Southern Motors

Southern Motors is a muscle and classic car dealer at 6605 Dixie Highway in Clarkston, Michigan, in northern Oakland County roughly 40 miles northwest of downtown Detroit. By its own account the business dates to 1978, when founder Vern Roberts opened a small lot on Oakland Avenue in Pontiac with three cars. The company says it moved to Baldwin Road in 1983 and to its current Clarkston address in 2006, and it now describes itself as a long-running specialist in American performance cars.

History and ownership

According to the company's About page, Roberts was a member of the Pontiac police force and built the dealership as a passion project, retiring from police work in 1994 to run it full time. He died in February 2013. The business is now led by David Witt, who the site says started out as a high school student mentored by Roberts and who now runs the business. Witt writes that he works long hours and travels across the country to find inventory, which fits a dealer model built around sourcing cars rather than waiting for them to come in the door. It also means the mix of cars reflects what the dealer has found and chosen to buy, rather than what happened to be offered by owners.

How the business works

Southern Motors is a traditional dealer, not a consignment house. Its site states plainly that it owns its entire inventory and takes no consignments. That matters on both sides of a sale. Buyers are dealing directly with the company that holds the title, and owners who want to sell on someone else's behalf will need a different kind of seller. The company says it typically carries 30 to 50 cars and sells 200 to 300 a year, which puts it at the busier end of small independent classic dealers.

What Southern Motors sells

The focus is American muscle and classic cars, mainly from the 1940s through the 1970s, with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler products making up the bulk of the stock. Directory listings also show some 1980s and 1990s trucks and SUVs mixed in. With a stated annual volume in the hundreds, inventory turns over quickly, so what is on the lot changes from week to week, and a car seen online one month may be gone the next. The most reliable way to see current cars is the dealer's own inventory pages or its listings on national classic car sites. For another way to browse the market, there are also classic cars for sale in Michigan from other sellers around the state.

Buying from Southern Motors

Southern Motors says it offers financing and worldwide shipping, and it claims to have sold cars to buyers in every U.S. state and 23 other countries, including Switzerland, Japan and Australia. Those are the company's own figures. A long-distance purchase from any dealer deserves the same care: ask for the VIN, title status and detailed photos, and consider an independent inspection before sending money. If you are new to the process, buying a classic car from a dealer covers the steps in plain terms. Muscle cars in particular are sometimes clones or tributes, so ask what is original, what has been restored, and what documentation supports the claim, such as build sheets, window stickers or a Marti Report for Ford products.

Reputation

The Better Business Bureau lists Southern Motors as an accredited business since April 2006 with an A+ rating. At the time of this research the BBB page showed no complaints closed in the previous three years and a single customer review. Birdeye lists an average of roughly 4.1 stars across about 200 reviews, on a profile the business has not claimed. As with any dealer, those numbers are a starting point. The better test is the specific car in front of you and the paperwork that comes with it.

Visiting Southern Motors

The dealership is at 6605 Dixie Highway, Clarkston, Michigan 48346. The company's site lists hours of Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with weekends closed. Its phone number is (248) 620-3355. Because the stock changes often, calling ahead to confirm that a particular car is still available is sensible, especially if you are driving from out of state.