Asheville's Harry's on the Hill dealership to take down well-known Chief Pontiac statue

Mark Barrett | The Citizen-Times

ASHEVILLE – After half a century of presiding over auto sales and comings and goings on busy Patton Avenue in West Asheville, the prominent Chief Pontiac statue at car dealership Harry's on the Hill will be removed, its owner says.

"We now consider the statue a relic from a different era that should be moved to a place of honor befitting the Chief's legacy," an announcement posted on the dealership's Facebook page said.

The 23-foot-tall fiberglass statue was erected when what was then Harry's Cadillac-Pontiac Co. Inc. moved into its current location at 819 Patton Ave. in November 1967, according to a story in the Citizen Times archives. The statue's location on the edge of a hill above the street makes it easily visible for some distance.

The dealership's announcement linked the decision take the statue down to what it called an "ugly, insulting and inappropriate text message" a salesman sent to a would-be customer, a member of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. The salesman was fired immediately, it says.

"We want to emphasize how much we value our relationship with all of our Western North Carolina customers and we pledge to take whatever actions are needed to guarantee that no one at Harry's On the Hill ever experiences anything like this again," it says.

The statue has outlived the car brand it once commemorated. General Motors unveiled the first Pontiac in 1926 and built the last one in 2010. GM was experiencing financial problems and streamlined its brands to reduce expenses.

Chief Pontiac was the leader of a Native American revolt against the British in Detroit and other parts of the Midwest in the 1760s. Car and Driver magazine says it is not clear whether the brand was named for him or a company GM acquired that traced its origins to the Pontiac Buggy Company based in Pontiac, Michigan.

The statue depicts a bare-chested Chief Pontiac holding his right hand aloft with a single feather attached to his head.

The 2-foot feather was missing for more than decades after it was apparently removed in a fraternity stunt. A local woman returned it in 1997 after it had sat forgotten in a closet.

Several commenters on the Harry's on the Hill Facebook page called the statue a local icon. Many complained the statue is not disrespectful and the dealership was succumbing to political correctness by removing it. Others praised the decision.

Sabrina Arch, a member of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians who lives on its Qualla Boundary, wrote about her encounter with the now-fired salesman in a commentary the Cherokee One Feather news organization published Thursday.

"Discrimination and hate are out there and going to Harry's on the Hill; I got to experience it firsthand," she wrote.

Arch wrote that the salesman set a price for a vehicle her bank later told her "was way too high" and she was unable to get him to negotiate.

After she bought a vehicle at another dealership, Arch said she sent a photo of it to the Harry's salesman.

He sent her a text message that was apparently meant for a co-worker, "look what this b----- sent me" and "Cherokee lady on Yukon," Arch wrote. She said the Chief Pontiac statue "needs to be taken down."

The Harry's announcement says it makes no difference that the text most likely was intended for someone else and that the dealership had apologized to Arch.

"We promise that everyone who visits Harry's on the Hill will be treated with respect and dignity. On that, there is no compromise," it says.

The announcement says the original sculptor has expressed an interest in having the statue in his personal collection and that it is to be removed in the near future.