1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow: Just looking? Jac Banman will sell you a VW

JANUARY 30, 1974—In the last 20 years, Jac Banman probably filled more gas tanks, talked to more people about the weather and sold more Volkswagens to people who were “just looking” than anyone in southeastern Manitoba. As owner of Banman Sales and Service in Steinbach, he is now starting his third decade of business at the same location.

When you ask Banman why he gave up farming and a transfer business to open a service station, he is very candid with his answer. “I wanted to make $1,000 a month.”

Twenty years ago, Imperial Oil bought property at the corner of Highway 12 and Main Street, and was looking for someone to operate a service station at the site. Steinbach realtor P.J. Reimer recommended Banman, who was then farming at Landmark and operating Greenland Transfer.

After the oil company representative had finished talking to him, Banman said, the service station business looked like an opportunity too good to pass up. Running one of only two service stations along the highway in town limits, and of course, the prospect of making $1,000 a month, made him decide to give it a try, he said.

Though he stayed open 24 hours a day, as did the adjoining coffee bar, it was quite a while before he reached that $1,000 figure the Imperial man had talked about, Banman said.

Business at night was poor, and after six months the station no longer stayed open around the clock. Seven days a week, including holidays, a schedule he has kept for 20 years, was enough to keep him busy, he said.

The first expansion of the service station business came in 1956, when Banman introduced the ‘bug’ to Steinbach. The Volkswagen had been sold in Canada for four years at that time, and the popularity of the German import was immediately evident.

The service station sold 14 cars the first year and sales climbed steadily, with the best year seeing the dealership sell nearly 100 new cars. The used car business was an added sideline, with people trading their cars in on the economical import.

Overall car sales at the service station kept increasing. Banman said last year the garage averaged a car a day and they are setting their sights higher for this year. Expanded sales prompted Banman to add a show room and a larger car lot next door to the service station.

Banman Sales and Service has been a family enterprise from the day it opened in 1954. Jac and Barbara Banman’s son Bob is probably the only MLA in the province who got his start as a nine-year-old gas jockey.

When the service station opened, Bob was helping his dad at the pumps, and while attending school, he worked at the service station on a part-time basis. When he finished his education, he joined his father in the business and last year opened his own Datsun dealership, across the highway from Banman’s.

Though in the early years of operation, the service station demanded the majority of his time, Banman said he tried to spend as much time with his sons as possible. One wall of his office at Banman’s is lined with family photos of hunting trips. Just mentioning the gun racks on another wall is enough for Banman to get out a drawer full of pictures, each one with its own story.

Long before the snowmobile became popular, Banman designed himself an all-terrain vehicle that was handy for hunting coyotes and wolves. In fact, he still has a letter from the City of Winnipeg Water District warning him that if he shows up on their right-of-way with that customized Volkswagen, he will be prosecuted.

Not content with occupying his time with operation of the business, and hunting and fishing trips, Banman took up golf and flying. In 1973 he had the distinction of being the oldest Manitoba pilot to be awarded a pilot’s license.

Far from admitting that 20 years in business, and getting his pilot’s license as his flying class’s senior citizen, would indicate a retirement date in the near future, Banman says he plans on working for quite a few years yet.

A decade from now, it is altogether likely Jac will still be filling your gas tank, talking about the weather and selling you a new Volkswagen.