BONNYVILLE – Surrounded by friends, family, current and retired staff, and long-time customers, Edward (Ed) and Lorraine Tercier soaked in the landmark achievement unmatched in General Motors’ (GM) Canadian history.
Ed has been a dealer operator for GM Canada for 60 years, he has been the principal owner of Tercier Motors Ltd. in Bonnyville since opening the business 65 years ago and he has been selling cars even longer than that.
On June 10, a community barbecue was held in the parking lot of Tercier Motors followed by a private celebratory function later that evening to mark the unprecedented milestone.
What sets Ed apart from other dealers is how early he got into the industry. At just 16 years old, Ed began selling Volkswagens and second-hand cars.
Leaving school in Grade 11, Ed helped his father run a service station business. But it wasn’t long before the entrepreneurial teen found his own niche and began selling Volkswagens out of the parking lot of his father’s business.
Ed’s father, Rene Tercier, built and operated Rene’s Esso Service in Bonnyville, which officially opened on August 10, 1953. At the time, Rene’s Esso Service was considered the most modern service station across northeast Alberta.
While sitting in the parking lot of his very own business 70 years later, Ed recalled the early days that helped direct his life to where he is now.
“A customer had come into the station and told my father we should start selling [Volkswagen] because they were good cars. So, I convinced my dad that we should,” Ed told Lakeland This Week, during Tercier Motors’ 65-year celebration.
Ed’s father had known the sales manager of the Volkswagen dealership in Edmonton and was able to convince him to start an initial agreement. This was only successful because the Canadian air force was establishing 4 Wing Cold Lake at the time.
Ed was given two Volkswagens on consignment to bring up to Bonnyville – in just two days both the vehicles were scooped up. “I phoned him and said, ‘You got some more?’” laughed Ed, thinking back.
He received two more vehicles, and it wasn’t long before those cars were sold off too.
Ed then began receiving used vehicles from Alex Tannas, the owner of St. Paul Sales and Service, who happened to be a GM dealer.
Tannas provided the young car salesman with three second-hand vehicles to start with. Looking back with nostalgia, Ed lists the names of some of his very first customers. From the lot of his father’s service station, Ed sold Volkswagen, Studebaker and International Harvester trucks.
“In 1958, I acquired the Volkswagen [franchise] directly from Toronto. So, I was a Volkswagen dealer then,” he said.
That same year, Ed’s father sold the service station, and the Volkswagen dealership was moved into a newly remodeled International Harvester building.
The new site located in Bonnyville’s downtown was named Tercier Motors Ltd. Its official opening was held on April 5, 1958.
When Ed opened his dealership, he was only 18 years old and had been married to his wife Lorraine for just one year. Now married for 66 years, Lorraine has been by Ed’s side the entire time – through the prosperous times and the hard times.
Years later, Tannas, the GM dealer from St. Paul, would make a recommendation to GM Canada that Ed and his business should serve as a GM dealer for the Bonnyville area.
“Alex phoned me and said, ‘I’m coming up with a GM guy.’ I asked why, and he said, ‘Because you're going to be the new GM dealer in Bonnyville. And so, he came up,” Ed recounted.
In order to take on a General Motors franchise, Tercier Motors would have to deal exclusively in GM products, meaning the business would have to give up selling Volkswagen and International Harvester products.
Before GM would sign off on a franchise, Ed also had to prove that the business had $20,000 in liquid working capital – “not borrowed, you had to own it,” he added.
While Ed had most of the money, he knew he would come up short, but Tannas encouraged him to move forward with the agreement with General Motors.
When the time came for Ed to show is bank statements to GM, Tannas instructed Ed to stop in St. Paul. “He gave me a cheque for $7,000 to cover what I needed, shook my hand and said, ‘Good luck’ and that was it,” Ed said. It was a considerable contribution considering the time.
In 1963, Tercier Motors was awarded the General Motors franchise for Bonnyville. “Then it was success after success and failure and failure,” Ed mused.
And the business did see success, it also experienced stretches of struggles and economic downturns, Lorraine noted. “It was tough. A couple of times it came, well,” she paused. “81 was a tough year.”
In 1981, the Bank of Canada had set bank interest rates at 17.93, while the prime rate sat at 19.29, forcing dealerships to sell cars with an interest rate of around 21 per cent, Ed recalled.
Filling in the gaps in each other's recollections, they laughed at the actions of Paul Vallee who they attributed to making the poignant and comical sign that read: ‘Will the last one in Bonnyville please turn the lights off.’
“But I didn’t leave,” said Ed. “I stayed and I worked hard during that period of time.”
Having survived through tumultuous periods, the Tercier legacy has continued to expand.
Ed and Lorraine's son Norman and daughter Debbie own Lake City Motors in Cold Lake, while Lakeland Chevrolet Buick GMC Inc. in St. Paul is owned by Norman, their grandson Darcy and grandson-in-law Brad Hepburn.
Ed says the biggest thing he has come to learn in his more than six decades in the industry is that a successful business comes down to dealing with good people, good employees and putting in hard work.
“Be honest with your customers and find employees that do the same, which we have. I have employees that have been here for 40, 45 years, and I still have them – I won’t let them retire,” Ed laughed.
On the topic of retirement, he said, “A lot of people ask me why I don’t retire, and I say, because I like the job. I just like being here, that’s all.”
Lorraine noted that now that Ed has hit the 60-year milestone with GM, more of her husband’s responsibilities will be handed over to their grandson.
Quick to interject, Ed playfully said, “Well, my idea wasn’t that. The idea was to retire the day after I die.”
Prior to Tercier Motors 65-year celebration, Ed and Lorraine had a video conference with the president of GM and other executives, where they were congratulated on their momentous achievement. GM also indicated that at 60 years, Tercier Motors is believed to be the longest GM dealership to be run by its principal owner across North America.
