AUTOMOBILES : Dealerships in Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa Are Shifting Their Gears

The theater and the ballpark aren’t the only places you need a program to keep the players straight. Recent changes among the car dealerships on Costa Mesa’s Harbor Boulevard and Huntington Beach’s Beach Boulevard ought to keep sign makers in champagne for quite a while.

University Olds-Pontiac-GMC Truck is gone; so is Norm Reeves Acura. Reeves went to Huntington Beach and turned into a Honda dealer.

Roger Miller Honda, on Beach Boulevard, disappeared, but Reeves didn’t take over that store, which remains empty. Instead, Norm Reeves Honda Superstore Huntington Beach--that’s its name--is housed in what used to be the Huntington Beach Acura dealership.

And Huntington Beach Acura is now on Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa, doing business as South Coast Acura in the old Reeves Acura facility.

“There was just one too many Acura dealers around, and this was the best solution,” said one insider.

Meanwhile, a few blocks to the south on Harbor Boulevard, Orange Coast Jeep Eagle has acquired the recently closed University Olds operation, which has reopened under the Orange Coast banner. Dealership owner Gary Gray said he hasn’t picked a new name for the combined operations yet, but is leaning toward Orange Coast Auto Center or a variation thereof.