Dealership Principal, Graham Sealey, confirmed this week a new property has been purchased after a long search, with the move to take place in late 2016.

“We’ve purchased a block of land at 15-17 Rutherford Road in Muswellbrook.

“This Bridge Street site is 3000 square metres and the new site is just under 15,000 square metres, or 1.47 hectares,” he said.

The new location sits on an expansive block on the top side of Muswellbrook Fair Shopping Centre.

Graham Sealey and his team have been situated at 116 Bridge Street for thirteen years.

The existing site, between Muswellbrook Library and the Uniting Church, has had a long-standing connection with automotive repairers and dealerships, among them the Rennie Motor and Engineering Co. Limited and Campbell’s Garages Limited.

During the 1930s the Army took over the front section of Campbell’s Garage in Bridge Street.

Car and truck tyres were stored in the space at the front while military equipment for the war was manufactured in a locked shed at the rear.

Normal garage activities continued in other sheds on the property.

But time moves on and, while the history of the site is acknowledged and respected by Graham Sealey, he admits it is difficult to carry on modern day automotive activities at the old location.

“It’s a good business but the [Bridge Street] site has us too restricted in size and we can’t pack anymore into this site than what we’ve got,” he said.

“Our business is growing, and that’s due to the support of the local community, but the time has come to expand,” he said.

“We’ve got 20 staff here now, most of whom have been with us a long time, and I’m hoping all of them come with us and there’ll be opportunities to hire additional staff at the new premises.

“Spare parts will continue, we will expand and modernise our service department and we will add other franchises.

“We will be multi-franchise, but we will be the only dealer [on the site] and we will sell other brands as well as Holden,” Mr Sealey said.