The Everett Events Center hosted one of its more unusual activities Monday – a combination car show and reunion for the list of Who’s Who in old Everett.
Several hundred people gathered at the center to honor Dwayne Lane’s 50 years in the car business.
There was a healthy dose of politicians, business leaders, customers and family members, but also a good mix of people who’ve know Lane for 50 years and more.
Don Hopkins, an Everett native, talked about taking over Lane’s Herald paper route after he gave it up. Others from the Everett neighborhood talked about his days at Everett High School.
Lane himself described the event as a throwback to the parties they used to have to sell cars at the dealership in downtown Everett where he got his start and later purchased, Walsh-Platt Chrysler Plymouth.
“One of the things that was most fun were the parties we used to throw,” he said. “We’d feed people. They had some liquor. And people would come in and look at the cars. This is not my celebration. I just got you here to look at my cars.”
Cars were scattered throughout the events center floor. Also on hand were Sweetpea, PT Cruiser and Cappacina, horses that are popular in Lane’s television commercials. The commercials themselves appeared on the center’s Daktronics video screen.
In a brief ceremony, Lane was presented with a new saddle heavily decorated with silver.
And he also was the butt of some jokes told by his mentor, Frank Platt, 90.
Platt talked about Lane’s early days on the job at the dealership, saying he came in as a “loose cannon.”
On his first day on the job he smacked up a car driving down a ramp, Platt said.
“Harold (Walsh) said we should make him pay for it, so we took a little out of his check every week,” Platt said. “After a while, we couldn’t fire him because he owed us so much.”
After ribbing Lane, Platt said he wished his partner was still alive to see where Lane “has taken our small business.”
He called Lane a community builder and ended his talk with a toast:
“May you live as long as you want to and want to as long as you live,” he said.
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