CHET'S HONDA & POLARIS

Automotive > Motorcycles and Scooters

Chet's Honda/Polaris was begun in 1965 as Chet's Small Engine Repair by Chet Sole. Its primary business was sales and repair of Briggs and Stratton engines for the hundreds of wheel lines used on the farms in the area. Chet also serviced lawn mowers and chain saws. The original facility was a rented service bay in the Conoco gas station that sat where the parking lot for Akins Foods is today. In 1966 the business moved to its present location and added the Honda motorcycle franchise. In 1971 David Hand started working part time as a mechanic. He was only 17 and this was his first real job. David continued his employment with us until his retirement in 2019 after 49 years of being recognized throughout the northwest as one of the best mechanics in the industry.

In 1975, the building was doubled in size with the addition of a new showroom. The old showroom became the new parts room and many new displays were added.

In 1977 Rob Sole, Chet's middle son came to work at the store. We soon began using the name of Chet's Honda and the Stihl chain saw franchise was added soon thereafter. In the 1970's, Honda became more than just a motorcycle company. ATV's were a Honda invention and soon became a major part of the business, in time becoming the largest part of our sales and service mix. Also, we added all the different lines of Honda Power Equipment as they were developed. Generators, Lawn Mowers, Water Pumps, Trimmers, and Tillers helped us to diversify our product offering. In 1979 the east end of the showroom received a storage addition.

In January of 1982 Chet retired and Rob purchased the business but elected to keep the name. By then we had established ourselves as a quality place to do business and we didn't expect that to change, so the name didn't either. The business continued to grow and in 1985 we purchased the adjacent property to the north which included one of Quincy's oldest homes. This doubled the size of our property and gave us much needed breathing space. We added the Polaris snowmobile franchise in 1987 and began using our new name. Polaris ATV's followed in 1992. In 1994 the storage on the east end of the showroom was finished off and opened up to give more display space. We also constructed a large storage building on the northeast corner of the property and turned the old house into additional storage. We added the Polaris Ranger utility vehicles to our lineup in 2006 the Honda utility vehicles in 2013 and ended our snowmobile franchise in 2019.

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