Orangeburg’s Gibbes Ford purchased by Columbia-based dealership

Columbia-based McDaniels Automotive Group purchased Gibbes Ford of Orangeburg June 7.

“We do not have a truck in our portfolio,” McDaniels Automotive Group founder and owner Bill McDaniels said. “We are just so happy to be a part of the Ford family. It is the number one truck in the market. Without a doubt, Ford makes the best truck: hands down.”

McDaniels said he and former Gibbes Ford owner George Gibbes have been friends for more than 30 years and when he approached George about purchasing the store upon his retirement, Gibbes was amenable to the idea.

Attempts to reach Gibbes for comment were unsuccessful.

The dealership’s service department will be open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the sales department from 9 a.m. To 7 p.m.

On Saturdays, sales will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with plans to add Saturday service hours in the future.

McDaniels said the dealership plans to keep all Gibbes employees.

McDaniels also acquired a 1-1/2 acre piece of property next to the dealership that will house Ford commercial vehicles. The commercial vehicle portfolio will be new for the dealership.

“With Ford, we are going to be selling their trucks, their commercial vehicles and their electric cars and trucks ,” McDaniels said. “We will be a full line Ford store whereas George was not.”

The store will sell new and preowned vehicles.

“Ford is the number one in electrification,” McDaniels said. “If you are going to team up with a company that believes in electrification, Ford is the company to be with. We will see how this pans out. I think there is a definite place. I don’t know if it is a 100%. We are going to invest a lot of bucks just to make sure we are ready.”

McDaniels said Orangeburg is a “really good city” because “Columbia is coming to Orangeburg and Charleston is coming to Orangeburg.”

“We are very excited,” he said.

McDaniels first entered the automotive business in 1969.

“I came up the hard way,” he said. “I was an inside recruiter with the Air Force. It was during Vietnam and I could tell you all the benefits you would get if you enlisted early.”

McDaniels said with $12,000 in his pocket, he was not looking to purchase a car like most young men of his age.

“I said, I am going to the local Chevrolet-Pontiac-Buick store and I am going to get me a job part time selling cars,” McDaniels said. “That is where it all started.”

McDaniels got out of the Air Force in 1971 and then went on to college.

“I was still selling cars part time while I was in college,” he said. “In 1975, I decided it is time that I make a decision: Am I going to sell cars or what? So I stayed in cars. I have been in it pretty much all my adult life.”

McDaniels worked his way up the business from sales to management.

On Jan. 13, 1989, McDaniels purchased the Acura store in Columbia, which was the first store of McDaniels Automotive Group.

Since then he has acquired Volkswagen, Subaru and Porsche in Columbia and also acquired Audi and Acura in Charleston.

He opened an Acura dealership in Newnan, Georgia, in the Atlanta market in March.

In total, McDaniels has four stores in Columbia, two in Charleston and one in the Atlanta area.

In 2020, McDaniels wrote a book “An Unforgettable Ride.” It was a number one best-seller for three weeks on Amazon.

“It traces a store really from rags to riches,” McDaniels said. “I am very grateful to God that he has given me the time on earth to do something and to give back.”

He said the stores support 20 charities in the Columbia and Charleston areas and he is hoping to do the same in Orangeburg.

McDaniels also noted that during the COVID pandemic McDaniels did not charge any market adjustments unlike other dealerships.

“You are going to start off knowing what kind of people we are,” McDaniels said. “In South Carolina, probably 90% of the dealers, they overcharged for the cars because they could, because they only had so many. I don’t care how few we have or how many we have, you will never pay an additional markup on our products.”

The purchase ends what has been a long run for George Gibbes, who is retiring.

The Gibbes family opened multiple franchised dealerships in Columbia prior to 1910. Gibbes eventually opened Volkswagen and Mazda dealerships in the capital.

The Gibbes Ford dealership in Bamberg opened in 1996 before closing in 2009 and coming to Orangeburg.

Gibbes Ford of Orangeburg originally located at 1175 Five Chop Road (U.S. 301 North) before moving to its current location at 2840 St. Matthews Road in May 2012.

Upon the move, the dealership was renamed Gibbes Ford, taking on the name of the former Bamberg dealership owned and later closed by Gibbes in March 2009.

In March 2009, Gibbes purchased Ford of Orangeburg, formerly Whatley Ford, as part of a consolidation effort. The St. Matthews Road location had previously been used by Gibbes to sell used cars.