5/13/2003 9:44:00 AM Peterson Motors to observe 35th anniversary this Friday
Lyle Danielson, left, and Wes Peterson stand beside a 2003 Ford Thunderbird. The local Ford dealership will be observing its 35th anniversary this Friday.
(Tribune photo by Charlie Warner)
By
By Charlie Warner
Spring Valley Tribune
May is a big month for the folks at Peterson Motors. The Ford-Mercury dealerships in both Spring Valley and Lanesboro observe an anniversary each year in May. In May of 1955, Gordy Peterson started up Peterson Motors of Lanesboro. Thirteen years later, he took over the Ford-Mercury dealership in Spring Valley.
Peterson Motors of Spring Valley will be celebrating its 35th anniversary this Friday, May 16, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. with an open house. Ham sandwiches and refreshments will be served, KFIL-KOOL 104 will be conducting a remote broadcast from the car dealership located on Highways 63 and 16 North and door prize and lottery ticket drawings will be made. The lottery ticket drawing is part of a statewide promotion that Ford Motors is conducting. Some lucky person in Minnesota will win a brand new Ford Ranger pickup this summer. That lucky ticket just might be drawn right here in Spring Valley.
“We’re inviting everyone to come out and celebrate our 35th anniversary with us,” Lyle Danielson, part owner and general manager at Peterson Motors said. “We are extremely happy to have served the Spring Valley area for the past 35 years and certainly realize that we couldn’t have done it had it not been for all of our loyal customers.”
Gordy Peterson got into the car business in Lanesboro 48 years ago. A farmer, Peterson was experiencing back problems. His doctor, Dr. C.W. Zittleman of Spring Valley, recommended he get out of farming and pursue some other way of making a living. Peterson decided to give the car business a try. The rest, as they say, is history.
Peterson Motors of Lanesboro became one of the more successful Ford dealerships in the area during the late-1950s and 1960s. Spring Valley had a Ford dealership, owned by Bud Atwood. Atwood decided to close his dealership but the Ford Motor Company wanted to keep a Ford garage in Spring Valley. Peterson was approached by Ford, he said yes, and Peterson Motors of Spring Valley opened its doors for business in 1968.
Originally, Peterson Motors was located in downtown Spring Valley on the south side of Main Street in the same block where Security State Bank’s drive up facility now stands. It didn’t take Peterson long to realize he needed more room for his rapidly growing business, so he purchased seven acres of land northwest of Spring Valley on highways 63 and 16 in 1969. The new building was completed in 1970.
“There was an awful gap between Gordy’s new facility and where Spring Valley ended back then,” Danielson recalled. “It took a number of years for Spring Valley to grow out to us.”
At that time, Peterson’s longtime friend, Jim Hruska from Lewiston, joined him in the Spring Valley venture and was a part of Peterson Motors until his death in 1985. Hruska headed the service department and Peterson headed the sales department.
Danielson, who is Peterson’s nephew, was working for Peterson Motors in Lanesboro. On Jan. 1, 1973, Danielson bought into the company and now serves as general manager of the business and is in sales.
Wes Peterson joined his father in the Spring Valley operation in 1974. Wes also works in the sales end of the operation.
The car industry has seen many changes in the past 35 years. Tough economic times, much higher sticker prices and advances in technology have all changed the business.
Because of the ever-changing technology, many car dealerships have closed their doors. Ford dealerships used to be located in Harmony, Rushford, Mabel, Lanesboro, Chatfield, LeRoy, and Spring Valley. Now, only Spring Valley, Lanesboro, and Chatfield remain.
“Preston used to have three new car dealerships when I first started working here,” Danielson said. “They don’t have any now, and Preston is the county seat.”
The mid-1970s were tough times for the Big Three automakers and their dealers. Things weren’t any different at Peterson Motors.
“We had all kinds of dealers calling us back then, wondering if we would buy some of their inventory,” Danielson remembered. “Everybody had to pull things in a little and ride it out.”
Danielson said that many Ford dealerships were in a little better situation because the Ford Motor Company had diversified and wasn’t hurt financially as bad as Chrysler and possibly GM were.
“The government did a good thing when they helped out Chrysler,” Danielson said, thinking back to those dark times. “I sure wish Lee Iacocca wouldn’t have left Ford for Chrysler. We would have had the first minivan instead of Chrysler. The minivan really changed things.”
Danielson noted that the new technology in cars is a mixed blessing. Cars last much longer now than they used to. In the past, many customers traded vehicles every year or every other year. With the higher unit prices and the increased longevity of the vehicles, most people don’t trade in one- or two-year-old cars as they used to.
“I had an elderly couple in our salesroom looking at a new car who were so surprised at the price on the window they exclaimed ‘We didn’t pay that much for our 160-acre farm,’” Danielson recalled. “Cars last much longer now than they used to. Thirty years ago it would have been unheard of for a car to go 150,000 miles. Now it’s common to see folks getting 200,000 miles out of a car.”
While the trend in corporate America is to get rid of the little guys and promote the big ones, Danielson feels one of the reasons Peterson Motors is still a vital business is that they still offer that small town service.
“We have many people from Rochester coming to have service work done here because our shop rates are half what they charge in Rochester,” Danielson noted. “And I think we go to bat for the customers here more than they do at the big dealerships. Our customers are important to us and we appreciate the support we have received over the past 35 years.”
Besides the three owners (Danielson, Wes and Gordy Peterson), Peterson Motors has eight employees. They include Janice Grabau, bookkeeper; Pat Ruesink, parts manager; Rick Christianson, service manager; John Link, Dean Kittelson and Morey Bandel, mechanics; Randy Stackhouse, reconditioning technician and Kermit Knutson, utility man.
Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Article comment by:
Marcy Capelle
Very nice article. Interesting facts...I should remember the first SV lot...but can't place it. Must have been too busy raising kids!
