By Michael Oneal | Chicago-area Cadillac dealers Dennis Bauer and Mike Ettleson were among
at least 15 General Motors dealers in Illinois who got a stay of
execution this week.

GM granted both a reprieve after picking them and 1,100 others for
closure shortly before it filed for bankruptcy last year.

Bauer, 68, whose father started Arnie Bauer Cadillac in Matteson 60 years ago, said he was thrilled GM relented but is still licking his wounds.

“After 60 years it was quite a shock and disappointment,” when GM tried to pull the family’s Cadillac franchise, Bauer said. “I’m looking forward to putting all the pieces back together and moving forward.”

Ettleson couldn’t be reached for comment, but several sources said GM had also said in recent days that it would spare his Ettleson Cadillac in Hodgkins.

After heated opposition in Congress and statehouses nationwide, GM last week said that it planned to reinstate 661 of the nearly 1,100 dealer franchises it slated for closure last May as it set out to trim its brands and create a healthier, more efficient retail network.

GM has never made the names on its list public and stuck to that policy this week. Pete Sander, president of the Illinois Automobile Dealers Association, said 15 dealers — most of them Cadillac franchisees — had contacted the group so far to say they’d been saved. But he didn’t know if any of the other 66 Illinois dealers GM tried to close last year had been reinstated.

The dealers who were spared were among 1,100 who had challenged their closures through a congressionally mandated arbitration process that was supposed to be completed by June. With many cases still not started as of this month, GM decided it couldn’t afford the distraction of working through an expensive bottleneck of cases. So it split up the list and reinstated 661 of the lucky ones.

“By doing this, we save a lot of time, energy and dollars, saving us and dealers from going through what could be a very long arbitration process,” GM executive Jim Bunnell told reporters last week.

Bauer, who also owns a Buick and GMC dealership, said he had spent about $6,000 between the arbitration fee and lawyer bills since he found out he could challenge his closure but that his case never got started. Now, he and his son Darrin are waiting for a letter from GM that will outline “certain stipulations” Bauer was told he’ll have to meet within 60 days if he wants to keep selling Cadillacs. He’s a bit wary of what the letter will say but in general he’s relieved.

“We’re very happy we got it back,” Bauer said.