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Sonoma Truck and Auto closing

Sonoma Truck and Auto, which has sold and serviced cars and trucks at its location on Broadway for close to four decades at the corner of MacArthur Street, is vacating the site by the end of January, and all of the cars and trucks have to go.

The closure after 39 years is the aftermath of the passing of Bob Bohna, who died in January of 2010. There are no heirs to take over Bohna’s business here, so Bill Shea, the attorney for his estate, said the operation must be closed.

The auto and truck service part of the business, operated as Sonoma Autocenter, will be taken over by longtime manager Rigoberto Bravo, who is moving it across the street into the Conoco Phillips 76 service station and will reopen there on Feb. 1. His phone numbers will be 996-4521 and 996-4522.

The auto and truck sales department will be in the process of selling off its used vehicle inventory through this month. People interested in discounts on used cars and trucks will find good deals through next month, said General Manager Mike Waldrop.

The 1.9-acre property, zoned mixed commercial, is for sale at a list price of $2.35 million with local Realtor Herb Heil representing Bohna’s estate. Village Properties, a San Francisco-based company that builds commercial developments, put up an offer last May but that deal fell out of escrow in September.

Heil said this week that he has other prospective buyers looking at the property, but no firm offers are on the table.Bohna’s former home located on East MacArthur Street adjacent to the commercial site, was sold recently.

The Sonoma Truck and Auto site has been the home of an auto dealership for more than a half century, and was for many years, the site of Whitehead Motors, Sonoma Valley’s Ford agency, operated by H.A. “Hutch” Whitehead in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Bohna operated an auto dealership and auto service business there from 1972 until his death last year.

Behind the Sonoma Truck and Auto building is a much older wooden building, which was original home of Sonoma Valley High School until it moved to its present location in 1923.

For more information on the auto and truck sales or auto service, call 996-4521 or 996-4522.