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Former car dealer Mike Martino sold 7 acres of land on Bel Air Road in Fallston to Jones Junction, which already leases a portion of it as a Kia dealership, according to a news release. Was. The parcel includes a Jones Kia dealership and a Royal Farms convenience store, gas station and car wash.
“There’s no substitute for local ownership,” Martino said in a statement. “That’s why I’m excited to sell my land to a family-owned company, owned by friends and fellow car dealers.”
The sale ends Mr. Martino’s 45-year career selling automobiles in the Bel Air metropolitan area, which began in 1978 and began in 1981 with 60 multiple dealerships. This included joining and serving as president of the Bel Air New Car Dealers Association, which sold parking lots. 2014.
“It was a great run,” Martino, 73, said in a statement. “While I am sad to see it end, I am proud of what I have accomplished, what my friends at Jones Junction have accomplished, and especially what all of us local dealers have accomplished together as the Bel Air New Car Dealers Association. Masu.”
According to the release, Bel Air New Car Dealership was founded by Don Kilby and Vernon Jones, owners of what were then known as Jones GMC, Chrysler, Plymouth, Toyota, Datsun and Subaru.
“The idea behind it was to convince Harford County residents to buy their cars here instead of in Dundalk, Towson or Cockeysville,” Jones’ son Danny said in a statement. “My father saw a consortium of car dealers known as the Airport Motor Mile in Alcoa, Tenn., outside of Knoxville. He and Don Kilby saw what that group did in Tennessee. I realized I could do it in Bel Air too.
“It was a great idea,” Danny Jones said. “With the help of Bob Callahan, we started holding joint sales at Harford Mall, which was new at the time. I think the first sale was in 1981, and in 1987 we started holding a joint sale called the Bel Air New Car Dealer Sale. It has become an annual event.”
In 1978, Martino took over the Village Volvo Fiat dealership. “Volvo only sold 36 cars a year, so I thought Fiat would be a big hit,” Martino said. “Volvos proved to be a big hit for me. By the end of the 1990s, our company was selling more than 700 Volvos a year and he was ranked the 25th largest Volvo dealer in the United States. became.”
In 1980, he purchased the local Dodge franchise in Bel Air and built a building where Jones-Kia is now located. The Dodge dealership has changed hands several times, but Martino has retained ownership of the land and buildings, the release states.
“It was Lee Iacocca at Chrysler who taught me how to make car sales fun,” Martino said.
In 1999, Martino sold his Volvo dealership to a national dealership chain and opened the Mike Martino American Auto Center in Fallston. It became a Kia dealership and was later sold to Thompson Automotive and then Jones Junction.
The Bel Air New Car Dealer Sale eventually transitioned to the Bel Air Festival in 1993, and the association held its final sale on Labor Day weekend in 2014, but the rise in internet car sales and bankruptcies led to the It was destined to disappear,” Martino said. Instability of ownership in the automotive industry.
“I would like to say ‘thank you’ to the entire Bel Air and Harford County community for all the support and business you have given me and my family over the years,” Martino said.
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