A US car dealer has given his employees a retirement gift of $1,000 for each year they have worked for him.

The Michigan car dealership owner wanted to thank his 89 employees for their service to the Howard Cooper Import Center in Ann Arbor.

One employee is known to have got $28,000, another $26,000.

The 83-year-old Cooper sold the dealership in April and employee retention was part of the deal.

"I wanted to thank my employees and that was a way I could do it," Cooper said. 'I hope it makes a difference in their lives like they have made in mine."

The dealership opened in Ann Arbor in 1965, selling Volkswagens. Porsche and Audis were added in 1972, and Hondas came along in 1979.