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Kassabian Motors
By William Cracraft
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Dee Kassabian and his son Brad started selling classic cars eight years ago. Eight months ago they moved into their new showroom on Dublin Boulevard in Dublin.
"We bought this property and built this building the way we wanted it," said Dee. Their business plan is on track: the showroom is packed with classic American and foreign sports car, coupes, hot rods and motor cycles. "We’re selling about a car per day," said Brad.
The two men are well-grounded in the auto industry. "We’re old pros at this," said Dee, who worked at Good Chevrolet in Alameda for 25 years. " I started as a salesman, then was used car, new car, then leasing manager. I went through all the desks," he added.
"When my boys all reached the age of 16 I got them jobs as lot boys at Good Chevrolet and the only one that stuck with it was my middle son, Brad. He started as lot boy and worked in to business manager and controller," said Dee. Starting the new business was Brad’s idea, Dee said. "I thought I was going to retire back in ‘89. Start taking it easy, play a little golf. My son said, ‘well, why don’t we open our own place and have some fun.’ That sounded good to me, so we started out small and it s just going crazy. I’m here every day and having a ball," said Dee.
Not everyone is cut out to work with their father, but Brad says he likes it. The men agree on at least one thing, Brad said. When a customer asked which car revved his motor, Dee "you know what, I’m really mesmerized by the car that brings me the most gross profit." After thirty-odd years in the business, Dee is well positioned to judge cars on individual merit.
"I’ve been through them all. I’m a car nut. I just really go crazy over great stuff," he said. That great stuff keeps the customers coming in. One Saturday afternoon in early May the Gilhooly family stopped by to look around. "We’re a car family, we like to come here on weekends and look at cars," said Tim Gilhooly, 16. Mom and Dad were prowling amongst the rods.
"If I want to spend time with my sons, and I do, this is my quality time. They take me to lunch, then we look at cars. It keeps our family together. The guys work on cars together on the weekends," said Tim’s mom, Sherry. The family lives out the dream. "We have four Mustangs, an El Camino and some other cars. I like our Mustangs," said Tim.
They have both ends of the Mustang spectrum covered with a 1998 Cobra and a 1965 Fastback in the fleet. Sherry likes the Mustangs, but if she could choose anything in the room it would be the Chevelle SuperSport with a 396 cubic inch engine. "My ex-boyfriend had one," she said. Hot rods or not, the family maintains tight discipline when it comes to driving the cars."
They know if they get a ticket, they walk," said Sherry. Tim comes to check out the Camaros and Mustangs. He delivered a short dissertation on early Mustang variations including the differences between regular fastbacks, Shelbys and California Specials, and was able to point out examples of each in the room. Dee Kassabian has a note of pride in his voice when he talks about his iron charges. "I have probably the only place I know of in existence that has three GT350 Shelbys for sale," he said.
"Those cars are very collectable. One is autographed by Carol Shelby, it’s very rare because it has the Paxton supercharger that came with the car originally. We have a lot of unique stuff like that," he added. "We’re a consignment place, so we can really pick an choose from what comes by," said Dee. The floor showed a range from a Ford Taurus SHO to a 1939 Cadillac limousine, both in top condition. Some of those cars are pretty phenomenal. They have a 1951 Ford owned by the Band ZZ Top.
"Very customized car You couldn’t tell what the hell it was," said Dee. There are two 1960 Cadillacs on the floor. "These are two frame-up restorations, all the gingerbread. One is owned by ex-Raider Bob Brown, we’re asking $25,000 for that. I have a convertible, 1960 red convertible Caddy, that is absolutely impeccable, and that’s around $28,000," said Dee. Brad Kassabian works the floor along with his dad and they carefully inspect cars before putting them on display.
"Cars coming in get an independent safety inspection, mechanical inspection and smog inspection, if required. If a car doesn’t fulfill a standard of good to very good quality, we’re return it to the seller," said Brad. "Having checked out all the vehicles first, we are confident that we are selling, even if it’s a forty-year-old vehicle, we’re selling quality," he added. Naturally, with the quality of cars on the floor, folks want to test drive them, but it’s not that easy.
"You need to convince us you’re serious. We don’t do joy rides, but we have serious buyers and we have a very short procedure that we go through. We take copies of the drivers’ licenses to protect the seller and the buyer," said Brad. Buyers are all over the spectrum, just like the car selection. "That’s the funny part. We cater to people who are eighteen to sixty-eight. It’s a wide variety, women and men, but predominantly men, because we do a muscle cars and performance cars," said Brad. They have had several recent sales to women though.
" A lot of women love the classic cars, Porsches, BMWs, they love the Mustang convertible. We sold a little Porsche to a lady, a ‘65 Corvette, and the last two BMWs went to women," he added. The two men intend to expand the business even further by adding a gift shop and a second level of offices with rooms for car clubs to meet.
"What we wanted to do was build a place big enough to attract different groups so we can have special events," said Brad. They also plan to add a 7000 square foot mechanics shop with a rack and detail services. Buyers and others will be able to bring cars in for maintenance and repairs. "That’s in our next phase," said Brad. In the end, it’s all about fun, said Brad.
"Everybody has a different story," he said. Part of that story is this glitter-room with a checkerboard floor and company shirts trimmed with the same finish-line flag motif. The pair went through the recession of the late eighties, a snake-pit of business failures. Those that survived did so for a reason. "We just marketed our vehicles as well as we could, and made sure the quality and the integrity of the cars were there. We kept our name synonymous with high quality vehicles," said Brad.
Buyer’s remorse is the bane of every big ticket sales organization. "People do come in and get excited, so we make sure its a pleasurable experience. It’s not high pressure, we don’t do gimmicks, we just have great quality vehicles at a fair price," said Brad. The pair sees 5-600 visitors over the weekend Brad said. Sales of classics got a lot easier when smog laws changed recently.
Now cars built in 1973 or earlier are exempt from inspections. That souped-up ‘67 Camaro with a huge carburetor sticking through the hood is completely legal now. Before the change, cars that couldn’t be smogged were sold out of state. The Kassabians still have out-of-state business, but it’s through their web site, which gets 2500 visitors a week, and allows for sales all over the country, Brad said. "Some people purchase a car without ever driving it because they know how much fun its gonna be," he added.
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