Portland’s largest bookstore has become such a local signature that most residents don’t realize that Powell’s City of Books on West Burnside hasn’t always been there.

For more than 50 years, the building hosted what is now Portland’s oldest automobile dealership group — the Wentworth family of dealerships.

I remember the old Wentworth and Irwin dealership; it’s where my grandfather bought his early ’70s AMC Ambassador. It was army green, and seemed to move with the agility of an army tank — although that might just have been my grandfather’s driving style as he got older.

Now under the direction of the great grandson of founder George Wentworth, the group consists of three local dealerships: Wentworth Chevrolet and Wentworth Subaru on SE Grand Avenue and Wilsonville Chevrolet.

One of the keystones of the business has always been giving back to the community. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, a corner of the service department becomes the North Pole workshop. It’s where anyone without the time, skills or tools can bring kid’s toys to be assembled. It’s where a mechanic who normally works on high-tech Chevy Corvettes or Subaru Outbacks will take time to assemble a bike or a playhouse.

“It’s a good deal, it’s kinda fun,” says owner Bob Wentworth.

As I’ve said in this column before, community engagement and local ownership are two of the drivers of my purchase decisions. That’s why my wife’s first Chevy came from Wentworth, as did a new Subaru Forester for my in-laws. My 10 Hondas and Acuras have come from another locally owned and engaged family dealership group, the Tonkins.

Last year, Wentworth Subaru gave more than $45,000 to OHSU’s Doernbecher Children’s Hospital through the Subaru Share the Love event. For each Subaru sold, $250 is contributed to one of four national charities or one chosen by a local dealer. For Wentworth, it’s Doernbecher.

“This year we’re going to exceed that number,” says Wentworth.

Wentworth Subaru also partners with the Oregon Humane Society, supporting many of their events, including the Doggie Dash each summer. They support and sponsor other events and charities throughout the community, either directly or through their foundation.

Wentworth’s history in transportation goes back further than even the car itself. In 1903, George Wentworth and Charles Irwin founded a business making custom-built wagons — including some for the U.S. Postal Service. The plant was located on the shore of the Willamette and the wagons were sold out of a showroom on West Burnside Street.

In 1923, Wentworth and Irwin, Inc. became distributors for the Nash Automobile Company, with a district that covered five western states. They created a company — Columbia Body and Equipment — to manufacture custom truck bodies for log trucks, fire trucks, buses and dump trucks. Eventually that company was sold off, but still operates in Clackamas under different ownership.

In 1932, the second generation took the helm, and Charles Wentworth acquired a GMC Truck distributorship in 1937. West Burnside was one of Portland’s auto rows, with Wentworth, Joe Fisher Ford and others lining the street. It’s still home to Fisher Volvo and Monte Shelton Jaguar.

Charles Wentworth died in 1969, passing the dealership on to his son, Charles Wentworth Jr.. Nash had become Rambler, which had then become American Motors. He took on the Jeep brand for several years before closing the West Burnside location in 1977.

That year, Charles Jr. purchased Ed Randall Chevrolet on the east side, just off Burnside, renaming it Wentworth Chevytown. Following his death in 1992, ownership passed to the current generation, with sons Greg, Scott and Bob taking ownership of the dealership.

The nature of the auto sales industry leads to quite a lot of movement of employees from one dealership to another. That’s not the case for the Wentworths, with many of their 165 employees touting more than 25 years with the company.

With the purchase of Ed Randall Chevrolet, the Wentworth’s inherited Lou Harrison. Harrison’s long career has seen her rise through the ranks to her current position of General Manager for the Wentworth’s dealerships.

“I came with the building,” she says.

Wentworth added the then-fledgling Subaru brand to their dealership in 1992. “It’s been a godsend,” says Bob Wentworth. When they purchased the Subaru dealership, they were selling 30-35 of the cars a month. Now it’s more like 180-200, he says. They’ve built a new Subaru showroom at SE Grand and Burnside to house the rapidly growing brand.

In 1999, they opened a second Chevy location in Wilsonville, managed by Greg Wentworth. With Greg’s unexpected passing early this year, Bob Wentworth manages the overall operations of the dealership group.

A lot has changed since Bob began working at Wentworth and Irwin AMC/Jeep a week after graduating.

“The amount of information that consumers have actually makes car-buying a lot easier. There are no secrets, I like it that way,” he says. The customer experience is critical right now, he says, so the company is “hyperfocused” on listening to their customers.

Operating a dealership in an urban location can create a unique set of challenges and opportunities, as Wentworth can attest.

“In the 80’s GM didn’t want a downtown dealership, they wanted us to be out on freeways,” Wentworth says. “Now they love us downtown.” It’s a great location for customers who work downtown to have their vehicles serviced, he says, and it’s a convenient place for urban-dwelling customers to buy. “That’s where all of the people are,” he says.

“Being a downtown dealership, we have a lot of encroachment,” he says. Where suburban dealers have sprawling lots to store vehicles for sales and service, space is at a premium for Wentworth. He recounts a recent day where he arrived for work to find eight block faces adjacent to his property with parking blocked off for the filming of the NBC show Grimm, leaving few spaces for his employees and customers to park.

Wentworth Chevytown recently completed a comprehensive remodel of their dealership, bringing it up to the standards expected by both General Motors and today’s customers. But as the fifth generation of Wentworths starts to work in the business, Bob Wentworth sees the need to continue moving forward.

“We need to evolve with the neighborhood down here,” he says. “What’s next? I don’t know, but it’s a really tough one.”

John M. Vincent is a third-generation Oregon journalist. Reach him at

JMVincent2848@gmail.com or @

OregonsCarGuy on Twitter. He welcomes your suggestions for this column.