It’s not very often that a family-owned business survives well into the fourth generation. In fact, it only happens about 3% of the time. We feel very fortunate to be in business since 1904, and have been run by Spitzer family members every step of the way.
In 1904, George Spitzer started with humble beginnings as a farmer and local hardware store owner in the small, bustling town of Grafton, OH. Coincidentally, in the early 1900s a young man by the name of Henry Ford was traveling around the northeast Ohio area via train trying to locate the best businessmen in the area to sell his new product, the Model T. When Henry arrived in Grafton, he asked the local people where he could find a strong partner, and they pointed him to George Spitzer. Shortly thereafter, George was approached by Henry, and we have been great partners with Ford ever since!
By the 1950s, my grandfather John had built the automotive side of the company into 14 stores in four states and we’ve never looked back. John and (brother) Dell continue to innovate in the industry in many ways, including our sales process and television advertising.
In the late 1950’s Ford Motor Company awarded Spitzer a new store in Cleveland. Within a couple of years the store became the brand’s largest volume retail outlet in Ohio. Ford executives were so skeptical of the dealership’s instant success, they assigned mystery shoppers to keep an eye on the store’s sales. One of the shoppers ended up buying a car there.
As a result, Ford Motor Company recruited John and his brother Dell to make a two-hour training film for Ford dealers that detailed their sales techniques. During the same time, while many dealers at the time disliked TV advertising because of it’s high cost, Spitzer saturated the airwaves with spots featuring the tagline, ‘I want to sell YOU a car now!’ Dodge later adapted the slogan as the basis of a national advertising campaign.
In the 1980s, John Spitzer turned over the dealership’s daily operations to his brother Dell and son, my father Allen. Since then, my father has successfully grown the company and made many acquisitions, reshaping the face of the company as market demands have drastically shifted over the years to include many more import brands in addition to the Great American Big Three; Chrysler, Ford and GM.
We have also invested heavily in new, state-of-the-art facilities and technology that will allow our customers every convenience they have come to expect in this quickly-changing world.
At Spitzer, we recognize that your time is valuable, and that life is moving faster than ever. We do our best to keep up, and keep growing with you, even after well over 100 years of change and innovation to meet your needs.