March 2011 ~ Lehmer's Concord Buick GMC

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Posted by Lehmer's Concord Buick GMC on 12:27 PM

Check out these fun facts and may the luck of the Irish smile upon ya!

Fun Facts about St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick’s Day is observed on March 17 because that is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that he died on March 17 in the year 461 AD. It is also a worldwide celebration of Irish culture and history. St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland, and a provincial holiday in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The actual color of St. Patrick is blue. Green became associated with St. Patrick's Day during the 19th century. Green, in Irish legends, was worn by fairies and immortals, and also by people to encourage their crops to grow.

St. Patrick did not actually drive snakes out of Ireland; the snakes represent the pagans that he converted to Christianity.

The very first St. Patrick's Day parade was not in Ireland. It was in Boston in 1737.

In Chicago, on St. Patrick's Day, the rivers are dyed green.

In Seattle, there is a ceremony where a green stripe is painted down the roads.

Most Catholics attend mass in the morning and then attend the St. Patrick's Day parade.

Shamrocks are worn on the lapel on this day.

In Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, people traditionally wear a small bunch of shamrocks on their jackets or caps. Children wear orange, white and green badges, and women and girls wear green ribbons in their hair

Many young people dye their hair green for the special day.

Many people wear green on this holiday to avoid being pinched.

The phrase, "Drowning The Shamrock" is from the custom of floating the shamrock on the top of whiskey before drinking it. The Irish believe that if you keep the custom, then you will have a prosperous year.

Many bars in the United States, and abroad, serve green beer to celebrate St. Patty's Day.

Fun Facts about the Irish

34 million Americans have Irish ancestry, according to the 2003 US Census. That’s almost nine times the population of Ireland, which has 4.1 million people.

Nine of the people who signed our Declaration Of Independence were of Irish origin, and nineteen Presidents of the United States proudly claim Irish heritage -- including our first President, George Washington.

Some American towns have “Irish” names. You could visit: Mount Gay-Shamrock, West Virginia; Shamrock Lakes, Indiana; Shamrock, Oklahoma; Shamrock, Texas; Dublin, California and Dublin, Ohio.

The harp is the symbol of Ireland. The color green is also commonly associated with Ireland, also known as “the Emerald Isle.”

The Irish flag is green, white and orange. The green symbolizes the people of the south, and orange, the people of the north. White represents the peace that brings them together as a nation.

The name “leprechaun” has several origins. It could be from the Irish Gaelic word “leipreachan,” which means “a kind of aqueous sprite.” Or, it could be from “leath bhrogan,” which means “shoemaker.”

Fun Facts about Clovers

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest number of leaves found on a clover is 14.

One estimate suggests that there are about 10,000 regular three-leaf clovers for every lucky four-leaf clover.

Legend says that each leaf of the clover means something: the first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and the fourth for luck.

Buick’s Gas-Saving Strategy

Posted by Lehmer's Concord Buick GMC on 12:15 PM

The Energy Department calculates that 17.2 percent of a vehicle’s fuel is consumed when its engine idles in traffic, adding up to billions of gallons burned at stop signs and traffic lights and in urban congestion. Put another way, 69 cents’ worth of a $4 gallon is wasted by idling.

To minimize this inefficiency, automakers are adopting so-called stop-start systems that virtually eliminate idling by shutting off the engine when the car or truck comes to a complete stop, then instantaneously restarting it when the driver’s foot lifts off the brake (on cars with an automatic transmission) or engages the clutch.

General Motors has become the latest company to announce a stop-start feature. Its system, called eAssist, will be a standard feature on 2012 models of the full-size Buick LaCrosse sedan with a 4-cylinder engine; it will be an option on the midsize 2012 Regal.

While hybrid vehicles typically have a stop-start feature built into their gas-electric drive systems, conventionally powered cars and light trucks must be engineered to incorporate the technology into existing powertrains and body structures.

Daylight Savings Time Begins March 13th

Posted by Lehmer's Concord Buick GMC on 5:51 AM

Daylight savings time is coming up this weekend. Don’t forget to set your clocks forward!

Every year, daylight savings time seems to take people by surprise. In the United States, daylight savings time begins on March 13 at 2 a.m. local time except in parts of Arizona and Hawaii. As the popular saying goes, clocks need to "spring forward" to observe the change. In other words, clocks need to be set ahead by one hour when the clock strikes 2 a.m.

Daylight Savings Time Begins on March 13 in the U.S. - Yahoo! News

Embracing our History

Posted by Lehmer's Concord Buick GMC on 12:21 PM

In 1936 Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Olympics, you could buy a new Oldsmobile for $665 and Erv Lehmer’s used car dealership in Concord, California got their franchise from General Motors to sell Oldsmobiles. Much has changed in the world since 1936, but the Lehmer family continues to sell GM vehicles in Concord.
In 1938 Lehmer added the GMC truck franchise to his dealership and has been selling GMC models ever since.
Erv’s daughter Carolyn has been around the dealership since she was born. She worked there during the summers when she was still in high school and after college she started full-time. Carolyn says, “I worked in the office, because girls worked in the office in those days. But I became a dealer in 1987.” Today she runs the show at Lehmer’s Concord Buick-GMC along with her husband Russ Anderson and their son Darren.
Russ took a winding path into the car business. When he was 18 years old he joined the navy and became an engine man on submarines. He remembers, “I liked GM just because our submarine diesels were 1,600-horsepower GM diesels that were first built for World War II.” After leaving the sea he came back to California and joined the fire department. He also met his future wife Carolyn at Mel’s Diner (made famous in the movie “American Graffiti”.) He would drive used cars from his father-in-law’s dealership to his firefighter job and he would often sell the car he was driving to an interested customer. Finally the chief told him to choose between firefighting and the car business, and Russ ended up as a salesman at Lehmer’s. After seven years at Lehmer’s Russ became general manager of another GM dealership in nearby Walnut Creek, spending 21 years there before eventually returning to Lehmer’s as general manager.

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the dealership is Darren Anderson; representing the next generation of the Lehmer Anderson family to take a leadership role. He acknowledges foreign brands the market share leaders in San Francisco Bay area, but he likes the new products coming from GM today and he’s hopeful about the future. Darren says his customers are returning to GM brands years of loyalty to other brands. “We’re seeing more conquest (sales) this year than we have in several years.”

Carolyn Lehmer Anderson says, “My father believed in American cars. Before the imports really got a foothold in our area he was offered the Honda franchise. He said, ‘I’m not going to sell foreign cars. We’re going to sell American cars.’ So that’s why we’ve stayed with American cars all the time.” She admits selling vehicles from U.S. brands is difficult today in the import-oriented Bay area, but she believes in the vehicles she sells. “Our cars are better than those, the imports,” she says.

Carolyn has seen a lot of changes over her years in the car business. “Our mechanics used to be the technicians under the hood working on the cars. Now our techs are all computer savvy. Everything is computerized”

Lehmer’s Concord Buick-GMC is proud of its history. Photos depicting its nearly 75 years as a GM dealer hang on the wall above the showroom floor and it’s not unusual to see Erv’s first trade-in, a 1939 Oldsmobile, taking a spot on the showroom floor to emphasize the dealership’s long history and relationship with GM. During a special event last month the dealership had the GMC Granite concept vehicle on the floor, an indication that it’s looking to a future with more groundbreaking products from Buick and GMC.

Read more: http://www.buygmdirect.com/Lehmers-Embraces-History