ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
There are multiple businesses throughout Liberal that have made themselves fixtures in the community as time has gone on, and Chrysler Corner at 406 E. Pancake Blvd. is among them.
2024 marks the business’s 50th anniversary of being part of Liberal, and as owner Jay Musgrave tells it, it has been quite the ride.
“Chrysler Corner all started with my parents and them coming to Liberal with the various jobs they had before they started working at the Chrysler dealership at that time. My parents moved to Liberal in 1957, when I was about 1 year old, and my father began working in the Ideal warehouse owned by the Blakemore family, while my mother stayed at home with me,” Musgrave said. “But after a little while, he found a better job working for the Clingan Tire Company and she found a job at Redford Motor Company, which was next door to where City Hall is now. While working at Clingan, my dad met a farmer named Henry Gutridge and one day when he was getting a set of new tires, he mentioned how the Standard Oil station was closing and suggested my dad buy it. While my dad didn't have that kind of money, Henry did, and they decided to ultimately go into business together. Then, in 1963, my dad sold that station and began working for the Chrysler dealer as a salesman, and the business moved into its current space on Pancake Boulevard since things were growing so much. Then, in April 1974, they bought the dealership from the owner, Harry Redford, and took things from there, and the dealership became the go-to place for Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and other brands. I wasn't hired on until 1978 because I was doing my own thing.”
That “own thing,” Musgrave said, was also an interesting ride that led him to the car dealership business.
“I'd worked with National Beef as a security guard, and I got a call from some guys in Ulysses to audition for their band since I'm also a musician. What they wanted was an opening act, so I got through the audition and they ended up hiring me, which I was really excited about, and I thought we'd stick around the local area at local bars and places like that,” Musgrave said. “However, they told me 'We're leaving on tour in two weeks,' which threw me for a loop, and I had to scramble and figure out what to do with my trailer home and my car I was still making payments on. I called a guy who'd told me he was interested in renting my trailer if I ever wanted to do that, so I called them up and we worked out an agreement and went from there. We toured all over Texas and ultimately went broke. The bass player's father, who lived in Buffalo, Wyo. at the time, told us there was a promoter who would take us and get us work, so we loaded everything up and went there. However, I had to leave my car behind because they couldn't afford to buy my gas anymore, so I had to ride with the keyboard player in the truck that hauled all of our equipment. When we got to Wyoming, things really didn't get too much better for the band, but the promoter convinced me to stay because he could book single acts. So I stayed, and again, things didn't really get too much better. I called my father, told him what was going on and how I had no car or anything much and asked him to help get me home. He told me to stay put and then about 20 minutes later, he told me to get a ride to Sheridan, Wyo., where there was a van waiting for me that he'd been able to purchase. I started working for the dealership shortly after I got back, and I've been here ever since. Then, my father passed away in 1992, which left me and my mother to handle the day-to-day operations with everything before she passed away in 2008. I'm still here, though with no successor, so when I'm gone, so will the dealership probably, unless someone wants to buy it. I had one of my sons here for about six years and had even sent him to dealer school, but he decided this wasn't really the business for him.”
Musgrave said there are multiple emotions about the business reaching its 50th anniversary.
“I feel very blessed, because there have been a few times when we wondered if we were going to be able to stick around. Back in 2009, things really took a nosedive and Chrysler was cutting dealers, so we didn't know if we were going to be one of the dealers cut or not, but thankfully, we weren't,” Musgrave said. “Then, in 2018 or 2019 was another rough time for us, and there were multiple times I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to survive that. There were multiple nights when I worried if the next day would be the day I'd have to gather everyone and tell them we were done, but thankfully, things picked back up and we survived. There are a lot of companies pushing the electric vehicles now, which we're somewhat fighting, and I've talked to some other area dealers who feel the same way because I'm not sure 100 percent electric is the way to go.”
Having been in business for half a century, Musgrave said there are many other trends he witnessed.
“Things have changed so, so much throughout the years, it's kind of crazy. When I started back in 1978, we had way bigger cars – almost boats, actually – with the V8 engines but terrible gas mileage. Then, the government started choking back on certain regulations and started putting others into place as far as cars having to have a certain amount of miles per gallon over the whole fleet,” Musgrave said. “They got away for a while by adding smaller cars to help even things out, but that eventually quit being a solution, so manufacturers started phasing out the big boat-cars and using smaller engines in smaller cars, and the regulations just kept coming. I remember our flagship, a Chrysler New Yorker, had a four-cylinder engine, which was just unheard of at that time. Then from there, manufacturers started figuring out how to get even better fuel mileage out of the V6 engines, and people really liked that, and then in the early 1990s was when Chrysler brought back the Viper, which was a V10 sports car and an absolute monster. That started things going a little bit, but it wasn't until about 2005 when things started kicking in again with the Hemi engines over the V8 with the Dodge Charger, and it was in 2008 when the Dodge Challenger was brought back, which had an even bigger V8. We're at a point where things are starting to get smaller again because the 2025 pickups I have ordered now, the half-tons, will have a V6 engine with turbos, and the Hemi is going away save for the heavy-duty trucks.”
As for the future? Musgrave said he certainly has his thoughts on what could happen in the automotive world.
“I personally think hybrid vehicles are the way of the future because you can run electric around town but go to gas if you're planning a longer drive/trip,” Musgrave said. “The technology is already there to make that happen, and make it work well. If the industry went 100 percent hybrid, I feel like that would solve so many problems because again, people could run their electric here in town and switch to gas for the longer trips they have to take, and it's just so much more efficient. And with the hybrid model, there wouldn't be so much anxiety as far as whether or not you'll make it to your destination, especially since there still aren't very many charging stations set up throughout the state, and it can add quite a bit of extra time to your trip. Again, that's just my personal opinion, but I think that truly would be the best solution.”
The business will be hosting a celebration from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 4 at the dealership, and Musgrave said he is grateful for the support shown throughout the past five decades.
“We have a lot of loyal customers, and we really appreciate their business, so we want to show our appreciation and celebrate this milestone with them,” Musgrave said. “Everyone's invited to drop in and celebrate with us, and we'll have some special deals throughout the month of April on cars in the lot and in our service department, so we encourage people to take advantage of that.”
