About

Parker Motors was opened in 1945. It is one of the oldest family-owned car dealerships in British Columbia. It was opened by Glady, Lloyd and Gordon Parker in the old Nanaimo and Winnipeg Street location. In the early days, we only got about 12 to 15 new cars a year. Customers would line up to sign up for a new car. The car business was so small that Parker's started selling tandem trucks, tractors, and bulldozers. They were from the US and were reconditioned from being in the war. Much of them came from Okinawa, Japan. All the factories had been tooled to help the war effort, so normal car production was put on hold until after the war ended. In 1953, Lloyd Parker took part of the business and opened Parker Industrial, now known as Inland Kenworth. Gordon and Glady Parker built the current building and relocated there in 1969. Chris Parker came into the business in 1973 and took over for Glady, then bought his Dad out in 1978. Chris ran the business until his death in 1996. Janet Parker, his wife, became President at that time and continued with the Parker tradition.