While
in high school, Jim Lewis got an early start in the car business
by working at his brother Fred's body shop, Lewis Body &
Glass, in Enid, Oklahoma. From 1960 to 1962, he worked as
a salesman and bookkeeper at the new AMC (Rambler) dealership,
co-owned by his brother Fred and Glen Semke. In July 1962,
after serving 6 months active duty in the National Guard,
Jim opened his own used car dealership. Jim and his brother
Richard bought the Datsun dealership in Ponca City, Oklahoma,
in 1975. He continued to sell cars at his Enid used car dealership
until he bought the Dodge dealership in 1977. Jim also was
the local DeLorean dealer while the cars were in production.
In 1982, he sold Lewis Datsun and Lewis Dodge. Since that
time, he has continued in the used car business.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Jim
sold high performance muscle cars which are now the collector
cars that he continues to sell today. Now many of those cars
sell for 100% to more than 500% of their original cost. A
new Corvette or Shelby Mustang in the 1960s and 1970s costing
between $3000 and $4000 is now worth between $50,000 and $250,000.
Prior to 2000, he sold collector
cars at his dealership, through newspaper ads, through the
Auto Trader and at collector car auctions such as Kruse International,
Leake Sale and Mecum's Auction. Since 2000, he has been listing
many collector cars on ebay. He has expanded his customer
base from Oklahoma and Kansas to nationwide. He has even sold
vehicles worldwide, in countries such as Poland, Germany,
Holland, Norway, New Zealand and Australia.
