Bob Rohrman, the lushly mustachioed auto dealer whose charisma and flair for sales during a 65-year-career built his business into one of the biggest family-owned auto groups in the nation, died Tuesday night at 87 of “old age,” according to his company.
But his wacky commercials, punctuated by a baritone voice roaring “Bob ROHRman,” will live on in the memory of many Midwesterners.
For Halloween, he’d dress up as a caped vampire to pitch a “savings spooktacular.” For a Christmas-in-July sale, he dressed as Santa and Ho-ho-hoed about “low-low-low” prices.
He spoofed one of the biggest movie franchises with his “Car Wars” commercial, telling a Princess Leia lookalike, “I’m Bob Rohrman, I’m here to rescue you from high prices!”
The commercials were corny, but their production quality stood out among the other late-night TV car ads and made Mr. Rohrman a Midwest celebrity. When he was at his dealerships, people would ask to take photos with him. If he was at a sports event or enjoying a night out, it was rare to end an evening without someone greeting him with a shout, echoing the commercials, of “Bob ROHR-man!”
People were sharing memories of him on social media Wednesday. One man said he struggled as a boy with pronouncing his “Rs” but learned to say them from Mr. Rohrman’s commercials.
In 2016, Mr. Rohrman described the secret to his success in an interview with the Indiana Business Journal: “I’ve told all my grandkids the same thing: If you’re going to sell anything, especially cars, because they’re not cheap, you have to fall in love with the customer. Because if you fall in love with the customer, they’ll love you, and they’ll never go anywhere else.”
In his autobiography “A Fantastic Ride,” which was available at some of his dealerships, Mr. Rohrman described a rags-to-riches success story that started with his birth in a log cabin, according to a history posted by Bob Rohrman Subaru in Lafayette, Indiana. He said his father brought his pregnant wife and eight children to work some land for a farmer, but, when their home wasn’t ready, the farmer housed the family in the log cabin, where baby Bob was born.
After serving in an Army tank division in Washington state, Mr. Rohrman started selling cars in 1955 at a Ford dealership in Lafayette.
He opened his first business, a used-car lot, on Sagamore Parkway in Lafayette.
A key factor in his success was his decision in the late 1960s to sell Japanese cars. Mr. Rohrman “spotted an ad in the back of an auto magazine for new Toyota cars. Japanese models were still thought to be a risk in the U.S. markets, but Mr. Rohrman saw the opportunity, called and negotiated a dealership,” according to Rohrman Subaru’s history. “It was a risk that took off, and so did the start of the Bob Rohrman Auto Group.”
His company now includes more than 30 new car dealerships in Arlington Heights, Gurnee, Oakbrook, Palatine, Schaumburg, Kenosha, Wisconsin, and, in Indiana, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis in addition to Lafayette. The Bob Rohrman Auto Group includes Acura, Ford, Genesis, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Kia, Lexus, Lincoln, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota and Volkswagen dealers.
In 2019, he was recognized as a “Sagamore of the Wabash.” It’s one of the highest Hoosier awards from the state of Indiana, akin to being named a Kentucky Colonel. Sagamore recipients have included David Letterman, Willie Nelson and WWI flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker.
At the time, his company noted his dedication to giving back. He donated tens of millions of dollars to philanthropic causes, including large sums for a tennis complex at Lafayette Central Catholic High School and money for a performing arts center at his alma mater, Lafayette Jefferson Public High School.
Funeral arrangements are pending, his family said.
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September 02, 2020 at 09:43PM
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Bob Rohrman dead: Midwest car dealership titan known for his wacky TV commercials - Chicago Sun-Times
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