It also was a celebration of Glockner's being in business in Portsmouth for 159 years.
“Ebby” Glockner's first car, a 1917 model Chevrolet, sits in the showroom. He purchased the car in 1942 and the family had it restored a few years ago.
The old car, in mint condition, sits near a bright yellow Corvette.
“They wanted to reach out to the public,” said Dave Pack, organizer for the event. “Our big charity is Christmas Kids. We gather a lot of proceeds for kids who are just not going to have a Christmas. We thought it would be a good idea to combine our thanks to the public and try to generate some funds.”
Some of the drawings were for an autographed Richard Petty hat, dinners, hair cuts and numerous other gifts. The grand prize was for a set of new tires that Mitchell Brothers donated.
More than 40 old cars came in for the cruise-in.
“We've had more than 100 businesses chip in with gifts,” Pack said. “LIFE Ambulance donated their time and effort to come out and cook the food. Coca-Cola donated the trailer, cups and the pop. That's all free.”
The employees have been working on fundraising projects since 1990 giving underprivileged children in the county Christmas gifts. Scioto County Social Services provide the names and ages of children each year and the employees purchase gifts for each child.
“Our employees participate in the fundraising activities,” said Andy Glockner. “Then anything that they do to raise money, I match.”
Last year, employees raised about $3,500 and with the company's matching funds, they had nearly $7,000 for children's Christmas presents.
Gordon Collett, a Portsmouth native who is in the National Hot Rod Association Hall of Fame, was on hand to meet people at the event. He has been nominated for the Wall of Fame on the floodwall this year.
“We couldn't tell if the weather was going to be bad or not,” Pack said.
Although the employees debated about whether to move the event or not, they decided to continue as planned and a lot of people came out and enjoyed themselves, he said.
Bernard Glockner first came to Ohio in 1848 from Baden, Germany, and purchased a hardware store on Market Street. High-wheel bicycles were just then becoming popular.
It was a time before automobiles, when horse-drawn buggies and street cars were the norm - and the Glockner family business grew with the times.
His sons, Alex M. and Adolph, took over the business in 1891, adding horse-drawn buggies to sell.
Then, in 1911, Alex Glockner's son, Edward A., and later his daughter, Helen, joined him in the business. They added farm tractors and acquired the franchise for Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
With foresight, in 1912, Alex obtained a franchise with Chevrolet. At that time, cars had to be driven from Flint, Michigan, and later transported by boat, docking at the Court Street landing.
Without credit terms available, everyone paid cash for their vehicles, but Glockner's would take horse-and-buggies as trade-ins for a car.
The business continued to grow and they separated the car business from the hardware store and built a five-story building at Second and Chillicothe streets before moving to a location by the old U.S. Grant bridge in 1925.
When Edward L. “Ebby” Glockner took over, the business expanded even more.
In 1975, the company added Volkswagen Porsche-Audi and in 1976 the Toyota/Honda franchise was added.
Six generations later, the family has expanded not only products but also services.
Now, the company has a heavy duty truck franchise, a property and casualty insurance company, Quality Car and Truck Leasing, Rosemount Financial Service, Portsmouth Auto Credit, Jackson Auto Credit, Chillicothe-Waverly Auto Credit and Glockner Oil Company.
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