How this local entrepreneur built a network of dealerships for rare and vintage cars

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Donna Robbins didn’t really grow up loving cars until it became her livelihood.

“I love cars now … a whole lot,” says Robbins, president and CEO of Streetside Classics, which has a showroom on Derita Road in Concord. It’s one of six showrooms nationwide for the classic car consignment dealer.

She remembers her first car — a green, 1970 Chevy Monte Carlo — and that back in 1999, when she opened her first dealership, there was a Monte Carlo in the inventory.

“I said, ‘Oh, my God, I am old,’” she recalls. “The first car that I drove is already a classic.”

A customer in Robbins’ and her former husband’s consulting business brought the idea of vintage car consignment to the couple. They opened the first showroom in St. Louis in 1999 with that customer as a partner.

The customer exited the business a few months later, and the couple hit upon the idea of expanding the concept into other cities. Now — after Robbins and her husband parted company, too — Robbins’ Streetside Classics has 1,500 automobiles in inventory at six showrooms.

Read the full story here. 

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