Collier Motors is a private car dealership primarily selling cars built by

American Motors Corporation American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 1954. At the time, it was the ...

(AMC) as well as with other makes. The business was for many years an AMC franchised dealership located on business U.S. Route 117 in Pikeville, North Carolina.

Background

Robert Collier established Collier Motors in 1955 as a single

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

while in his 20s. His father was also in the automobile business and continued working until he was in his 80s. Collier transitioned from marketing Chevrolets to selling cars made by

(AMC). The longstanding relationship with AMC continued until the automaker was partially purchased by

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

in 1979. After AMC started importing Renault models from France, Collier decided he preferred to sell only domestic-designed and built cars. Rather than selling new Renault-derived passenger cars, such as the 1983

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

that was built in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Collier continued to sell the stock he already had on the lot and focused his dealership on older AMC cars and Jeep vehicles, as well as used vehicles of other US makes. American Motors was bought by

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

in 1987. The property is on the west side of old U.S. Route 117. By 2010, the business was described as having "vehicles and parts slowly returning to the soil." Collier died on 11 February 2018, at the age of 88. The administration of the estate was placed mainly on Robbie Collier, the oldest son.

Business

Collier Motors sits frozen in time. Attempting to settle Robert Collier's estate, the Collier family continues to sell off the remaining inventory, though most have sat outside unprotected on the lot since the early 1980s. Inventory includes 1970s and 1980s-model AMCs, such as

Gremlin A gremlin is a mischievous folkloric creature invented at the beginning of the 20th century to originally explain malfunctions in aircraft and later in other machinery and processes and their operators. Depictions of these creatures vary widely ...

s, Pacers, Ambassadors,

Matador A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activity ...

Javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with ...

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, jus ...

Spirits Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

Hornets Hornets (insects in the genus ''Vespa'') are the largest of the eusocial wasps, and are similar in appearance to their close relatives yellowjackets. Some species can reach up to in length. They are distinguished from other vespine wasps by th ...

and Concords. Some of the cars still retain their original Monroney window stickers. Once the inventory has been sold or otherwise disposed of, the property will be cleared and listed for sale.

Historic AMC vehicles

Historic vehicles owned by the Collier family and stored at the lot have included unique examples such as

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...

's two-seat AMX muscle car with a "tricked-out dash", two Alabama Highway Patrol Javelins, and a Nash from the 1991 movie ''

The Marrying Man ''The Marrying Man'' (known as ''Too Hot to Handle'' in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Philippines) is a 1991 American romantic comedy film, directed by Jerry Rees, written by Neil Simon, and starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. The ...

''. The policy has been to sell complete cars, not to part them out. A late-2021 estimate noted 40 "desirable" and restoration worthy cars that include some high-performance equipped AMCs.

Television

In 2015, Collier Motors was featured on two

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disne ...

shows:

American Pickers ''American Pickers'' is an American reality television series that premiered on January 18, 2010 on History, produced by A&E Television Networks in collaboration with Cineflix Media. In the series, the hosts travel across America in search of ra ...

(episode "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" originally aired 13 May 2015). and Lost in Transmission (episode "Fly Like an Eagle" originally aired 4 June 2015). Appeared in Season 1, Episode 7 of Roadworthy Rescues, “Rebel with a Cause”. The show first aired in fall of 2022, starring Derek Bieri, creator of the Vice Grip Garage YouTube channel.

References

External links