealership changed hands, John F. Kennedy was president,” said Allan Miller who, along with other owners, signed over the dealership to the new owner Michael Handwerger on Tuesday.
“I have just reached the point in my life that it is time to move on to other opportunities or mow the grass,” Miller said jokingly.
But he does have some serious travel plans in his future. “My dad was from Canada and I still have relatives there. That is about the first order of business; getting on a plane and going up to Canada,” he said.
The new owner is Michael Handwerger who also owns a luxury and exotic car dealership in Round Rock and another out-of-state auto franchise.
“Our plans are to keep the great traditions that Miller-Starnes established the past almost 60 years,” Handwerger said. “We want to give our clientele the best buying experience and stay heavily involved with the community. We are honored to purchase the dealership from a great family.”
Miller said he has been thinking about selling the dealership for the past three years.
“Last summer in August, I was at the beach in Massachusetts when this guy calls me and asks me if I wanted to sell,” Miller said. “He wasn’t able to get his financing.”
But that set the wheels to turning in Miller’s mind.
After years of keeping up with the fickleness of the automotive business, Miller said he was easing into the idea of getting out of the day-to-day business.
“I have seen low interest, high interest, high employment, low employment, wars and constantly monitoring the weather keeping a watch for hail,” he said. “I have enjoyed the challenge, but I am ready for a slower pace.”
He ended up getting a broker who first brought him representatives from conglomerates.
“That is not who I wanted to sell to,” he said.
Then he met Handwerger and found him to be “good people.”
Miller has spent his life in the car business and except for his time in college at Sam Houston State and two month in Detroit at the Chevrolet School of Merchandising and Management, he has called Rockdale home.
He said he used to wait by the his front door after getting home from school when he was a kid for his dad to come get him to take him to work at the dealership.
In a Rockdale Reporter article from July 2003, Miller’s dad, Ernie, said, “Allan grew up around it and has always loved this business. I remember when he was a kid and didn’t want to go to school. He wanted to come to work with me and wash cars.”
“Very few people get to fulfill their dream and live it. I have done it,” Miller said.
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