COOS BAY - The styles, makes and models of the cars it sold may have varied with the passing years, but little else has changed since Courtesy Pontiac opened its doors nearly five decades ago. But a new chapter began for the family-owned new and used car dealership, when it sold its new vehicle franchise to a competitor in North Bend.

Paul “Butch” Gulseth, 63, the president and owner of the business, which peddled Pontiacs, Buicks and GMC trucks, said he turned over 45 vehicles and his title to his new car franchise to Ken Ware Chevrolet-Cadillac last Thursday. He said doing so allows him to work half-days so he can spend more time with his wife. He said it was also time to downsize the business into a more manageable load for his son - a salesman at the dealership - and his daughter-in-law, who will both eventually take over the business.

“I'm excited. I'm ready to take more time off and have less stress. I'm thrilled to death,” Gulseth said, adding he plans to retire within the next two years.

The business will continue to sell used cars and service the vehicles of clients, but it will no longer offer parts, he said. A group of mechanics, former employees of the Gulseth family, are renting the service shop to keep it running.

“We're still here and the shop is still open,” Gulseth said.

Looking out at an empty lot directly across from the dealership, where his new cars were once displayed, Gulseth said he will probably rent some of the space to a local man for storage, but will use some of it to show off Courtesy's stock of used vehicles. He said he is not sad to downsize the business, but has already heard from loyal clients that they don't feel the same way. Some have told him that they'll simply have to begin buying used cars, Gulseth said.

Ware, who owns and operates Ken Ware Chevrolet-Cadillac in North Bend, said purchasing the franchise from the Gulseths means a wider variety of vehicles for his customers, including GMC's light duty truck line.

“It should give us an opportunity to grow some. We will be able to attract other customers who like Pontiacs and GMCs,” said Ware, who founded his dealership in 1984. “There was an opportunity. They were willing to sell and we were willing to buy.”

He declined to say what he paid for the franchise.

After Courtesy was founded by his mother and father, Cliff and Rose Gulseth, in January 1960, Gulseth said he began working there as a car washer when he was 18. He later became a car salesman before taking over the business in 1983.

A national drag racing record holder when he was a young man, Gulseth's trophies are proudly displayed within the dealership. He said he was happy when his father, a former Chevrolet and Buick dealer in Coquille, opened the business and began selling his favorite car - the 1960 Pontiac.

“I guess I was thrilled - plus I liked Pontiacs. Pontiacs were pretty hot cars from 1957 on,” Gulseth said. “I raced a lot of things, but what I was successful with was the 1960 Pontiac,” Gulseth said.

Eventually, Gulseth's son, Grant, also came to work for the company.

Grant Gulseth, 38, said he fondly remembers working at the dealership in the eighth grade, washing cars just like his dad did when he was a teenager. Following in Butch Gulseth's footsteps, he began selling cars full time when he was 21.

“I've actually really enjoyed it. You meet a lot of people and you make a lot of friends,” Grant Gulseth said. He added that it is neat to be part of a family business. “We all worked here at that same time, (all) three generations. It was kind of neat, also kind of difficult. You have to get along businesswise and familywise at the same time.”

He said he supports his father's decision to downsize the business, especially because flooring fees, in which dealerships pay interest on vehicles, can make selling new cars expensive. However, he hopes to see another three generations of Gulseths operating the dealership.

“It's been nice having a family business to come to and work at,” Grant Gulseth said.

Courtesy Pontiac is located at 175 Ingersoll Ave., in Coos Bay.