GM filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, and Lawrence dealers who sell and service GM products are taking a wait-and-see approach to what the case will mean for them and their customers.

Dale Willey, chairman of Dale Willey Automotive, said he was confident he would continue selling Buick, Cadillac, GMC, and Pontiac vehicles at 2840 Iowa throughout the reorganization and again through the so-called “new GM” slated to emerge as a “leaner, stronger” automaker in the months ahead.

“We’re in business,” said Willey, who’s been selling GM vehicles for 39 years and is a former chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Assn. “We’re going to stay. (But) going forward, I’ve never seen anything like this and I have no idea what their plans are.”

Crown Chevrolet learned last month that GM intended to drop it and another 1,100 or so dealers nationwide by October 2010. GM confirmed Monday that it would be dropping about 2,600 dealers in all, a total that also includes 500 Saturn, Hummer and Saab dealers.