For Charles Davis, the last six decades toiling at Findlay Automotive has been a labor of love he still enjoys as much now as he did the day it all began.
“Charlie is more than an employee,” Cliff Findlay recalls his father, Pete, who founded the dealership with Davis at this side, drilling in him. “He is part of the family and in fact I remember my dad saying that Charlie was welcome in our home anytime and that remains true today.”
Over his 60 years at the dealership, the 83-year-old former U.S. Air Force member has earned a reputation for always being on time and fondly remembers helping the family move to Las Vegas as being one of his first job assignments.
Davis now stands as the longest-tenured employee in Findlay’s history, holding responsibilities over that time that have included everything from duties at the dealership to the job of shuttling the Findlay kids to school and to sports practices when they were younger.
Not bad for someone who when he started the job really had little idea about what he was getting himself into. Davis tells the story of claiming to know more about cars than he actually did when he was first hired for the job.
“I was in the Air Force before I got into the car business,” he said. “The Air Force taught me how to handle responsibility and I have thrived on making sure the job gets done. I haven’t called in sick for 10 years.”
Along the way, Davis has seen the dealership grow from just one location with a handful of employees to now having 32 locations with over 2,200 workers.
To mark his 60th anniversary with the dealership, CFO Tyler Corder saluted Davis for coming to represent everything the company seeks to stand for.
“We value our long-term employees,” he said. “We often say at Findlay that we’re not in the car business, we’re in the people business. Our company is only as good as the people on our team. It’s people like Charlie that make Findlay a great company.”
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