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1969 - present
The frame: Tyler is carried in this section as what it is, a Michiana house, not a South Bend store. Its lots stand on South 11th Street in Niles, Michigan, minutes north of South Bend across the state line, and its trade has always run both ways across that line. The South Bend record that pretended the state line was a wall would miss half the cars in its own driveways, so Tyler stands here in the regional frame, the same way Fort Wayne's leg follows the Kelley name to Decatur.
The founding: The house's own published history is exact about the month. "In December of 1969 our company was founded as a Chevrolet dealership by our father Tim Tyler and his partner Terry Linville." December 1969 is a founding date with a shadow over it: six years after Studebaker's South Bend closing had taken the region's factory away, in the last month of the muscle car decade, two men opened a Chevrolet store in Niles on a stated philosophy, employing the very best people and emphasizing service, and the account says the philosophy was received favorably and built the loyal support that let the company grow.
The course: The products changed with the territory, in the house's own telling. Over the years Tyler added, among others, Cadillac, Jeep, Pontiac, AMC, Buick, Renault, GMC, Hummer, Geo, Eagle, Oldsmobile, Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, Honda and Ram; some of those brands are now defunct and others are offered elsewhere, and its four locations currently offer Chevrolet-Cadillac, Kia, Honda and Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram. Read that brand list as a history of the American industry in miniature: a Chevrolet store founded in 1969 that has sold, at one time or another, nearly every nameplate the century produced, including four that no longer exist. The closing line is the house's own measure: founded in December 1969 by Tim Tyler and Terry Linville, family run across two generations, still trading from Niles to the whole of Michiana, state line notwithstanding.
Sources:
- Tyler Automotive, the house's own published history, carried on its store sites (the December 1969 Chevrolet founding by Tim Tyler and Terry Linville; the founding philosophy; the brands added through the years; the four present locations and their lines; the South 11th Street, Niles addresses).