Submitted photo This is the exterior of Welsh Motors in New Springfield. The Ford dealer, family-owned since 1939, is closing. Thursday was the last day it was open to the public. The second vehicle from left is a 1939 Ford, which was the third vehicle sold at the dealership.

NEW SPRINGFIELD — An automotive institution in this humble community is closing after 83 years in business.

Thursday was the last day Ford dealer Welsh Motors, family run since 1939, was open to the public. The dealership’s official last day in business is Tuesday.

“We have a few vehicles that were ordered from Ford … and Ford is getting us those units. They are in transit now, and we’re going to be delivering those vehicles, and we have a few in service we are still waiting for major parts for and we’re going to finish those up for those customers,” Kim Welsh Koch, president, said.

The dealership began when father and son, Duncan and Wayne Welsh, purchased a Ford franchise. By then, they already had a few school buses and were providing transportation to students in Springfield Local School District.

The family before that was partners in the Wire Welsh Distillery producing Middletown Golden Rye Whiskey, but Prohibition came in 1920 and lasted through 1933. At the end of the Great Depression, the father-son duo saw the chance to keep the family’s entrepreneurship going with the auto dealership.

Welsh Koch’s father, Larry, joined the dealership in 1958 and became president in 1969. He was active with the dealership until his death in 2016.

Welsh Koch grew up with the dealership, working parttime there through the years. She said she started fulltime in 1986 and became president in 2012. It’s now time for her to retire, she said.

“There wasn’t anyone else in the family that was interested in continuing, and for our whole entire history, Welsh Motors has been a family-held dealership,” she said. “The family held the franchise, and I was just not comfortable with anyone else owning it. I felt our family had high standards in customer service and felt it would be good to end it like that, on a high note.”

It was about the middle of July when Welsh Koch said she was approached by another Ford dealer, and also a used vehicle dealer who wanted to get into business with Ford, about acquiring the franchise. Instead, she approached Ford about buying back the franchise, which the automaker did.

Ford reacquired her new vehicles to distribute them to other dealers. The used vehicles that still belong to Welsh Motors will be sold at auction Nov. 9 at Manheim Pittsburgh in Cranberry Township, Pa. The building and its contents, including parts, tools and equipment also will be sold at a future auction.

“It’s bittersweet. We have been blessed by customers who have just been amazing and stuck with us through thick and thin,” Welsh Koch said. “It’s been a road … this was our family’s road and roads are filled with hills and valleys and twists and turns, but it has been a great road and we have had a lot of contact with a lot of great people, and we tried to do our best to be a good steward to our community and give back like everyone has given to us.”

rselak@tribtoday.com