At Carr's Honda on North Western Avenue the average age of the salesmen here has just risen dramatically. And that's because of brand new employee Sidney Mayster. Sidney is 90 years old, but after his wife passed away, the joy of living disappeared.
"I retired and then I started staying home," said Mayster. "And pretty soon the walls started creeping in on me. And lack of something to do was just not my forte."
This lifelong Chicagoan served in World War II then graduated from college with a degree in mechanical engineering, and that career lasted for almost 60 years. He never stopped worked until recently and then he went job hunting at Carr's Honda.
""I'm a mechanical engineer, and an automobile is nothing unusual about it," Mayster said. "So I stopped in...Never sold cars but it doesn't make any difference. Starter motors, transmissions and all these things are still part of mechanical engineering."
Old age had been slowly closing in on Sidney.
But not now. Now life is like the smell of new car leather.
"The boredom has gone away," Mayster said. "I'm not bored anymore."
Mayster was born in 1922, and yes, there were still Model T's driving around way back then.
But Sidney? He's not a Model T. He is a Model A-plus salesman.
"He's got a tremendous work ethic," said Carr's Honda General Manager Warren Haynie. "He gets here at 7:15 to 7:30 in the morning and he's here until evening and he works six days a week."
And the hard work is paying off.
"I've sold a total of five cars ... in three weeks," said Mayster.
At that rate Mayster should sell about 200 cars this year.
You never know. Mayster could become the first 90-year-old rookie of the year.
