It’s his lots in life: Car dealer’s career repeats family history

Gary Ackerman, a third-generation Ford dealer, relishes the family's history, including the tough introduction his father gave him to the business.

His mother's ancestors moved from Missouri to Northern California in a covered wagon. His grandfather, George Gaudin, established the family's new-car business in the San Joaquin Valley of California and then his father got into the business.

Ackerman didn't learn about his father's initiation into the car business until he completed college.

"I went to my dad and said: 'I think I would like to try the car business on for size.'"

His father asked: "Where do you plan on doing that?"

The rest is now family history, in fact a repeat of family history.

Question: Your father recalled a similar conversation he had with your grandfather, George Gaudin, right?

Answer: My father, Don, recalled going to his father-in-law and saying: "I'd like to get into the car business."

"Where do you intend to do it at?" the grandfather said.

"Well, I thought I would work for you," Don said.

My grandfather said: "I don't hire inexperienced people. The worst thing in the world to happen is to be known as the boss' son-in-law."

My dad went to work for a car dealer in Long Beach (Calif.) and based on his experience there, my grandfather sent him to Las Vegas to be the general manager of Gaudin Ford Las Vegas.

Question: Did your father tell you a similar story?

Answer: Yes. He told me to get a job at another dealership. I was upset. I was hurt. I felt picked on.

I said: "Well, where should I go?"

He said: "The two best car markets in the United States now are Denver and Southern California. You're kind of lazy. So I can't imagine you going to Denver because you'd have to shovel snow. I'll lend you a car for 30 days, and don't make me come looking for it."

My belongings were a water bed, a stereo and my dog. I hit the road for Southern California.

Question: What did you do?

Answer: I went to see my grandfather. I told him the story, and he started laughing. "It's good to know that your dad learned some valuable life lessons from me," he said. "What he's having you do is the most important thing he'll ever have you do."

He suggested I apply for a job with the Galpin Ford dealership owned by Bert Boeckmann up in the San Fernando Valley. I worked there for four years as a salesman. After about 18 months, my dad called me for the first time and asked me if I would come back to Las Vegas.

I said, "Well, do you have a management job for me?"

He hung up because he thought I was cocky.

I was a bachelor having fun in Southern California. I had more money than I ever dreamed I'd have.

Another year went by. Another conversation. I said: "Dad, I wasn't trying to be cocky. I just have no intention of coming back to Las Vegas unless I can better myself."

My dad called a third time and said: "I need your help. I've got competition I never thought I would have. You've been working for the greatest retailer in the world. I need you to come back and help me run this store."

In December 1978, I came back.

Question: What was your grandfather like?

Answer: My maternal grandfather's father, who was a tough old Missouri farmer, would pay him a bonus if he met a deadline for getting the lettuce to the farmers market, according to a family story. (Lettuce) didn't spoil quickly then, and they would get more money for it.

The Model T truck was always getting stuck in the fields, but the truck never got stuck when he was backing it out. So he put the cab and the bed back on backward.

Quite accidentally, that was one of the first applications commercially of the front-wheel drive. Now he starts getting the lettuce to the farmers market really fast.

Somehow Ford Motor Co. heard about this and came out to see how he was doing, and by the time they were headed back he was a Ford dealer. He was 21 years old when all this happened. He gave the rights to Ford to build this truck.

In 1954 or 1955, he sold his Ford store in Salinas and moved to Newport Beach and opened up Gaudin Ford in Buena Park, Calif., near Knotts Berry Farm.

He bought a Ford store in Las Vegas. He sent his young son-in-law, my dad, to run it for him.

My dad worked for my grandfather for about 20 years. It was a love-hate relationship.

In 1972, I think it was, my grandfather decided to retire from active participation in the car business. He had two Ford stores -- one here in Las Vegas and the one in Buena Park that was run by my uncle.

He had dinner with them.

My grandfather said: "There's a Chevrolet dealer out of Southern California who is dying to buy my Ford businesses. His name is Fletcher Jones. So I'm going to tell him to tell me what he'll pay for these two stores. If you match that, you can buy them. If not, I'll sell them to Fletcher Jones."

My dad said yes. My uncle said some things that are not appropriate, walked out of the room and didn't speak to my grandfather again for almost a decade.

Ford Motor Co. gave him a Ford store to build of his own in West Covina. The store in Buena Park my grandfather did sell to Fletcher Jones, and, of course, he gave it to his son, Fletcher "Ted" Jones Jr. (who still runs car dealerships in Las Vegas).

In March of 1979, we opened the 2121 E. Sahara (Ave.) location and closed down the Charleston and Las Vegas Boulevard location. In about 1989, Ford bought Jaguar and I bought the Jaguar franchise in Las Vegas.

I bought dad's company, Gaudin Ford, in 1996. He (Don Ackerman) remains as chairman.

Ford decided it wanted a third dealership in Las Vegas-Henderson. (The company) awarded me that franchise, and I opened Ford Country.

With the exception of four years at Galpin, I spent my entire life at my father's side, and I'm fiercely proud of that. (Family businesses) are part of the American culture that we need to get back before it's gone forever.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at
jedwards@reviewjournal.com
or 702-383-0420.