Michael Love
In 1961, Love Chevrolet began in Sumter with Michael Love’s late grandfather Julius and late father Nat. And in 1966, Love Chevrolet moved to Columbia. Michael Love’s mother John Anne lives in Columbia.
Starting and staying with the family firm, Michael Love is the dealership’s third-generation CEO. The showroom has moved from Knox Abbott Drive to near the Harbison exit on the east side of I-26, where Love once also sold the Hummer. The dealership has an all- Chevy 14-acre campus. In the recent past Love had dealerships in Charleston, Beaufort, Hilton Head, Greenville, and Florence. The Love RV business is concentrated at Myrtle Beach where it’s called Carolina RV.
Love’s older brother Johnny was killed in a balloon accident in 1996, and the family business cut back and focused on Columbia. Not far from Love Chevrolet is Love Buick GMC on the west side of I- 26 where Love used to sell the Saturn.
Through it all, since the mid- 1960s, Love Chevrolet has never relinquished its place as South Carolina’s # 1 Chevrolet dealer.
In Columbia, Love began working at the dealership on Knox Abbott Drive when he was still in Richland 1 schools. He finished grammar school at Satchel Ford, junior high at Crayton, and he graduated from A. C. Flora High School in 1978. Instead of spending his afternoons with hobbies and sports, Love worked and learned the family business early on. While at Flora, Love had a 20-hourweek on the job at the dealership and full-time employment in the summers. He worked in every department except with the car body technicians.
At age 15, Love had his learner’s permit; and at 16, his driver’s license. Once endowed as a licensed driver, Love’s value at the dealership shot up. He could run errands and make appointments.
After two years in college at Spartanburg Methodist, Love transferred to USC’s Columbia campus for another two years. When he moved back to Columbia for his second two years of college, Love kept an almost full- time status at the family dealership.
Love has worked full- time, not counting when he was in school, for 30 years, while the dealership is in its 50th anniversary year.
The showroom floor is not open on Sunday. Love wants his people to have family time on Sunday, particularly when Saturday is such a busy day in the automobile sales business.
For fun, Love likes scuba diving, mostly in Florida and the Cayman Islands. And as a South Carolinian, he’s the standard issue hunter and fisher. He lives in Eastover, and he can do both at home. In Florida, though, the big fish are close by in the Gulf Stream, where he prefers to fish.
In the past few years Love has become something of a regular, fishing off the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. That’s where he goes for halibut and salmon.
In the cold climes, Love likes to ski the snow slopes. Nearby, he goes to North Carolina and West Virginia. But when he really wants to ski, he goes to Colorado and Utah.
Love has three children: Lance, 18; Molly, 21; and Delleney, 23.
Lance is in an independent study program with Richland Northeast. He graduates in May. He has been accepted for the undergraduate program at USC’s Moore School.
Molly is in Australia while still a student at the College of Charleston. She attends classes at the University of Wollongong, about 30 miles south of Sydney.
Delleney has her business degree from the University of Tennessee. She works at Crews Chevrolet in Charleston.
At age 23, Love had his private pilot’s license, but lately he hasn’t kept it current.
Love is proud to close the conversation by walking over to the dealership’s Mark of Excellence trophy awarded by General Motors. With maybe 75 GM vehicle stores in South Carolina, Love Chevrolet is the one to win.
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