Benson Motor, 100 S. 16th St., closed its doors for the final time on Sept. 11, after 39 years of operation. But the legacy of the family business, its impact on Ames and its connection to Iowa State won’t soon be forgotten.

For years, the dealership sponsored the Cyclone basketball halftime contest, giving the holder of one lucky seat the chance to win a new car in a free-throw shooting game.

“I had people tell me for years, ‘Boy, Benson, if they ever pick my seat you’re gonna lose a car,’” said Curt Benson, owner of the Buick and GMC dealer.

But it was harder than it looked. The contestant had to make five consecutive shots from free-throw line distance, in a semi-circle around the basket.

And they had to do it in front of 15,000 screaming fans.

Through countless games, over the better part of two decades, only one person managed to sink all five.

When it happened, though, the Bensons were excited for the winner. After all, the halftime game was insured, so the insurance company would actually be buying the vehicle. Benson Motor just paid a yearly premium.

“I think originally it was probably — I don’t know — $1,700 [or] $1,800 per year,” Curt said.

That’s a decent chunk of change, especially 20 years ago. But the advertising Benson Motor received was priceless.

Curt said that the first time the announcer explained the halftime game, he put an interesting vocal emphasis on its sponsor. A group of students thought it was funny and, for the second game, yelled out “Benson Motor” in unison with the announcer.

“By the third or fourth game, everybody in the place was doing it,” Curt said. “There wasn’t a soul that went to a basketball game that didn’t know Benson Motor.”

So it may seem odd that the family almost didn’t end up in Ames. Carl Benson, Curt’s father, owned a dealership in Emmetsburg in northwest Iowa for several years, but he sold it with the intention of moving the family to Minnesota.

Fletcher Allen, who owned a dealership in Ames and wanted to sell, called Carl and convinced him to come take a look. So the family piled into the car one morning and drove down.

“By the time we got to the dealership, we’d all fallen in love with Ames.” Curt said. “But it still wasn’t going to happen.”

Ames was a much larger town than Emmetsburg, so Allen’s asking price was higher than what the Bensons’ dealership in Emmetsburg had sold for.

But Allen was in his 70s, wanted to sell quickly and wanted to the dealership to stay a family business.

So he said, according to Curt, “How much money do you got?”

The deal was made, and on Oct. 15, 1970, the Benson family took over the operation.

“To tell you the truth, as scary as it was, it was by far the best thing that ever happened to our family,” Curt said.

At the time, the atmosphere in Ames was almost like the proverbial Pleasantville, Curt said.

“Every single person would stop in, and they’d want to give you a pep talk,” Curt said. “I had such an overwhelming feeling that all these people were pulling for us.”

For the next 39 years, the dealership found great success through the hard work of many in the Benson family.

“At one point in time, there was 12 family members working in the store,” Curt said.

That included Curt’s son Nick Benson.

“All my first jobs were [at the dealership], whether it be mowing the lawns or detailing cars,” Nick said. “When I was in high school, I spent some time selling.”

The family branched out, opening a standalone Buick dealership in Des Moines.

But the auto industry isn’t what it used to be.

Buick, which used to have about nine car models, scaled back to about three. With this change came a push to consolidate Buick and GM dealers. The Bensons sold the Des Moines dealership in 2007.

“Once we closed that down, I kind of debated what I was going to do,” Nick said. “That was kind of where I envisioned myself for most of the rest of my life.”

Then, in June, the Ames dealership lost its Chrysler franchise during the company’s bankruptcy reorganization. The franchise was responsible for about one-third of the dealership’s business.

GM’s uncertain future didn’t help either.

“When you lose a third of your business and the other two-thirds is on crutches, you’ve got to worry a little bit,” Curt said.

But the final straw, Curt said, came when he received two inquiries on the property from interested developers.

With such a prime piece of property, it made sense to get out of an uncertain and low-margin business and to think about selling the property and investing in something else, Curt said.

Still, it was a tough decision.

“Some of the people that work for us had been with us for 30 years,” Curt said.

Family members will have to figure out new directions.

“I’d love to pursue opportunities outside of it, but at the same time, it’s kind of all I know,” Nick said.

The property has yet to be sold, and Curt said he’s not sure what it will eventually become. But whatever takes its place will have a hard act to follow — Benson Motor leaves the community some big shoes to fill.

“I’m definitely going to miss it,” Nick said.