The legacy of a 78-year-old Ford dealership begins with a WWII Air Force veteran turned businessman. It blossomed under his care, and eventually, that of a Cuban refugee.
And now, a new era dawns at the dealership with a storied past.
Driving the news: Crossroads Automotive Group purchased Bartow Ford from Benny Robles Jr. and partners Rob Kendrick, Mike Bedenbaugh Jr., Ian Whiteside, and Carlos Sandoval in a deal that closed Sept. 3.
The acquisition marks Crossroads Automotive’s first foray into Florida, and its 15th Ford dealership, according to a press release.
Based in Wake Forest, North Carolina, Crossroads owns 17 dealerships there and in South Carolina, too.
Making moves: Andy Church and Robert Schlicht of advisory firm Dealer Solutions Mergers & Acquisitions represented the buyers for this deal and several other of their deals in recent years, including the group’s exit from Virginia.
In Virginia, they sold a Stellantis store to an entity backed by the Ellenae Fairhurst Trust, and they sold the next-door Ford store to KKS Automotive, a group owned by three partners that includes NFL wide receiver Keenan Allen.
“This is a historic transaction in the state of Florida,” Church told CDG News. “It's a dealership that's been very established for years and years, and just provides a great opportunity.”
Crossroads President Allen Boyd said in a release that “they truly believe God led us to this store and this community.”
“We could not be more grateful to welcome Bartow Ford into the Crossroads family,” Boyd said.
Looking back: The store’s name will stay the same, thanks to its solid reputation, according to former owner Benny Robles Sr.
Robles Sr. shared the store’s seven-decade-plus history with CDG News, along with the histories of the men who ran it, including his.
In 1948, Ernest Smith, who had been honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force after WWII ended, went to work with his father. Paul Smith owned a construction company and had trouble securing trucks for it.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. had a dealership whose owner had gone missing.
“Bartow Ford became available because the previous owner disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico, because he used to fly back and forth to Tallahassee,” Robles Sr. said. “They never found him or the wreckage.”
The elder Smith wanted the dealership mostly for its access to trucks. Ernest Smith eventually became sole owner.
Smith had owned the store, seen below back in the day, for 29 years before Robles Sr. accepted a job there.
The late Ernest Smith with his Bartow Ford store in Florida. (Facebook photo)
Coming to America: Robles Sr. was born in Spain and moved to Cuba with his family at a young age. Robles’ parents feared the country’s political tensions with the United States would lead to Fidel Castro being overthrown.
At that time, Cuba enlisted all males ages 14-28 in its military. So, Robles' parents sent him to America at age 13, where he went to a Cuban refugee camp for boys without parents, near Miami, on Jan. 11, 1962.
“It was not a good situation,” Robles said. “They only had 80 beds for 400 kids.”
After a year, he was sent to Detroit, where he had a nine-month stint with one foster family, before settling in with the family where he’d stay during his formative years.
He graduated from Brother Rice, a prominent all-boys Catholic high school in Birmingham, Michigan. After graduation, he moved back to Florida to reunite with his parents and brother, who had made the journey to America.
Robles stayed in touch with the family he credits as being his second parents the rest of their lives.
Becoming a professional: After graduating from the University of South Florida, Robles went to work for Ford Motor Credit, where he met Ernest Smith.
Smith’s Bartow Ford was on Robles’ route for audits. Robles received a promotion from Ford that would require him to return to Detroit, but he didn’t want to go.
Smith offered Robles a job as finance manager.
“I said [to Smith], ‘I don't want to be a finance manager for the rest of my life, I’d like an opportunity to own a store either here or at another place,’” Robles recalled. “And he was a really great guy, a man of his word. And he said: If you work out, I'll make that happen.’”
Robles started at the dealership on Oct. 1, 1977, and became general sales manager about four years later.
New roles: His first goal in that role? Bringing in new workers because they had problems with sex, drugs and alcohol with some former staffers.
In 2003, the dealership moved to the 30 acres it sits on today, the same year that Robles, along with partners Sr., Bob Ambrose, and Denny Mullis, bought the dealership from Smith.
The partners and Smith are seen below.
Former Bartow Ford owner Ernest Smith sits in front of his co-owners and partners, (from left), Bob Ambrose, Benny Robles Sr., and Denny Mullis. (Facebook photo)
“I think what I've done the best at Bartow for these 49 years is bring really good people,” Robles said. “I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I brought in really good people. The longevity of careers for people at Bartow Ford is incredible.”
People first: He credits his people-first philosophy for helping the dealership prosper.
“We did crazy stuff to take care of my people, because I felt that if you take care of your people, they will take care of the customer,” Robles said. “The bottom line is going to be there. Don't worry about the bottom line. So, that's been my success.”
One way they did that, he said, was to use an American Express credit card to pay for many of the dealership’s bills, to amass points.
He said they had millions of points. One time, a woman was getting married and said they were doing a two-night stay in Florida for their honeymoon, because that’s all they could afford.
Robles sent the newlyweds on a cruise, mostly funded by the American Express points, along with $500 to spend.
Another time, after the dealership lost a longtime employee to the Coronavirus during the Covid-19 pandemic, they paid his widow full wages for a year and a half.
Robles said those types of acts, plus community work, is what they’re known for.
“We always said that we do all these things, and just sell cars on the side,” Robles said.
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Nuts and bolts: The dealership became well-decorated, earning many accolades, including 27 President’s Awards.
Robles said they sold about 450 new and used cars a month, plus did good business with a large parts and service department, and body shop.
Smith and Robles stayed close throughout this time, and the former owner often visited his former store. Smith died on Oct. 19, 2016 at age 92.
Robles, too, continued to visit the dealership after he sold his shares to his son, Kendrick, Bedenbaugh Jr., Whiteside, and Sandoval.
In fact, he kept his office across from his son, so he could helpfully shout out his opinions, he joked.
New era: Robles said his son and the partners were ready for something new, though Whiteside, Robles’ nephew, is staying on with the store.
Crossroads bought the dealership and the land, Robles said.
His son and partners were represented by Elton Wetteland, of Apex Dealer Advisory Group.
Wetteland told CDG News that the big dealership in a small town deserves all the accolades.
Big numbers: Bartow Ford earns about $350 million a year in sales, he said, anchored by a commercial fleet business that made it especially well known, with clients that included the Florida Highway Patrol and local police departments.
He said the store's sales effectiveness hit around 435%, and, despite being based in a small town, grew into the third-largest Ford dealership in the state.
"To buy a store that's won the President's Award, which requires CSI standing, sales effectiveness number, all that criteria, that alone, along with the size of the dealership compared to the size of the town, are probably what enable me to say that it's one of the most iconic Ford stores in the state of Florida,” Wetteland said.
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