FoW Sold?

Locally HBL - Aston Martin of Tysons, Mercedes of Tysons, Porsche of Tysons, Audi of Tysons, Smart of Tysons and Tysons Corner Collision Center are PAG dealerships. I've met Sr a couple times. Hard to believe he works so much and does the racing thing too.

 

I heard about the change in ownership last month and have had some conversations with FOW people, trying to understand what the future would look like. In my experience, a nearly complete turnover in staff is very unusual in an acquisition like this, unless there is a legal reason, such as terminate and selective rehiring, after positions are advertised. There are other reasons that could have caused this behavior, but they are way too speculative to even suggest.

Like nearly everyone else, I can't imagine why new ownership would have across the board terminations, unless their due diligence turned up issues that we are not aware of or they have an existing or new team virtually in place. But terminating someone like Ralph does not appear to make sense, from a purely economic perspective. Perceived synergies and redundancies often color an acquiror's decisions; let's hope that after the acquisition actually closes, new management will demonstrate a better understanding of the local market and will rehire people like Ralph, Redding and some of the other individuals who caused us to visit, shop, and buy from FOW.

Robert

 

I am not pretending to be an expert on car dealerships but typically when a larger company buys a smaller one the first thing they get rid of besides senior managment is accounting and HR people since they already have their own.

Also the larger companies usually have the ability to train people rather than pay for experience. A lot of dealerships put sales people on straight commision and have more sales people than they really need. The idea is your not paying them anything when they are sitting around with no customers so who cares, and if someone does come in or they can talk a relative or friend into buying a car it's one more sale for the dealership.

 

Just another short story about FoW. I purchased my 308 from Paul Prideaux and he had purchased it from FoW. My wife and I had driven to Washington DC for some reason and in our travels, stopped by FoW. I had purchased many parts through them and on occasion, spoke with Redding on the phone. So we went into the showroom and Redding was standing up front at the entrance. He asked if he could help us and I introduced myself. He said "Yes, Greg!...great to finally meet you!". Redding proceeded to spend the next hour showing us around the dealership, the service garage, and the 'special garage' where they serviced all of the Challenge cars, vintage racers, etc., including the yellow/green stripe 250SWB...I believe that was one of Allie's cars? Anyway, Redding treated us like royalty and every visit thereafter was more of the same. A couple of years later when my wife and I were headed to Italy, Mary went absolutely overboard getting our factory visit setup...she is a very dear person.

What an awesome crew!

 

Yes, both Mary and Redding are two of the treasures at FoW (I say "are" because I'm still hoping that Redding will be back!).

Allie's 250SWB (2733GT) was silver and was sold in late 2002/early 2003. I once had the privilege of driving this car, albeit very briefly. On another occassion, Allie gave me a dozen or so lap ride around Summit Point in it. Amazing machine! I believe it's now in the NYC area.

gp

 

Hi Greg! I hope you've been well. Long time no talk.

I enjoyed seeing your post. I fully agree. I know FoW is not perfect but I've always shared your experience. Redding, Mary, Glenn and other are part of the 'Old School'. They were all there when I bought your 308 from them. My first track event was with FoW. I still remember the day I test drove your 308... that was about 11 years ago.

Say hi to Michelle, Megan, and Hanna!

p.s. My 360 is doing great...I've just been too lazy to change mt FChat username.

Paul

 

Who is to say that the people that have been let go from FoW was decided by the new owner? Some may have, but others could have been decided upon by the current people in charge. Let's give the new owners a chance. Just a thought.....

 

+1 I would have to agree, this is probably more fact than fiction!


Robert

 

"Who is to say that the people that have been let go from FoW was decided by the new owner? Some may have, but others could have been decided upon by the current people in charge. Let's give the new owners a chance. Just a thought....."



Hmmm, one post, correct info ... very mysterious.

 

-Could it be that someone who is being retained by the new ownership is posting and commenting? I would point to the grammar used in his initial post...".hmmm" is right, Will...
It is true that Redding was uncerimoniously asked to leave by current, not new, ownership...
When will Ralph be rehired by Story and Company? When do they actually take over running the store?

 

I was there Monday and was told the sale was complete and the new owners are running it. I was also told most of the admin staff had been let go.

 

"I was there Monday and was told the sale was complete"


Hi Kevin, not yet.

That said, I've come to the conclusion that the best thing to do is hope the transition occurs as soon as possible for the sake of all concerned. With some strong management direction and TLC for surviving employees, I'm confident that FoW can be successful. The exotic car/enthusiast community in DC has grown significantly over the past 10 years, and a well capitalized, well run factory Ferrari dealership ought to be able to exploit that growth, even in a depressed (recessed?) economy.

 

I just found this thread and man am I hot. Who would let someone like Ralph go?! Here's what I posted last year about my visit to FoW and meeting with Ralph:

"I just wanted to chime in about my trip to Ferrari of Washington.

I had called ahead, and told them who I was, just a tourist from South Louisiana who loves Ferrari, rebuilding a 328 and plan on getting a 360 or maybe an F430 in about a year, if I fit comfortably in one as I’m 6’7”. I was told to ask for Ralph by a few of you local guys and you didn’t steer me wrong. What a great guy!

My wife told my 4 sons (I have 5, but we left the 4 year old back in LA; DC isn’t his kind of vacation, if you know what I mean), do not touch any cars, because if you scratch them, we have to buy them. Then I chimed in, “Oh really? Guys, go scratch up that silver 360 spider!” That earned me a glare.
Ralph came out and we talked a while about cars, then gave all 6 of us a tour of the service facility, getting to check out the Miura that was undergoing service, as well as 3 0r 4 355’s and a few 360’s. I was quite impressed with the detailing that they perform on the engines when they provide service.
Ralph then took us back to the race garage section with all the challenge cars. It was a kick in the pants to see all these machines getting ready.
That’s when one of the mechanics asked my second oldest son, “Hey, do you want to sit in it?” meaning the Challenge F430. My son froze up, as he had been told to touch nothing. The mechanic leaned in and then gave some sage advice. He told him “look, whenever someone asks you if you want to sit in a Ferrari, you say YES!” So he did…..and so did the other three boys, and then eventually the wife was in a 599 Fiorano, afraid to move that she may damage the beauty! The mechanic, whose name I can’t remember, then gave a set of intake and exhaust valves off of a 355 engine they were doing the valves on and made my kids trip highlight! They kept those valves in their pockets the rest of the trip, setting off the metal detectors when we tried to fly out!
Eventually Ralph and I plopped down in a couple of 360 spiders, one with racing seats, the other with power daytonas. I fit fine in both, top up or down. He then tried to get me to take it out for a spin. Here’s where I broke the rule and said no, as I didn’t want to inconvenience them any further after all the things they showed me and let my family do.

He then told me he could sell me some of the 360’s I had been looking at for a good bit less than the list on them now. I though them very fair prices, and if that house construction that keeps slowing my 360 purchase down was done, I would have walked out of there buying a car.

As it is now, I plan on going back to them when I have the green-light from the wife for a 360 spider. Ralph knows what I want, and I’m sure he can find it.

So, all in all, a HUGE thumbs up for Ferrari of Washington for how we were treated. Rest assured, I will be back….hopefully with lots of money in hand. "


And yes, last July, I called Ralph and had him get me my 360 spider from Algar, but I bought it FROM Ralph at FoW. To me, the extra few thousand I'm sure it cost me to do this were of no matter. I was that impressed with how Ralph treated me and my family. I've bought many cars in my time (about 1-2 new ones a year) and Ralph has to be the nicest sales guy I've ever come across. How you let someone like that go in an ownership swap is beyond me.