There were some very happy grandchildren at the Saturn North car dealership in Springfield Township last week.
That is because John W. McKinnon bought each of his five grandchildren a used Saturn.
“I was planning on getting myself a new Cadillac, but then I thought, what the hell do you need a new car for?” McKinnon said. “That is when I thought I would buy the kids each a car.”
John called his son, Alex, and told him his plans. The only request he made was to make sure all the cars were in the same ballpark.
“He just gave me a ballpark figure and told me to get it done,” Alex said. “For 53 years he has been my dad and you never know what he is going to do. He has been like that all through life.”
After running into a problem at another Saturn dealership, Alex got in contact with Rick Clift who is the Sales manager at Saturn North. Clift tracked down all the necessary information and made the event happen.
“All the people over there at Saturn really went to work for us,” John said. “Clift was really great at tracking down those cars. I like Saturn cars and I like what they are doing.”
After the purchase of the cars, the only thing left was to surprise the grandkids with them.
“I told them I was getting an award from General Motors and they all had to be out at this place,” John, who was a supplier for General Motors for many years, said.
When they got to the car dealership, all five vehicles were parked in the front of the building with balloons tied on them. The kids were told to pick out whichever one they wanted.
“Each one of them just walked up to a car. There was no arguing or complaining about who got what, which you get sometimes,” Alex said.
To say the grandchildren were surprised would be an understatement. Some had tears, some were speechless, but all were extremely thankful to be the recipient of the kind gesture. Receiving the cars were Jack, Chrissy, Liz, Katie and Ally. All five kids are currently in college.
“I wanted to buy them for the kids because they are all good kids who are working hard. They are paying their own way and each one of them had old, run-down cars,” John said. “I thought kids who put a little extra into it should be rewarded.”
The grandfather was happy with how everything unfolded.
“Everybody was happy so that was a great feeling,” John said. “It is a rather satisfying feeling to see someone else enjoy themselves.”
The kids were still in disbelief days after the event.
“It was an incredible event,” Alex said. “All you could really say was, wow!”