A town institution is no more.

Millbrook Motors, where Duxbury residents purchased their Jeeps for decades, has closed its doors and some of its inventory will be auctioned off.

Visitors to the dealership on Tremont Street will find only an empty lot, and “Auction” stickers on the window.

The dealership had recently undergone a period where only the service part of the building was open, but the Loring family –– who have been involved with the business since the 50s –– was trying to start selling cars again.

“We’re getting there,” said Edwin “Chip” Loring, whose grandfather started the business in 1954, in an interview with the Clipper in May. “It’s going to take time to get back into it.”

Loring and his sister Lee said at the time new cars were being delivered to the lot.

Efforts to contact Loring for comment were unsuccessful.

For many years, Jeeps have been ubiquitous around Duxbury because of their ability to drive on the beach with four-wheel drive –– the cars are jokingly refereed to as “Duxbury Cadillacs.”

Tedesco Auctions will be selling off some of the dealership’s property during a public auction on Saturday, Dec. 11, at 11 a.m., on the business site at 1474 Tremont St.
“We’re known for auctioning car dealerships,” Joe Tedesco said.

Tedesco will not be selling off the cars (those have gone back to Jeep) or the property, but rather dealership-related items like parts, the car wash, garage equipment, two antique Jeeps and other service vehicles. He said potential buyers will be other people in the industry.

“Other dealerships, people that repair cars,” he said. “The equipment’s all the same.”

He said one of the antiques, a 1946 Willies with 388 miles on it, would be of interest to collectors.
“That’s pretty rare,” he said.

Tedesco did not know the state of the building or of the Jeep franchise license. When the business suspended selling cars, they did not lose the license, according to Loring in the May article. An e-mail send to Jeep Corporate seeking clarification of this issue was not returned by press time, however Duxbury is no longer listed as a franchise on Jeep’s Web site.

The assessors office at Town Hall said they still have Millbrook Enterprises, c/o Edwin Loring, as the owner of the property. However a search of property records at the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds reveals state and federal tax liens placed on the land. The state liens total $55,028.65, according to the Registry of Deeds Web site. The Federal liens total $53,093.

A list of unpaid town taxes, published in the Duxbury Clipper on Nov. 3, also shows $6,830.92 owed in 2010 real estate taxes and $110.65 for the CPA surcharge under Millbrook Enterprises, Inc.

The assessor’s office has the 1.96 acres property valued at 1,055,200 for the land and the buildings.

Merchants in the Cox Corner neighborhood said they aren’t greatly affected by the business’s closing.

“There hasn’t been a large change,” said Sharon Alwardt from Vintages Wine Shop. “The technicians often came in for lunch and they would probably pick up beer and wine on their way home. We also got a few people walking over here while waiting for their cars to buy snacks, but I haven’t noticed a large change in customers.”

Tedesco, who deals with many auto dealerships, said Millbrook Motors had a sterling reputation.

“I believe they’re one of the oldest jeep dealers in the country,” he said. “People went there for years, I never heard anybody say anything against them. You can tell by the way they ran their business everybody liked them.”

Clipper Intern Erin Thorp contributed to this report.