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Local DJ taps into national frustration over car industry
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Published: June 7, 2009
Robby Dilmore of Pfafftown didn't think he could pull it off. But he says God called him to start a radio show a few years ago.
He'd worked his up way to owning most of Westside Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Mocksville, but he had no radio experience. Now he's on his Saturday morning show, The Christian Car Guy, railing from Winston-Salem to listeners nationwide against the sale of Chrysler to Fiat and what he sees as the nationalization of General Motors. People need to stop turning to government and start turning to God, Dilmore told me, adding that, "If you build a better car that's a lot less expensive, that's what's going to turn around American car companies."
Dilmore, who is syndicated on Sirius satellite radio and 16 radio affiliates from WTRU AM 830 in Winston-Salem, conveys what he calls constructive criticism on a show that goes "not by the Black Book or the Blue Book, but God's book." He leans right, but he occasionally breaks from the conservative pack, such as when he recently lambasted drivers of "Selfish Utility Vehicles" for burning too much gas and creating too much danger by speeding. He cracks jokes and takes questions from listeners about questions ranging from how to change a tire to how to be a savvy car buyer.
His corporate Facebook site has crashed from people trying to be his friend, he said. "People are looking for answers in these dark times in the car business, and when they find somebody with experience, they'll listen," said Dilmore, a 53-year-old grandfather.
The son of a former Buick executive, he grew up around the country and started working in car dealerships at an early age. He wasn't especially religious until 1991, he said, when he was taking a Norman Vincent Peale course to become a better car salesman. Peale told his followers to read the Bible daily. Dilmore said the book started making sense.
You can sell cars and follow the Golden Rule, Dilmore said, if you don't push for exorbitant profits. He'd need the Bible's solace and wisdom in the years ahead. He battled lymphoma, and, while that fight was going on in the late 1990s, almost lost his left leg after being crushed between two vehicles at a Jeep jamboree in Murphy. He spent a year in a wheelchair. "There were some issues there, but the Lord took care of me," Dilmore said.
In 2007, Chrysler auditors doing a routine audit discovered that one of his partners had been embezzling state withholding taxes. She got six months in jail. Dilmore closed the dealership in December 2007 because of the debt she left.
By then, Dilmore's radio show was already syndicated. The idea for the show came to him in prayer, he said. He'd been worried about people going in debt over car payments, but did not have any plans for starting a show.
"I think my voice sounds crazy," said Dilmore, a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. "I said, ‘God, I'm not your man for this one.' But the idea wouldn't leave his head. He called his friend Stu Epperson Jr., the owner of WTRU, thinking Epperson would dismiss his idea. Epperson set him up for a live hour on a Saturday morning.
"If this guy is brave enough to go on the radio as ‘The Christian Car Guy,' well God bless him for the courage," Epperson said. He did know that Dilmore had a strong faith, and was a good speaker.
Dilmore went on air without much of a plan. He started talking about car sales. People started calling in with questions. "I guess there wasn't any training to it," he said. "I just started doing it."
As his show has grown in popularity, he's gone on other radio shows, including that of G. Gordon Liddy of Watergate infamy. Dilmore, who describes Liddy as "a joy with a wonderful sense of humor," said Liddy asked him what Christianity has to do with cars. God and prayer should be involved with all parts of your life, Dilmore said.
Dilmore said that he would "never in a million years blame Chrysler for what happened" to his dealership. But he worries about all the Chrysler dealers that will be put out of business by the sale to Fiat, and government involvement in the car industry in general. Dilmore, who voted for McCain, said President Obama has enough on his plate without getting into the car business.
If American car markers could lessen the union's role and bring in some fresh talent, he said, they could make good, affordable cars and export them to countries such as China and India. Car manufacturers got their priorities wrong when they started putting profit first and quality second, he said. As it is now, "the average American owes five thousand dollars more on his car than it's worth … I go on talk shows nationwide, and callers are always saying they can't afford to buy a car at the prices they are now."
Amen.
The American car business is years away from turning around.
But Dilmore, by tapping into frustration with the business, is making money. He declines to say how much. He lives modestly in Pfafftown, he said, and drives a Dodge Dakota pickup truck with 280,000 miles that he calls "Old Red."
The show, he said, "is a ministry that I get paid for doing."
(The Christian Car Guy show airs Saturday mornings at 10 on WTRU AM 830, Sirius Channel 161 and other channels. For more information, click on christiancarguy.com.)
■ John Railey writes local editorials for the Journal. He can be reached at 727-7357 or at jrailey@wsjournal.com.
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