Nearly 50 years after he started sweeping floors and washing cars at his dad’s fledgling car lot in Lee’s Summit, Mo., Dale Willey is gearing up to take responsibility of a much larger automotive operation.

Willey, president of Dale Willey Automotive in Lawrence, this month was elected vice chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Assn., a trade group that represents more than 20,000 dealers who have 43,000 franchises and leads an industry that last year generated $714 billion in sales.

Willey takes office in February, and will spend the year supporting the association’s new chairman, William Bradshaw of South Carolina, before assuming the top post himself for 2007.

“I’m thrilled. I’m overwhelmed. I’m flattered,” Willey said Friday in his showroom, back at work after his election during the association’s annual conference in Laguna Beach, Calif. “It’s wonderful, and I’m just excited.”

The association, which bills itself as “the voice of the dealer,” provides members legal and regulatory advice, lobbying on Capitol Hill, industry research data, and training and service programs to improve dealership operations, sales and service practices.

Dale Willey, president of Dale Willey Automotive in Lawrence, starts his term as vice chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Assn. in February. Willey will assume the association's top position in 2007. He sported his lapel pin while working Friday at his Lawrence showroom, 2840 Iowa.

Willey, 64, is no stranger to association business. He’s been a director for the past seven years, including posts as chairman of dealer operations, public affairs, legal and regulatory affairs and other efforts.

It’s a long way from his hometown of Lee’s Summit, where his father bought a Chevrolet and Oldsmobile dealership in 1957. Willey still remembers repeating the slogan as he went from part-timer to salesman to owner.

“‘We trade for anything at 220 South Douglas,'” Willey recalled with a smile. “And that was true. We traded for horses, pigs, cows – it made no difference. I remember, if it came down to the last $50, my dad would flip a coin and say, ‘Call it.'”

After 35 years as owner of his own dealership here in Lawrence, where he had attended Kansas University, Willey knows times have changed. Back when he started selling Pontiacs and Cadillacs at 1040 Vt., he owned one of 1,250 dealerships in Kansas.

National Automobile Dealers Assn. lapel pin.

Now there are 268, as small towns have lost their lots to larger, increasingly regional operations who bought out smaller dealers and sought to build efficiency through consolidation.

To stay competitive himself, Dale Willey Automotive has expanded with Lawrence and today offers new Pontiacs, GMCs, Buicks and Cadillacs in a 30,800-square-foot showroom at 2840 Iowa. His 4.25-acre site also includes used cars, and in 1994 he expanded across town by opening Dale Willey Quick Service & Tire Center at 2216 W. Sixth St.

“There’s no way I could start out today like I did 35 years ago,” Willey said.