T. Scandia Motors, Inc

T. Scandia Motors, Inc: Saab & Volvo Specialists

8848 SW Commercial St. Tigard, OR 97223

Tel.: 503-684-6465 Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

"TWO BROTHERS TURN HOBBY INTO THRIVING CAR BUSINESS—Weekends spent taking mom’s car apart are familiar to many American teenagers. But a pair of brothers have used their youthful hobby to start a successful family business…" So read an Oregonian feature story not long ago about Ben and Raymond Dibb, founders of T. Scandia Motors.

T. Scandia Motors has opened its door to Saab and Volvo customers because of the love Ben and Raymond have felt for Swedish cars ever since 1963, when their mother, Theresa, brought home her first

122 Volvo in Thailand. When the boy's father died, well-meaning relatives tried to persuade Theresa to trade in the Volvo for a cheaper Japanese car. But she insisted on keeping the Volvo because she didn't want to compromise her children's safety.

As the boys entered their teenage years, most of their buddies had eyes more on girls, but Ben and Raymond were preoccupied with Volvo. By then, the family car was a 144 Volvo, and Ben and Raymond helped with maintenance by "fixing" it, regardless of

whether or not the car actually needed fixing. When Ben was 16, he managed to get his mother to persuade the service manager at a Volvo dealer in Bangkok to let him work there for a summer. Because Raymond was too young to work, he spent his summer in the Volvo showroom with a friend of his mother who happened to be Volvo sales. With Raymond’s knowledge of and enthusiasm for Volvo, he managed to close two sales to parents of his friends. And, while both boys were still too young to drive the cars they so loved, they took it on themselves to write a personal letter to Volvo AB home office in Göteburg about the overheating problems facing Volvo owners in Thailand's tropical climate.

Later, after graduating from a commerce school in Thailand, Ben still had his heart set on a career in the car business. This time, he managed to persuade his mother to take the step of sending him all the way to Portland Community College to study automotive technology. He began in 1981 and, while in school, got to know and love Saab, too, through part-time work at a local Saab service business. In 1983, he was joined at the college by Raymond, who came to study toward a degree in business.

In 1985, the brothers persuaded their mother to take perhaps the biggest step of all—investing in T. Scandia Motors, the business of their dreams. Soon after, sisters Regina and Susie brought their skills and educational backgrounds into the endeavor, making T. Scandia not just a family business but a whole family business.

All of which follows precisely the philosophy that this family lives and works by: strength in togetherness and mutual respect. "Of all the things our mother taught us growing up, we remember two lessons above all," says Regina. "One comes from the story about twigs, about how a single twig can be broken effortlessly and yet a bundle of twigs can be as strong as a pillar. From this lesson we learned to stick together, to help one another. The other lesson was the Golden Rule, about how we should always treat others as we want to be treated ourselves. These lessons translate into a personal and professional philosophy. And that philosophy—in addition to our love for Saab and Volvo—is what drives our business practice at T. Scandia Motors.