In today’s busy world of switching jobs to climb the corporate ladder, Billie Overcash is a rarity. His first job was with Hilbish Ford (then Hilbish Motor Company) in 1955 and he has never left! He has been both a car salesman and the sales manager, but it has only ever been with one company and the same boss. To say he is loyal, would be an understatement.
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| This ad from a newspaper from 1956 is framed and displayed outside of Billie's office. |
This August, Billie will celebrate 60 years of service to Hilbish Ford and he has no thoughts of leaving anytime soon. “I’ve thought about it,” he said. “But what would I do?”
Not surprising that Billie would feel that way, since he still works on his families’ dairy farm, where he cares for horses and cows, cuts hay, and rides a bike every morning. There is no slowing him down! He has been married to his wife, Peggy, for 61 years, and they have a daughter Teresa Kincaid and granddaughter Madison.
Sixty years ago, Overcash was a young Hilbish Motors car salesman, only 20 years old, and he admits he was scared. Back then, salesmen went door to door trying to find customers and it was intimidating. “It was a mandate,” he said. Car salesmen also had bad reputations back then, so he had that working against him as well.
Overcash pointed out that there was so much excitement that existed around cars back when he first started. People had spendable income because everyone worked in the mill. “People were car crazy,” he said. “They would put a new car in front of everything else, and the dealership was where you would get a glimpse of the latest models.”
“We had Show Days where we would reveal the latest car,” said Overcash. “People would surround the dealership just to see it. The whole town would come out once a year for these shows.” In fact, Overcash used to hide the cars on his family farm so people couldn’t see them before the Show Day.
Hilbish Ford’s first dealership was in uptown Kannapolis on Chesnut Street and had a tar and gravel lot. He said he used to wear out a pair of shoes every couple of weeks.
He remembers moving to the current location on September 5, 1968. “It was my birthday and I had to work,” he said. “We always had Labor Day weekend off, but not that weekend.” Hilbish actually combined the Kannapolis dealership with Concord Motors and moved both to the new location.
Over the years, he has sold everything from highway tractors, to police cars, to school buses, as Ford used to make the bus chasses. He even helped run a leasing company at the dealership for about 30 years.
When asked what his secret to selling is, he says that honesty has always been his best policy.“I tell it like it is,” said Overcash. He also pointed out that he used to read the original selling manuals that Ford Motor Company provided. In fact, he still has them in his desk drawer. He also proudly shares his Ford stock certificate, purchased in 1966 which was signed by Henry Ford himself. Even when the automobile market dipped, he never thought of selling it. He’s loyal, remember.
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| Ford Sales Manual and Reference Guide |
He even shared an interesting story about how he helped with the sale of a bus to the Church of God Home for Children that desperately needed one. Back then, S&H Grocery gave out green stamps and Church of God congregations from all over collected enough to purchase the bus. The orphanage owned 2,555 books of the stamps which turned into $5,077 for the purchase.
“He has served generations of customers and I hear his customers say all the time…you have sold my grandparents, parents, us and our children vehicles over the years,” said Tim Vaughn, General Manager of Hilbish Ford.
Overcash has also been an active citizen in his community too. While a lot of his peers left town for other things, he stayed in Kannapolis and has been a lifelong member of Bethpage Presbyterian Church and a 30 year member of the Kannapolis Rotary Club. He also proudly served in the North Carolina National Guard for 10 years.
Hiblish Ford and Billie Overcash both have a deep history and commitment to the Kannapolis community and to Ford cars. Here’s hoping Billie keeps selling them for a long time to come.
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