Jolly John heads for Chapter 11

PORTLAND — John M. Pulsifer, owner and television pitchman for what had been one of New England’s largest auto dealership chains, said Tuesday the region’s slumping economy forced him to seek U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection for his scaled-down business.

But the ebullient Pulsifer, known to southern Maine TV viewers as “Jolly John,” said he was optimistic that he would be able to reorganize his finances and get his Saco-based business back on track.

“Being broke is only temporary,” said Pulsifer, a career car salesman who parlayed $2,000 in severance pay into his own dealership in the early 1980s. “No doubt about it. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The voluntary petition by Jolly John Ford-Lincoln-Mercury Inc., wholly owned by Pulsifer, seeks protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code.

According to preliminary papers filed with the court on Monday, the dealership as of July 31 had assets of $4.1 million and liabilities of $6.9 million.

Pulsifer’s lawyer, George Marcus of Portland, said the swift growth of his client’s business made him vulnerable when the economy turned sour.

“I think the problem was that the dealership grew very rapidly in the late 1980s and to fund that growth it incurred substantial debt. And when the car business slowed down, he was not able to support the debt he incurred,” Marcus said.

Pulsifer, in a prepared statement, agreed.

“In 8 1/2 years time we grew into one of the largest dealership groups in New England, but the growth brought with it large debt. I felt we could deal with the debt because sales were great. Unfortunately, the economy turned and the debt became too much,” he said.

Pulsifer said the dealership will remain open as usual six days a week for sales and service during the reorganization.

Pulsifer, 52, expanded rapidly during the mid-1980s, buying four buildings and hundreds of acres along busy U.S. 1. At one point, he augmented his core Ford and Lincoln-Mercury franchises with Volkswagen, Subaru and Mitsubishi-Fuso truck dealerships.

His marketing formula included a barrage of TV ads in which he flailed his arms, promised viewers the best deals around and declared, “I’m not jolly unless you’re happy.”

By 1988 he was aggressively pursuing other franchises and talking about a potential network of 20 dealerships that would extend from Bangor to Manchester, N.H. That goal eluded him as the economy faltered and Pulsifer was forced to retrench.

Pulsifer said his work force currently stood at 58, down from 247 two years ago.