KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Lon Savage works in his office at Murray Motors Ford in Muncy.

Today we begin the ‘Still clocking in,’  a series dedicated to seniors who are working past retirement age. If you know a senior citizen who would like to be featured in a story email kkennedy@sungazette.com or call 570-326-1551 x3121.

Lon Savage loves cars. For the last 60 years he has worked selling them. Most days, now, the almost 84-year-old can be found at Murray Motor Company, Muncy, still interacting with customers, some for almost 30 years.

A familiar face in the area, Savage was born and raised in Hughesville. Even as a child, Savage admitted that he had a need for speed.

“When I was younger I always wanted to race my bicycle. I always had racing on my mind,” he said.

“I don’t know what caused it, but I enjoyed it. Still do,” he added.

In his 30’s that love of the race took him to many of the local speedways and beyond.

“I started out drag racing, then I started doing the roundy-round racing-circle track racing. I started at Selinsgrove Speedway. Then I ran down through Williamsgrove Speedway and Hagerstown, Maryland. So I raced all over a lot of tracks, probably about a good 10 years,” he said.

Since then his son and granddaughter have taken turns at the racetracks with his help.

“My son raced awhile and then he quit. Then I raced once after that and then I hung it up. Then he started again, then he quit. And then the granddaughter got into it. She raced a couple of years and now she doesn’t want to do it anymore,” he said.

“So now I got everything, but nobody’s racing, so I’ll probably end up selling out,” he added.

He start with what are called late models, late model racing and he got into pro stock racing.

“When my granddaughter started, it was the four cylinder class, so we built a four cylinder car for her to run, and she did fairly well with it for just starting off, but then she kind of lost interest,” he said.

Oh, yeah, I’ve had, oh, my God, you have no idea how many trophies I’ve had. I’ve had small trophies to big, four foot high trophies. Wow. Yeah, I I won quite a few races in drag racing and I won races in the circuit type races. Yeah, I was fairly successful at it,” he said.

“I guess my goal was to go into the big time, but it takes a lot of money for that. That was my dream to run the Daytona 500. Yeah, that was really my dream, but it didn’t happen,” he said.

He did share that he has been to see that race, but doesn’t travel as far as he used to.

Savage’s path to where he is today began with a stint in the army. He then went to work for a construction company that was building the Kellogg Power Piping facility on Reach Road.

“I worked there for a year, when they were building that place up, and they wanted me to go to Australia after that…I said I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to go to Australia,” he said.

He was working counter sales at Robb Supply in Williamsport when he decided he want to buy a new car.

“When I went down to buy a new Chevelle Super Sport in 1966 they wanted to know if I wanted a job. And I said, doing what? They said, selling cars. I said, I don’t know how to sell cars. They said they would teach me. So I thought about it a little bit, and I did, and kind of glad I did. You know, here I am today,” he said.

“I started back in 1966 at Gilbert Brothers Chevrolet in Muncy, which are no longer there, but that’s where I started and that’s where I got my first car. I had been with General Motors for 24 years before I switched to Ford. I’ve been with Ford for 35,” he said.

After being so long in the business, Savage has seen major changes in the evolution of automobiles.

“All technology. The technology is unreal,” he said.

“Whatever happened to your basic car with basic crank windows. Everything’s all technology. Backup, cameras…you’ve got navigation on screen. Everything is done by a screen now instead of buttons. So it’s a totally different turnaround than what it used to be years ago,” he said.

In order to stay current with the technology, sales persons are required to take tests.

“I just took a test yesterday with Ford, what an F-150 Lobo was called…always going to take tests,” he said.

Although it’s not readily apparent, Savage did at one point retire-at least on paper. That was 18 years ago.

“I never quit. Okay, I just kept working. Yeah, I’m still at it. And if I can do another five, six years, I’m figuring my goals are six years,” he said.

“If I’m good at 90, I’m going to keep on going,” he said.

Savage is among a growing number of people who are working past what is considered the age of retirement either because they want to or for financial reasons.

For Savage, he loves the work and the people he’s met along the way, many who have become friends.

“You meet all kinds of people, you meet good people, you meet bad people, you meet strange people. It’s just, I just love what I’m doing, that I’ve always done since I started back in 1966. You meet so many different people. You get good friends from this and I’ve just always enjoyed it-still do,” he said.

Savage has been fortunate that his health has been good-he only takes medication to maintain his cholesterol levels-and he encourages people who want to keep working to do so.

“I say, listen, sometimes you get tired of working. But, you know, so many people retired and then did nothing, and they were done. I said, if you feel good about everything, I say just keep on. That’s the best thing you do. You’ll live longer, right,” he said.

“You gotta keep moving. You can’t stop. At that age where you stop, just like a car, you know, an old car, if you don’t run it, it seizes up. And a person basically works the same way. Keep moving,” he said.

Savage admitted that’s advice that he follows.

“I’m always on the move,” he said.

“I’m always doing stuff. I’m always going to races. I’m always doing this, and I even have what they call a side by side. I go to the racetrack, I push off sprint cars with it, and I just enjoy life,” he said.