With $1.5 million in financial assistance from Ford Motor Co., Campbell is assuring the dealership, founded in 1918 and selling Fords since 1931, remains in this village of 823 people for years to come.
Next month, Campbell will move the dealership from its longtime home in the village’s downtown to a more than $3 million facility that is nearly three times the size of the existing dealership building. The new location, just east of the downtown, will provide amenities associated with big-city car dealerships but keep the longtime employees who have been a staple of the dealership’s success.
They include Marge Kreitzman, office manager for 32 years, and Bill Mootz, parts manager since 1992. Campbell’s older brother by two years, Nathan, has been a diesel mechanic at the dealership for 19 years.
And Bill Bell, the most recent owner who has been working at the dealership for more than 60 years and has been the village’s fire chief for 40 years, will also get an office.
“Ford’s made the commitment to small dealerships but without our reputation, I don’t think we would have gotten (the financial assistance),” said Bell, 74. The new facility is “definitely needed. We’re cramped so bad here.”