Longtime Shrewsbury St. car dealer Tommie Simone making tracks to Granite St.

Toni Caushi, Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Updated ·4 min read
Tommie D. Simone has been selling cars out of his own location since 1991. He has been a salesman since at least 1980. He will be moving to a temporary location, leaving Shrewsbury Street, where he was born, raised and learned his trade.
Tommie D. Simone has been selling cars out of his own location since 1991. He has been a salesman since at least 1980. He will be moving to a temporary location, leaving Shrewsbury Street, where he was born, raised and learned his trade.

WORCESTER – If Tommie D. Simone happens to be standing on the sidewalk in front of his car dealership New Worcester Motors, there's a good chance that someone driving by will honk their horn to get his attention.

At times, he will also get a “Tommie!” from someone coming from Belmont Street, having already rolled down the passenger’s window to time it perfectly with the front of 440 Shrewsbury St., where Simone has been doing business since 1991.

“I don’t know their name, but I know what they drive,” said Simone.

The average of about 15 cars parked neatly but tightly on the lot along Shrewsbury Street are a fixture for those living on that street through the years.

A 1979 photo of Tommie D. Simone, left, with friends Jay Massei, Bobby Dahlstrom and Jimmy Pappas in the car lot originally behind where Funky Murphy's is now on Shrewsbury Street.
A 1979 photo of Tommie D. Simone, left, with friends Jay Massei, Bobby Dahlstrom and Jimmy Pappas in the car lot originally behind where Funky Murphy's is now on Shrewsbury Street.

He uses his fingers to count the other car dealers of the past, such as United Chevrolet at 495 Shrewsbury St., Kelly Buick Inc. at 72 Shrewsbury St. and Heywood Ford at 295-305 Shrewsbury St.

But as he counts his dealership as the last one remaining, there’s no celebratory sense in his voice.

There is actually a lot of regret as come November, Simone will move New Worcester Motors to 257 Granite St. after his lease was not renewed last month.

“I’m the Last of the Mohicans over here,” he exclaimed, before matter-of-factly saying, “I'm the last car lot on the street.”

After more than 32 years in the business, he says that the secret to business longevity is “honesty.”

But what has also helped him is the simple fact that Simone has just always been a car guy.

The 70-year-old Shrewsbury native remembers how as a 9-year-old he would sneak into model cars parked at Heywood Ford to sit in the driver’s seat and get a chance to at least mimic adults driving.

“That’s where the Dunkin’s is now,” said Simone, pointing toward the other end of Shrewsbury Street.

As a matter of fact, Simone knows that place very well.

After a couple of years of working as a union electrician, which he left, thus "disappointing my father,” he drew from a high school memory to do what he truly wanted out of himself.

Sometime in 1971, on a drive with his high school girlfriend, he remembers seeing a turquoise 1967 Ford Mustang pull up in front of them in traffic with a sale note on the back windshield.

Tommie D. Simone inside New Worcester Motors on Shrewsbury Street.
Tommie D. Simone inside New Worcester Motors on Shrewsbury Street.

After flagging down the driver, he made contact. A few days and $700 later, the Mustang was his.

“After a paint job and some engine work I sold it and that really, really got me going,” said Simone. “That was it.”

In 1979, about eight years after Heywood Ford closed for good, Simone leased the space to open Tommie’s Corvettes with close friend Jay Massei, selling exclusively the sports car clearly advertised in the name.

Never actually doing repair work himself, Simone and his partner would revamp used Corvettes at local mechanics, to then “flip” the vehicle for a much better price.

A popular car model, Corvettes proved to be a great start for Simone.

“Everybody in that time frame wanted a Corvette and we sold a lot of them,” said Simone. “We were young, and we liked Corvettes ourselves.

“Jay still has his.”

For the next 10 years, Tommie’s Corvettes revved up Simone’s business venture through a couple of different locations not far from Shrewsbury Street.

It wasn’t until 1991 that he found his permanent spot at 440 Shrewsbury St. — what he calls “my comfort zone.”

Under a new name, New Worcester Motors, he made the switch to mixed models, moving away from sports cars.

Since then, for 32 years, that has been Simone’s business, always apple-picking cars to make sure he would be selling ones he would like for himself.

“It's hard to find nice, clean stuff,” said Simone. “I even smell ‘em to make sure they’re not smoked in.

“Some days I won’t buy any cars, some days I'll buy a couple.

“I’m fussy.”

To Lori Simone, his life partner of 28 years, he’s just old school.

“He kicks the tires, looks under them, drives them,” said Lori. “He just loves what he does.

“He comes from a long line of Simone small businesses.”

Simone says that his family has owned a few businesses on Shrewsbury Street.

From his memory, he mentions his great-uncle's Simone’s Market, his aunts’ Auntie May’s, a cousin’s Simone’s Snack Mobile and others.

To him, New Worcester Motors continues in line with that tradition of Simone’s small businesses.

“It's bittersweet to be leaving this location,” said Simone. “But it’s also exciting for the new opportunity.

“Optimistic, that’s the right word for it.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Longtime Shrewsbury St. car dealer Tommie Simone moving to Granite St.