Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Bagott new owners 7315
a Bagott Motors, Bud at desk 7341
a Bagott Motors, tow truck 7300
Change has come in Palouse.
After 89 years, Bagott Motors has a new owner.
Bud Bagott, third generation operator of the Main Street auto shop and former Dodge/Jeep dealership, sold the business to Charlie Chappell of Oakesdale, who took over May 1.
Chappell grew up riding around in a Dodge Caravan bought by his mother from Bagott Motors. Now he takes over as Bud continues to sell used cars through the shop, while Bud's son Mike, Palouse Fire Chief, and longtime Bagott Motors employee, now works days at Palouse's other longest-standing business, Palouse Grain Growers, founded in 1930.
Chappell bought the car shop after hearing through the grapevine last November that Bud may be interested in selling.
“I, of course, have mixed feelings. I think we're an asset to the area. My primary concern was to keep it open as an auto repair shop.”
Chappell has spent the past nine years as a diesel mechanic at Jones Truck & Implement in Colfax after learning diesel and heavy equipment technology at Spokane Community College.
Now he has his own operation, but the Bagott Motors name will remain.
“Just out of respect for Bud,” said Chappell.
The business will also stay largely the same.
“Continue as is but add diesel into the mix,” Chappell said. “From lawnmowers to utility tractors, whatever anyone wants worked on.”
The shop will continue to sell tires and wheels and run a towing service.
To begin, Chappell will have no employees, aside from his wife KaeCie and two young children helping with the books.
“I'm very pleased with what he has to offer, as far as experience,” said Bud, 80. “He is not obsessed with the clock. He will reap the benefits down the road by building a reputation of working to get the job done.”
Bud Bagott at his desk.An old Bagott Motors tow truck sits in the original shop area. Bud Bagott, right, and son Mike talk with a customer at the shop Tuesday. Mike worked at the shop from 1993-2014.Family line
Clark Bagott opened Bagott Motors in 1929 as a Ford dealership, then turned it to a Dodge dealership in the mid-1930s. It began as a showroom with storage area behind it.
In 1956, during a time of adding bays and expanding parts and service and office area, a fire set back the operation.
It remained a Chrysler/Dodge dealership until 2008. The Bagotts sold back parts inventory and special tools, just before the national economic crash.
Mike Bagott grew up around the business and worked there from 1993 – soon after college – to 2014.
The dealership also sold Fiats for a time in the '70s. As a child, Mike rode with his father and grandfather to Pullman and Moscow to pick up the small Italian imports to bring back to service in Palouse.
“Everything was huge back then for domestic cars, and this was a whole difference perspective,” Mike said.
The dealership sold new and used cars throughout its existence, going to just used and service after 2008.
“The business always focused on service,” said Mike. “It's talked about a lot today, not sure how much it's focused on... The manufacturers have made it clear they don't want small dealerships.”
Clark Bagott ran the business until the mid-1930s when Mike's grandfather, John Bagott, came back from college to run the business.
In 1970, his son, Bud Bagott, returned from Pueblo, Colo. to join his father in the business. In Colorado, Bud had worked as a regional sales representative for Dodge, covering southern Colorado and New Mexico.
In 1987, John developed heart issues and fully retired in a matter of weeks. Bud and his wife Joan then took over.
Mike moved back after graduating from Eastern Washington in 1991 – after which he received an '86 Dodge Daytona for a present. He first worked for three months in Coeur D'Alene in a Dodge dealership and got fired at the end of the 90-day trial period, for not selling enough.
“It's just a different expectation,” said Mike with a smile. “Higher pressure, very numbers-driven. Deals that would not get made on the fifth of the month would get made on the 25th.”
The family business hit a high mark when Dodge introduced its new, tiered-front pickup design in 1993.
“The '90s, as far as volume, were the heyday,” said Mike. “The pickup thing went crazy.”
As time went on, elements changed.
“The first 8-10 years, it was a blast,” said Mike. “Then it went from those personal visits from the sales and service reps to phone calls to faxes and e-mails. They were getting heat from their higher-ups. Frankly, it wasn't fun anymore.”
Now that the shop is not owned by the Bagotts, Bud can still be seen at his desk inside the showroom.
“I'll continue to be active and be available, which is what I want,” he said. “I'm 80 years old. I'm not a stay-at-home person. It'll be 48 years the first of June that I've been home.”
Small-town
dealership
Bagott Motors is/was the last of many similar places like it in Whitman County.
The Dodge dealership in Tekoa went out in 1984 and Anderberg Chevrolet in Rosalia went out in 1980, same for Brown and Holter General Motors in Colfax in 1993. Dorsey Chevrolet in Tekoa quit selling new cars in 1988.
“It's the way it goes,” said Bob Lindgren, who ran the Tekoa Motors Dodge dealership with his father T.A. Lindgren from 1955 to 1984. “Shall we call it progress? I don't know. Survivability?”
Tekoa at one time had four dealerships, drawing clientele from the local area and up into Spokane.
As for Bagott Motors, at their height, they sold 220 cars, new and used, in 1994-95. At the time it had 10 employees, including four mechanics. Joan, Bud's wife, did the books from the early '80s to about 2000, following Mike's grandmother and great-grandmother, who did the same at the dealership.
Mike's wife Darcie worked there too.
“Four generations of husbands and wives,” said Mike.
Four generations of young kids running around the shop too, as the Chappells' two children can now be seen in the windows.
From the same spot, young Bud once saw the return of new cars after more than three years without.
“I remember at the conclusion of World War II, there hadn't been any new cars available. There was a waiting list to buy new vehicles,” he said.
Bagott Motors got a 50-year plaque from Dodge in 1983.
“They've served our downtown well,” said Michael Echanove, Palouse mayor. “They've been an anchor in our downtown for almost 90 years. The Bagotts have been a cornerstone family in Palouse.”
The Bagott Motors neon sign that lights up at night was made in the 1950s, modeled on the signature of John Bagott (Mike's grandfather). Underneath, in the showroom windows through last winter was a 1966 Dodge Dart, which was reacquired after being sold new by Bagott Motors.
It was a model from the time the national stock car racing circuit had a hand in the fortunes of the business.
“They used to say you win on Sunday, you sell on Monday,” Bud said of how Dodge cars fared in big races.
All the while the Bagotts' supplier kept the family's attention; the Dart, the Daytona, Charger, Polara.
“A company capable of reaching pretty high heights but also capable of losing their vision pretty quickly,” said Mike.
Hours of the new Bagott Motors are 8 a.m. - 5 pm. Monday through Friday and Saturdays by appointment.
“The smells, the tires, the pride and commitment that everyone in the family has shown to the business and customers is what I think of,” said Mike. “Things were not done to maximize the dollars but to maximize the relationships, over the long term.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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