73 years. Four locations. Three generations.
One family. One town.
Some businesses come and go. Others become part of a town’s identity – places people remember because they were there for the moments that mattered. A first car. A family road trip. A handshake across a counter that turned into decades of loyalty.
Gale Toyota is one of those places.
In 1953, Larry Green founded Gale Motors – a Lincoln Mercury dealership at 875 Enfield Street, on the southeast corner of Elm and Enfield Streets. This was the heart of Enfield’s “auto row” on Route 5, where dealerships lined the road through town.
The building sat just south of the Laurel House furniture store, across from Connecticut Bank and Trust – the kind of intersection where everyone in town crossed paths sooner or later. Larry ran a tight operation. This wasn’t just a business. It was a community fixture from day one.
Locals remember it well. Robert Steiger’s dad bought a 1950 Mercury from Gale in ’56. Mike Grieves’ father was a loyal customer. That’s the kind of place it was – remembered not just as a transaction, but as a part of people’s lives.
In 1969, with Toyota just beginning to make waves in America, Larry Green saw the future. He brought in Joseph E. Kupec as a partner and together they opened Gale Toyota at 841 Enfield Street – directly across from Enfield Town Hall and the Town Green. At the time, Toyota was still a niche import. Most Americans had never sat in one.
Larry and Joe bet on quality and efficiency before those words became Toyota’s calling card. It was a prescient move – a decade before the energy crisis would prove them right. The dealership sat in the shadow of Town Hall, a fitting location for a business that would become woven into the fabric of the community. Joe Kupec’s niece Tracy remembers visiting as a child.
“In the early ’70s it changed over to Gale Toyota, and when I was little my uncle gave me a teddy bear called ‘Terry Toyota’ that I loved very much.”
– Tracy (Kupec family)
By 1975, both businesses were growing. Larry Green and Robert Green – the next generation of the Green family – made two bold moves that year that would shape everything that followed.
They relocated Gale Lincoln Mercury to a new purpose-built facility at 50 Palomba Drive – off the main drag, but with room to grow. A 12,400 square foot showroom and service center on 2.7 acres, set back from the road with room for inventory. It was a bet on Enfield’s future.
Simultaneously, they opened a second Gale Toyota location at 1551 King Street, further south on Route 5. The family was building something bigger than a single location. They were building a presence.
The late 1970s hit the auto industry hard. Inflation soared. Interest rates climbed to 20%. Gas prices doubled. For a Lincoln Mercury dealership selling full-size American luxury cars in an era of gas lines and economic anxiety, the math stopped working.
In 1980, under relentless inflationary pressure, Larry and Robert made the difficult decision to close Gale Lincoln Mercury. It was the end of a 27-year chapter. A hard choice. But it was the right one – because they kept Gale Toyota. And Toyota’s reputation for fuel efficiency and reliability was exactly what the market demanded.
The following year, they consolidated. Gale Toyota moved from 1551 King Street to the Palomba Drive facility – the building that had been purpose-built for Lincoln Mercury just six years earlier. It was a perfect fit. A new chapter beginning in a familiar place.
The buildings changed over the decades. The addresses evolved. But the family, the community, and the commitment never moved.
Originally Gale Lincoln Mercury, founded by Larry Green in 1953. The southeast corner of Elm and Enfield Streets – the heart of Enfield’s auto row on Route 5.
Gale Toyota’s first location, opened directly across from Enfield Town Hall and the Town Green. Where Larry Green’s bet on Toyota first took root.
Gale Toyota’s second home on Route 5 – an expansion that showed the business was growing. Operated as a Toyota dealership until 1981, when operations consolidated at Palomba Drive.
Originally built for Gale Lincoln Mercury in 1975, became Gale Toyota’s permanent home in 1981. The same family, the same address, for over 40 years – and now being rebuilt as a brand-new state-of-the-art facility.
Larry Green opens Gale Lincoln Mercury at 875 Enfield Street – the southeast corner of Elm and Enfield, the heart of Enfield’s auto row.
Larry Green brings in Joseph E. Kupec as a partner. Together they open Gale Toyota at 841 Enfield Street, across from Enfield Town Hall. A niche import becomes a vision.
Gale Lincoln Mercury moves to a new 12,400 sq ft purpose-built facility at 50 Palomba Drive. A second Gale Toyota opens at 1551 King Street. The family is growing.
Relentless inflation, 20% interest rates, and the energy crisis force the closure of Gale Lincoln Mercury after 27 years. Gale Toyota survives – because fuel efficiency and reliability are exactly what the moment demands.
Gale Toyota consolidates at 50 Palomba Drive – the building built for Lincoln Mercury six years earlier. The address that will remain home for 40+ years. Same family. New era.
The family business expands into vehicle acquisition with the opening of The Buy Center of Enfield – a natural evolution for a dealership that knows the community and knows cars.
A brand-new state-of-the-art facility – nearly 33,000 square feet – is rising at 50 Palomba Drive. The largest investment in Gale Toyota’s history. Same address. Same family. New chapter.
The Green family has been in the automotive business in Enfield since 1953. From Larry Green, who founded Gale Motors on his own and later had the vision to bet on Toyota before most Americans knew the name – to Robert Green, who guided the business through the energy crisis and built it into a community institution – to the current generation, carrying the family tradition forward while building a brand-new state-of-the-art facility at the same Palomba Drive address.
What makes a family dealership different isn’t the inventory. It’s the accountability. When your name is on the door, every customer is a neighbor. Every handshake matters. You don’t cut corners. You don’t disappear when something goes wrong.
That’s not a policy. It’s a value that gets passed down, generation to generation, at a corner on Route 5 in Enfield, Connecticut.
Some memories come with receipts. Others come with teddy bears named Terry. These are the voices of Enfield – real people, real memories, from the community that made Gale what it is.
The Lincoln-Mercury dealership was Gale Lincoln-Mercury. My dad was a loyal customer!
My Dad bought a ’50 Mercury from Gale at that location in ’56.
The car dealership was owned by my uncle, Joe Kupec. In the early ’70s it changed over to “Gale Toyota,” and when I was little my uncle gave me a teddy bear called “Terry Toyota” that I loved very much.
The original 12,400 square foot showroom built in 1975 is being replaced. In its place, a brand-new two-story facility is rising at the same address – nearly 33,000 square feet of modern showroom, service center, and customer amenities.
It’s the largest investment in Gale Toyota’s history. And it’s happening right where it’s always been – 50 Palomba Drive, Enfield, Connecticut.
Some things change. Some things don’t.
Gale Toyota is still family-owned. Still in Enfield. Still here.
We’d love to hear from you. If you have photos, memories, or stories from any of our locations over the years – from the original Gale Lincoln Mercury on Enfield Street to the early days of Gale Toyota – we want them to live on. These are pieces of Enfield’s history.
