photo by: Kathy Hanks

Friday, Feb. 1, 2019, was Judy and Johnny Inverarity's last day in business. The couple have owned Johnny I's Auto Service for 27 years at 841 Iowa St. Their slogan was that Johnny I's was the "Home of Good Carma."

On the final day of business, with only four cars left on the lot, there was still a customer shopping at Johnny I’s Auto Sales Friday morning.

Back on Feb. 2, 1992, Johnny and Judy Inverarity opened their used-car business at 814 Iowa St., in the converted Burger Chef building.

On the market for the past nine months, the property sold three weeks ago to an out-of-town dealership. The couple knew that once it sold, their retirement would begin.

Now, Johnny Inverarity expects to wake up in the coming mornings feeling a little lost. After all, the 67-year-old has been around the used-car business all his life.

“I sold my first car for $100 when I was 14,” he said. “It was a 1955 black and white Ford. I thought all the money would be mine. But I only made a $20 commission.”

From a young age, he was washing cars for his father, Johnnie Inverarity, who was also an independent car dealer in Lawrence from mid-1950 through 1974.

“My dad was a good, honest man and I learned from that,” Johnny Inverarity said.

However, there was a time of rebellion, and at 16, he quit Lawrence High School.

“I was a professional hippie,” he said. It was something he had to get out of his system.

After several years in Colorado, he returned to Lawrence in 1982 and became the used-car manager at Laird Noller.

That’s where he and Judy met. Judy, now 62, was working in the office then. On their first date, he picked her up in a demo from the lot.

They married in 1987, and by 1992, they had branched out, opening Johnny I’s. With a degree in accounting from the University of Kansas, Judy has been handling the bookkeeping all these years.

photo by: Kathy Hanks

With only four cars left on the lot, Johnny I’s Auto Sales was closing for business Feb.1, 2019. Located at 814 Iowa St., the building was once a Burger Chef in the early 1970s.

“It’s going to be bittersweet,” she said, sitting at her desk in the office, which was nearly all packed up.

Over the years, they sold more than 12,000 cars and grew their customer base, through communication and just having fun, Johnny said.

“In the last few years there was a downturn in the industry,” he said. “Our customers carried us through.”

“Most are repeats and very loyal,” Judy said.

At Johnny I’s, it’s been about good karma, Johnny said — only, in a bit of wordplay, he spells it “carma.” That became their slogan: “Home of Good Carma,” which they printed on T-shirts given to everyone who purchased a car.

“People have trepidation coming to buy a car,” Johnny said. “Not here.”

Once word got out that Johnny I’s was closing, several loyal customers came in just so they could buy one more car from them, Judy said.

Their plans are to spend time with their five grandchildren — ranging in age from 3 to 23 — who live in Michigan.

Then, they hope to hunt morel mushrooms from Louisiana northward as the temperatures warm up. Then, they’ll head to Colorado for hiking and bicycling.

There are things they won’t miss about the business — like clearing a car lot of ice and snow during the winter — but such inconveniences pale in comparison with the positives.

“Everyone says it, but it’s true: We’ll miss the people,” Johnny said.