Friendly Ford celebrates 42 years in Las Vegas

Friendly Ford celebrated its 42nd anniversary April 20 as a part of the Las Vegas community. Led by Chairman Ed Olliges and General Manager Jason Davis, the dealership welcomed former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman to the festivities. Two Las Vegas showgirls adorned in Ford blue costumes were on hand to welcome guests. Many Ford dignitaries also were there to celebrate.

Goodman, Las Vegas' goodwill ambassador, said he has attended every Friendly Ford anniversary celebration since taking office in 1999.

"I'm very proud of Friendly Ford," Goodman said. "You have a lot of strong history in this community."

The party kicked into high gear when celebrity impersonator Robert Nash came in as Robert De Niro. He jabbed with the former mayor.

"You - you haven't changed a bit in these 42 years and these Friendly Ford employees, they are some good people," he said about Olliges.

"Loyalty is built one customer at a time," said Olliges, who has been Friendly Ford's chairman since the dealership opened in 1970. "We know that customer satisfaction begins with employee satisfaction and do our best to make sure Friendly Ford employees are happy and productive. When customers have good experiences, they buy again from us and often have their family and friends come in to buy from us."

Most of Friendly Ford's 180 employees enjoyed breakfast and discussions of Friendly Ford's past, present and future during the anniversary celebration.

Friendly Ford is a 13-time winner of the Ford Motor Co. President's Award for customer satisfaction.

Friendly Ford is just north of U.S. Highway 95 at 660 N. Decatur Blvd. in Las Vegas. For more information, visit Friendly Ford online at http://friendlyfordlv.com or call 870-7221.