Bob Reid stands in front of Reid and Johnson Motors in Port Angeles, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. (Vivian Hansen/Peninsula Daily News)

Bob Reid stands in front of Reid and Johnson Motors in Port Angeles, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. (Vivian Hansen/Peninsula Daily News)

Reid and Johnson Motors marks 50 years in business in Port Angeles

PORT ANGELES — The business known as Reid and Johnson Motors of Port Angeles is marking its 50th anniversary this year.

“We would like to thank all our loyal customers, friends and family for 50 great years of serving the North Olympic Peninsula,” said Bob Reid, longtime owner of the used car dealership at 108 S. Race St.

No specific date is being used to celebrate the milestone.

Billed as the “Clean Car Center,” Reid and Johnson Motors specializes in late model cars, trucks, vans, SUVs and commercial vehicles.

“It’s been a good run,” Reid, 58, said in a Thursday interview.

“This was my dream. When I was growing up, I was going to be a car dealer. I do what I wanted to do when I was 5 years old.”

Bob Reid’s father, Ed Reid, opened the business in 1968 as Ed Reid’s 8th St. Motors at the corner of Eighth and Francis streets in Port Angeles.

Ed Reid, who began working in auto sales at Aiken/Ruddell Oldsmobile in 1949, moved the company to its present location at the corner of First and Race streets in 1971.

In 1974, Ed Reid took on a partner, Stan Johnson, and changed the name to Reid and Johnson Motors.

“That’s the same year that I started to work down here after school in eighth grade,” Bob Reid said.

“I’d come down here after school and on Saturdays.”

Bob Reid, who began his career washing cars, graduated from Central Washington University and returned to work at Reid and Johnson Motors as sales manager in 1983.

Johnson had purchased the business from Ed Reid in 1981 and told the younger Reid that he planned to retire in five years.

Bob Reid and his wife, Kathy, purchased the business from Johnson in April 1987.

They decided to keep the Reid and Johnson name.

“The company had a really good reputation,” Bob Reid said.

For nearly 32 years, the Reids have enjoyed selling quality vehicles on the North Olympic Peninsula, Bob Reid said.

The business of six employees has weathered economic shifts and has adapted to changes in the industry.

The Internet has helped Reid and Johnson sell vehicles, particularly commercial vehicles, up and down the West Coast, Bob Reid said.

“The hardest part in the car business is not necessarily selling the vehicles, it’s buying the cars,” he added.

“Finding the inventory is always really challenging.”

After a slow recovery from the Great Recession, business has been “pretty good” since about 2014, Bob Reid said.

“All our employees, Bob and Kathy Reid, Gary Smith, Jeremy, Elijah and Chris appreciate every one of our customers for the last 50 great years,” Bob Reid said in an email.

For information on Reid and Johnson Motors, go to www.portangelesusedcars.com.

________

Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.

More in Business

Todd Ortloff Show guests this week

Here is this week’s schedule for the 1 p.m.… Continue reading

EYE ON BUSINESS: This week’s meetings

Meetings on Wednesdays at the student-run Wildcat… Continue reading

Todd Ortloff Show guests this week

Here is this week’s schedule for the 1 p.m.… Continue reading

EYE ON BUSINESS: This week’s meetings

Meetings on Wednesdays at the student-run… Continue reading

Todd Ortloff Show guests this week

Here is this week’s schedule for the 1 p.m.… Continue reading

EYE ON BUSINESS: This week’s meetings

Breakfast meetings with networking and educational… Continue reading

Todd Ortloff Show guests this week

Here is this week’s schedule for the 1 p.m.… Continue reading

EYE ON BUSINESS: This week’s meetings

Breakfast meetings with networking and educational… Continue reading

Todd Ortloff Show guests this week

Here is this week’s schedule for the 1 p.m.… Continue reading

EYE ON BUSINESS: This week’s meetings

Breakfast meetings with networking and educational… Continue reading

EYE ON BUSINESS: This week’s meetings

Breakfast meetings with networking and educational… Continue reading

Todd Ortloff Show guests this week

Here is this week’s schedule for the 1 p.m.… Continue reading