Jack Powell, Jr. - President

Jack Powell, Sr., began his automobile career as a Dodge dealer in Dearborn, Michigan in 1933 as the owner of Jack Powell Motors. After 19 years there, the Powell family moved to California where in 1958 Jack Sr. opened Jack Powell DeSoto-Plymouth at 4th and Escondido Boulevard in Escondido.

1971 was the year that Jack Powell, Jr. entered the family business. A graduate of the University of Southern California and of the Chrysler Dealer Candidate School, Jack gradually learned the business from each department's entry position. By 1976 the senior Powell had fully retired, Jack Jr. had purchased the business from his father, and Jack Powell Chrysler- Plymouth had weathered the Arab Oil Embargo. In 1982, an opportunity opened for Jack to buy the competing Dodge dealership.

During this era, all of the auto dealerships in Escondido were scattered around the downtown area of Escondido. With an eye to the future, Jack Powell, Jr. and four other dealers purchased the land and developed what was to become the Escondido Auto Park. The five flagpoles at each entrance of the Auto Park are symbolic of the five dealers who dedicated their futures to this project. Visitors notice that two of the flags are red for those dealers who passed away during the development of the Auto Park. It was 1987 when Jack Powell merged the two downtown dealerships and moved into the Escondido Auto Park.

Jack Powell Chrysler Dodge is a major contributor to many local and national charities and a member of various local, state and national associations dedicated to the automobile industry. Spanning two generations of ownership, we are constantly striving for continuous improvement in all of the areas of this dealership.