Auto dealer John Sheppard had an inkling that something was up when former Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey called him two times to remind him of their lunch date last month at the Waterfront Restaurant.
When Sheppard showed up, he was ushered into a private dining room, where a who’s who of Eugene power brokers, including Carolyn Chambers, Dave Frohnmayer and Sister Monica Heeran, were seated around a table.
“I said, ‘Whoa,’?” he recalled Friday. “What’s the deal?”
The deal was that Sheppard had been named First Citizen by the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce for his contributions to the community — “the ultimate honor,” he said.
Sheppard is best known as the owner of Sheppard Motors, a 60-year-old family business that sells Volvos, Volkswagens and Hyundais. But Sheppard, 63, has long been involved in supporting community programs and organizations, notably the Great Rotary Duck Race and the Relief Nursery, as well as the arts community.
“In business, we have skills that we can transfer to a different world,” he said. “It’s fun for me to bring the passion I have, what it takes to sell and market, and use it in a different place.”
Sheppard got involved in the Rotary Duck Race around 1990, a year or two after the charity event began. Organizers were looking for a grand prize. Sheppard agreed to donate a car, but on the condition that he could be on the event’s steering committee to help make sure it was a success, he said.
The main beneficiary of the duck race was the Relief Nursery, a Eugene nonprofit organization that helps low-income families at risk for child abuse. In 1992, when the Relief Nursery needed to raise $1.2 million to build a headquarters, Sheppard was asked to serve as chairman of the fundraising campaign. Sheppard said he had not a clue how to run a capital campaign, but he took on the job and spearheaded an effort to raise the money in 18 months.
“It was an extraordinary experience,” he said.
“The building that we’re in today is because of John’s commitment and his vision,” said Irene Alltucker, executive director of Relief Nursery.
Sheppard’s father, Harry Sheppard, founded Eugene’s first foreign-car dealership in 1950 after emigrating from Winnipeg, Canada. A car enthusiast who liked to race on weekends, Harry Sheppard sold MGs and Jaguars as well as more obscure brands that have long since disappeared, including Hillman Minx, Humber, Sunbeam and Talbot.
“It was very small, very personal, very hands-on,” John Sheppard said, recalling that his father not only sold cars, but fixed them as well.
Sheppard said he washed cars on the weekend when he was in junior high. And when he was in high school, he’d take the bus to Portland on Saturday mornings, take a taxi to the port, and drive home a car fresh off the docks for his father to sell.
He served as an officer in the U.S. Army after going through Reserve Officers Training Corps at the University of Oregon and spent 91/2 months in Vietnam. While he was in Vietnam, his father wrote to him, saying he was ready to retire and travel, and that John needed to decide if he wanted to take over the business.
When John Sheppard came back, he took the wheel. His father stuck around for six months, then got in his motor home and promised to call every Friday.
Sheppard steered the business through recessions and changes in the brand lineup. He picked up the Jeep dealership in 1981 in the depths of a recession — a move that paid off a few years later when Jeep introduced the Cherokee, which became a hugely popular vehicle.
Sheppard Motors lost the Jeep brand last year when its corporate parent, Chrysler, took it away and awarded it to Lithia Motors. The loss of Jeep was a bitter pill and a potentially devastating loss, but a few months later, Sheppard’s partner Phil Speers negotiated a deal to buy the local Hyundai franchise from Kendall Auto Group.
“It was a good move,” Sheppard said.
On Friday afternoon, Sheppard was chatting outside his Volvo dealership with one of the family’s oldest customers, Jim McKee of Pleasant Hill and his wife, Lois. McKee bought a Hillman Minx from Harry Sheppard in the early 1950s. Later, he bought a Sunbeam and a Jaguar among other sporty foreign models.
“In my younger days I was a car nut,” McKee said.
Last year McKee “defected” and bought a Buick, but on Friday, he was getting ready to trade it in for a Volvo station wagon.
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