Except for a hitch in the Navy, Dan Malek has spent his whole working life at Malek Chevrolet.
By John Tredrea
Fifty years ago, Michael J. Malek made a change for his growing family. He moved from Hightstown, where he sold Chevrolets for a local dealership to Pennington, and took over a Chevie dealership in Hopewell Borough.
It’s still there, at 65 E. Broad St., with his son Dan Malek now in charge.
"It’s a little hard to believe it’s been 50 years," Mr. Malek said in his office Saturday afternoon, when a regular customer came in every few minutes. "The time goes by fast. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long."
Dan Malek started working at Malek Chevrolet when he was "still a kid in high school," he said. "I started out doing things like washing cars and taking out the garbage. Then it was mechanic’s helper, then mechanic, and finally I took over the office and the books. My wife, Linda, helps out with that."
His days of working on cars are all but over. "Once in a while I’ll do a quick fix, like change a light bulb or go under the hood to help out someone who stops by," he said. "But I’m on the administrative side now."
Mr. Malek, 55, grew up in Pennington and graduated from Hopewell Valley Central High School. Except for a hitch in the Navy, he’s spent his whole working life at Malek Chevrolet. He and wife live in West Amwell. They have two daughters, Michelle, 35, and Melissa, 28.
"The car business gets in your blood," he said. "It’s not an easy business. You’re either a car person or you’re not. I’ve always been one. Basically, the business hasn’t changed. It’s still selling cars and fixing them. We sell Chevies and work on them and on other GM products. And we sell used cars, ones we get in trade-ins. Though basically the same, the business is more complex because of computerization and all the other changes we’ve had. Cars were a lot different back in 1955, when we started here."
When Malek Chevrolet opened, the area on the other side of East Broad Street "was all open fields," Mr. Malek said. There’s a bank, shopping center and the nearby King’s Path residential development, just over the borough line in Hopewell Township, there now.
"Some things have changed. We’ve seen a lot of things come and go, but I still really like being here in Hopewell," he said. "It’s just a real good place that still has a lot of the old-time small-town feel to it. I enjoy that. I still am interested in cars, their mechanic aspects and design, and I still like to drive, but not in all that traffic you can get now. But what I really like about my job is the customers. Most of them we know quite well. Almost all the business we do is local."
A number of customers came into the office Saturday afternoon. All of them and Mr. Malek were on a first-name basis with one another. It was obvious they’d all known him and regarded him as a trusted friend for years and that this was just where they did all their car business, period.
"You don’t find too many in-town car dealerships like ours anymore," Mr. Malek said. "In the ’70s and ’80s, the companies did a big push to get them out on the major highways. Chevrolet hasn’t tried to move us in the last 10 years. They haven’t bothered me on that."
Malek Chevrolet is housed in a red brick building that dates to the 1940s, if not earlier. Indeed, it strongly evokes the personality of America’s in-town streetscape from the first half of the 20th century.
"This building was here when we got here," Mr. Malek said. "I don’t know how old it is. A lot of people have told me they like the building and are glad it’s here because they think it has a lot of character. I hope to start working on renovating it this spring freshen up the pavement in the lot, do some improvements inside too."
Mr. Malek’s office couldn’t look much more like one that has served a car dealership for a half-century. Things automotive are in abundance everywhere you look. There are pictures of cars all over the walls, and calendars with pictures of cars, big racks full of car keys, repair manuals, parts catalogues, parts themselves just about anything you can think of that has anything to do with a car is in there somewhere.
When he has time, Mr. Malek enjoys outdoor activities. "I enjoy fishing and hunting," he said.