DALLAS – "It feels like someone just pulled the rug out from underneath me," said Tim Haddle, owner of Kunkle Motors in Dallas, as Saab dealers in the US are being shut down.

Kunkle Motors has been informed that it will be one of 81 Saab dealers in the United States that will not be asked to sell new Saabs once the company is sold to a subsidiary of Swedish carmaker Koenigsegg. General Motors, which has overseen Saab, filed for bankruptcy in June and put the Saab brand up for sale. The dealerships that didn't make the cut were informed of the decision last week.

"It feels like someone just pulled the rug out from underneath me," said Tim Haddle, owner of Kunkle Motors. Besides his dealership, Joseph Chermak Inc., the only other Saab dealer in Northeastern Pennsylvania was also informed it will not have its relationship with Saab extended with the new company. Chermak operates in South Abington Township, Lackawanna County, but also sells Suzukis.

"It's just astounding to me that they can cut off this many customers," Haddle said.

The closest Saab dealer to this area will be in Allentown once the agreement of sale is finalized.

If the deal to sell Saab falls through, GM would close Saab and all the rights to all 218 dealerships would be terminated, GM officials have said. The automaker is eliminating four of its eight brands, by selling Saab and Hummer, and slowly halting production of Pontiac and Saturn.

Haddle's grandfather Daniel Meeker started the relationship with Saab in 1952 and became the third dealership in the country to sell the make. Today Kunkle Motors is the longest same-family-operated Saab dealership in the country.

"And we're probably one of the smallest," Haddle, of Kunkle, said. The dealership sells less than 50 Saabs a year but it does so to loyal customers who have become family.

It also repairs and services vehicles and handles factory warranty work for Saab.