Proudly Serving Drivers Like You, from Manchester NH to Bedford NH, Derry, and Londonderry NH, And Everywhere in Between

The Merrimack Street Garage Story

In 1896, Morris Saidel and his brothers emigrated to the United States from Lithuania and settled in the Manchester, NH area.  They worked hard as peddlers, selling wares on bicycles and wagons to stores in southern New Hampshire.  By 1905, they had saved enough money to start a small clothing store on Elm Street in Manchester.  By 1910, they had clothing stores in Pennacook, Concord, Lebanon and Nashua.  By 1918, Morris was ready to strike out on his own.  As a bicycle racer and enthusiast, Morris was also interested in the new wave of transportation, the automobile.

Morris purchased an old barn at 52 Merrimack Street, demolished it and built a single story garage complete with a front showroom and rear service and parts department.  He incorporated Merrimack Street Garage in 1919 where he sold Hupmobile cars.  In 1933, the Buick Zone manager told him if he built a second story on his facility, the agency would be his.  Morris went ahead and built the second story, capable of parking vehicles on the roof, but Buick was given to another businessman in town.  Instead he was given the Oldsmobile line of General Motors products.

During World War II, Morris faced extremely tough times, including his only son's request to join the United States Army.  Raymond Saidel was too young to enlist without Morris and his wife Anna's consent, but was eventually able to convince them to allow him to join.  Once overseas, Raymond fought the Germans in North Africa and then throughout the Italian Campaign as a member of the 1^st Armored Division, G Company.  Back at home, the automakers were so busy building tanks and aircrafts for the war, the New Car orders kept building up.  This went on for three years and it was a known fact that with the right amount of money, a dealer could be convinced to move an order ahead of others in line.  Morris, believing in fairness and integrity, refused to fall into this practice.  He wrote all his customer's names listed in order, covering the west side showroom wall.

Raymond Saidel survived the war and became the dealership's president in 1950 with Morris' passing.

During the 1950's and 1960's, Merrimack St Garage became the largest foreign car franchise in New England including Volvo.

Raymond also developed, built and raced his own line of cars, the Jomar. The Jomar was named for his children, Joanna and Marc.  A version of this car was still built in England until 2007 and was called the TVR.  It was one of the fastest production cars in the world.

Merrimack Street Garage has passed the test of time and today is a thriving Volvo retailer still based in downtown Manchester, NH and owned by 3rd generation, Alex Saidel.  Our pledge is to continue to serve the community with the same integrity and honor we were founded on over 100 years ago. 

Merrimack St. Volvo, Our Story from Merrimack St. Volvo on Vimeo.