Nelson Chrysler was originally City Auto Service (in 1937), with Pat’s father, Lloyd Renwick, as President. The original location was on Josephine Street, where Lang Business Machines are today. Lloyd started his career repairing cars and then went into the wrecking business which supplied the much-needed parts for repair.

In 1950, City Auto Service and City Auto Wrecking moved to Granite Road, where Nelson Chrysler’s Auto Body Shop is located today. In 1952, Pat Renwick, Maurice Renwick and Archie McKen (all friends from the depression) joined Lloyd in City Auto Service Ltd. As a team, they repaired vehicles, pumped gas, and ran the wrecking business. They were operating on a shoestring budget at that time and still needed room to expand. They couldn’t afford to buy more land so Archie built a compressor and a rock drill and by drilling out tons of rock they created more usable space. 

From 1955 to 1958 business was good and the opportunity arose to acquire the Chrysler franchise. Everybody pooled their money, $5000 was raised, and Pat, Archie, and Maurice became partners in Nelson Chrysler. For their investment, they go the Chrysler franchise, one field car, and $2500 worth of parts. In 1959, their first full year in business they sold 31 new cars. The team worked very hard together, working 7 days a week. In 1962, they moved to our Baker Street location, selling 100 new cars that year. 1972 brought more expansion; they bought the old Church property on Baker Street for their used vehicle display lot. In 1988, they purchased more property on Baker Street and that’s where you’ll see some of our new vehicles on display today. Several years ago they renovated the building to add a Sales Office and Customer Lounge all in keeping with the heritage theme of our heritage building. Archie’s son, Grant Mcken joined the partnership and became the Dealer Principle.

In 2023, the dealership was sold to John Sullivan and his partners from SMP(Sullivan Motor Products) which led to the formation of SMP-Nelson Chrysler Ltd.