As President Obama presides over the largest bankruptcy of an American industrial company in history and 100 year old GM enters a court supervised restructuring, your Editors wanted to understand what it all might mean for local Chevy lovers. Since there is not a significant GM manufacturing facility in West Orange County, the autoworker's plight might not be quite as relevant to our local area as the concerns of our local Chevy lovers. There are however, plenty of Chevy lovers in West Orange County. We surveyed several local Chevy dealers to get their first reaction to the bankruptcy filing, their reactions varied greatly.

Some of the dealers with whom we spoke were pretty negative and declined to answer any questions. But, others were enthusiastic about the bankruptcy filing. According to one source, the dealers facing termination of their GM dealerships have already been notified. While the list of dealers to be terminated has not been made public, the targeted dealers know who they are. At least one local dealer, Showcase Chevrolet in Westminster has already closed its doors.

The dealers who would not answer questions about the bankruptcy filing included Champion Chevrolet, on Bellflower in Long Beach, S And J Chevrolet on Studebaker in CERRITOS, and George Chevrolet on Lakewood in Bellflower. Based on their responses to our attempts to interview them, it seemed clear they did not think the bankruptcy was a good thing. It could also be that their rather negative perspective could be because they have received dealer termination notices.

These pessimistic outlooks contrasted with that of some of the other dealerships we interviewed. General Manager, Les Saul, of Harbor Chevrolet in Long Beach said "It's a reorganization, it's not that the company is going away. It's business
as usual The warrantee is still good...if anything, it's better than it ever was."

Sales Manager Justo Bayron, of Nicholas Chevrolet in Garden Grove said that even though he could not link it to the bankruptcy, "Today we have had more activity than we have had on any other Monday in a long, long time."

Dale Schoof, Sales Manager at Delillo Chevrolet in Huntington Beach, said with regard to the warrantee, "It's owned by the government, it's the best bet in town. It'll take a day or two for it to work it's way through to the people who are interested in the product. What was lacking was a level of confidence as far as public perception, to me, there is nothing better than what has happened today {Monday}." When asked if he thought the bankruptcy would have a positive affect on sales he said "Oh yes, without a question. The public will have to think about it for a night or two before the bulb pops on and people realize there's absolutely no risk here."

In his speech yesterday morning on the GM bankruptcy, President Obama said "I want to remind everyone that if you are considering buying a GM car during this period of restructuring, your warrantees will be safe and government-backed."

For one Chevy enthusiast, , Mike of Rossmoor, he will continue buying Chevy's with or without the bankruptcy. He said "The first car I bought, in 2000 was a Chevy and every car I have purchased since has been a Chevy. My first car was a Camaro and I bought a Trail Blazer, a Corvette, a Chevy Malibu, a Chevy Cobalt, and a Chevy Express Van. You go with one brand your whole life, you pick something you like, and you'll support it, you'll stick to it, and be loyal to it so long as they keep delivering a good product. I've been happy with every Chevy I've owned. I've not had a problem with any of them. It's the product you are buying, regardless of the bankruptcy or not, I would keep buying Chevy."