Don Blacker is literally a star in the car business.
Toyotoshi Group Canada honoured Blacker earlier this month for his 25 years working for the company with a grand celebration that included a permanent star on the floor of Dixie Toyota. He was sent a notice ahead of the ceremony so he could invite family and friends. Employees from Dixie Toyota, Meadowvale Toyota and Ideal Honda, all of which Toyotoshi Group Canada also owns, were in attendance.
“I’m proud to be recognized,” he said. “We have a lot of young people working here and they have been really helpful to me and really respectful. I get a lot of questions because I know everybody in the automotive world pretty well. I’ve just met so many people.”
But Blacker could also be given a star for his longevity in the car business. He began in 1952 as a 16-year-old working as a parts truck driver for City Garage, a full-service General Motors dealership in Cambridge. He has moved around quite a bit since then in various cities and dealerships and has done a multitude of jobs, including several in upper management. He has been selling cars since 1970 and has been a Fleet Manager for the last 35, selling to rental companies and national leasing companies. He still works full-time, although much of it is from home following the COVID-19 outbreak.
“I just enjoy what I do,” he said. “I have so many faithful, loyal customers. One of the people that I invited to come to the ceremony was my first customer, Gord Wong, when I opened Ideal Honda in a trailer in 1989. He bought a Prelude from me and he’s still a customer to this day. He’s bought half a dozen cars from me and his sister, Penny, has also bought cars from me. I just have a whole list of people who have been so loyal, some of them over 20-25 years.
“I’ve always tried to give better service than anybody else. The late Maurice Carter, who is in the Automotive Hall of Fame and has a long history in the dealership business, taught me many, many years ago that if you treat people properly you’ll be successful. I have always tried to do that.”
He proudly wears rings that have been given to him for his work in the industry. One is from Honda Canada for being the top Fleet Sales Manager in the country for five consecutive years and another is for working with Honda and Toyota for 10 years.
He said the industry has totally changed since the pandemic.
“You can’t get cars (as easily),” he said. “You have to order them (and wait) with no cars in the showroom and no inventory. It’s just a whole different experience than what I was used to or came up with.”
Aside from a heart attack he suffered in 2007 that kept him off work for a few months, he has been healthy.
“I’ll do this as long as I feel healthy,” he said. “I feel great. I golf once a week. I usually shoot around 100, occasionally break 100. It’s fun.”
He’s currently writing a book about his experiences in the automotive industry. Paula Chu, who works in an office next to Blacker and is helping with the book, calls him “the man, the myth, the legend.”
And certainly a star.
