After nearly 32 years of running Bob’s Automotive in downtown Ridgefield, Bob and Priscilla Ford are preparing to hand the keys to a new owner on Jan. 1. The change marks the end of a long run for the downtown Ridgefield family business.
The couple announced their retirement Dec. 5 in a Facebook post, thanking customers for years of loyalty and friendship. At the shop last week, co-owner and General Manager Bob reflected on the road that brought them here. Bob has worked in vehicle repair since he was 11, having worked with his father back in Madison, Indiana. After spending 16 years in the Navy, Bob planned to open his own shop.
“Working on cars is really what I wanted to do for a living, so I’ve been doing it all my life,” he said. “My wife’s from La Center, and I’m from southern Indiana, so the economy back there wasn’t too good when we got out of the Navy and it was pretty good up here, so we settled in (Ridgefield).”
In 1993, the couple opened their first repair shop on Northeast 10th Avenue. However, just months after opening, the original building was destroyed in a fire on Jan. 29, 1994, an accident caused by an employee handling flammable liquids.
Not long after the shop burned down, the owner of a building at 327 Pioneer St. approached Bob and Priscilla with an offer to take over the building. Built in 1949 as a Pontiac dealership, it became their permanent home soon after the fire.
“Our Lord and Savior led us from that fire to here. I have absolutely believed that all my life, that he led us here,” Bob said.
Bob said the building’s history and structure made it an ideal place to work for the next three decades. But the foundation of the business, he said, has always been the people who walk through the door.
“My favorite part, honestly, has been all the customers,” he said. “I just don't look at them as customers. They're actually my friends. There are a couple of customers who have been coming here since we opened up.”
“There are a couple of customers that have been coming here since we opened up,” he said.
Those day-to-day conversations, Bob said, were one of his favorite parts of coming in every morning.
“What better way to do that than sit here and visit with friends every day,” he said. “I'll be 75 here in June, and that's what's kept me here.”
Running the business has come with challenges that have grown over time. Finding quality employees, Bob said, was one of the most difficult things of running the shop. The industry itself has also changed, especially with the rise in vehicle electronics and complex systems.
“We're literally doctors,” he said. “I've argued that doc, that our job is harder than doctors. Because doctors only have two models to know. We have hundreds.”
As he and Priscilla looked toward retirement, they wanted someone who would keep the shop’s values intact. They turned down buyers who planned to fold the shop into a chain.
“I've always felt an obligation to the customers, a strong obligation to them that I would pass this on to somebody who would continue to run it in the same manner that we've run it in as an individual business, and not just try to make it a profit center,” he said.
They believe they found that person in incoming owner Isaiah Wallace.
“He's motivated to own his own business,” Bob said. “He's got the right attitude to run a small business like this.”
Wallace has worked in automotive repair since high school and currently manages a shop in Clark County. Bob said that background matters.
“He understands the business,” Bob said. “He’s kind of like me … a young motorhead. I’m an old motorhead. The love of the industry and the automobile goes a long way.”
Bob plans to stay on through January to help with the transition and will remain available afterward.
“You can have the nicest property, the greatest ergonomics inside the shop to make it up, but if you don't treat your customers right, you ain't going to have a business,” he said.
For the Fords, retirement means travel and long-delayed personal time. Bob said he may consider returning to the American Legion. Bob helped re-charter Ridgefield’s Post 44 in 2007 and hosted several of its first meetings at the shop.
“I want to go to the four corners of the (mainland) United States. I’ve been to the two on the West Coast. Now, we want to go to the far end of the Florida Keys and up to the top of Maine,” he added.
Priscilla, co-owner, president and CEO of Bob’s Automotive, said members of the local community have come in every day since the couple announced their retirement.
“I just thank the community for all their support over the years,” she said.
