From Tanks to Tenafly
My father, Peter Engel was a hardworking Jewish teenager living in Austria when World War II engulfed Europe. Fleeing from the Nazis, he had to escape Austria. After a hard walk across France at the age of 17, he was fortunate enough to find and join a Czech regiment under British Command. It was here that he gained his knowledge of fixing tanks and other vehicles, which he would apply to his career after the war ended. His training was intensive.
After the war, his unit unfortunately de-mobilized in Prague. The Russians swept into the city, and he wasn’t allowed to leave. Only when my father convinced the Russian Commanding Officer that it was absolutely necessary to take a technical course in London was he allowed to leave. My grandmother had “enrolled him”. The fee for enrollment: 1000 American cigarettes that my grandmother gave to the professor!
After the war, he came to America to seek opportunity, and to make a life for his family, free of the hardship that he faced in his youth. In America, he knew that he would have a fair shot at making it just like everyone else. This was and still is the American dream.
My father worked as an auto technician in New York City for many years. At my mother’s and grandmother’s urging, he finally opened a small 2 car repair shop in Tenafly, NJ in 1960 where he began servicing foreign and domestic cars. It was my father’s vision that his business would become a family business and would earn his customer’s respect and achieve a good reputation. As kids, my brother and I worked with him after school and during summer vacations. I came to love the business and it was not long before I joined my father full time in the business. It wasn’t easy, but I learned the business from the bottom up.
One day, while I was helping my father work on a car, a man who I thought was a customer walked in and asked for the boss. My father turned towards him, and they immediately recognized each other from their days in the British Tank Corp during the war. He said to my father: “you’re the little corporal who fixed all those tanks. Your name is Baby”. My father smiled and remembered him. The soldiers in his unit nicknamed him that because he was very young, and looked even younger. The man went on to say that he worked for Peugeot, and that he wanted my father to become a dealer. My father agreed, and they shook hands. I asked my father about a signed agreement. He replied, “We shook hands”. The Peugeot cars arrived a couple of weeks later! That was the day we made the transition from repair shop to dealer. The actual dealer agreement came a month later. Although my father wasn’t the least bit worried, I was. But my father viewed the handshake as more meaningful than the signed agreement.
My mother also escaped the Nazi’s as a teenager, and made it to England, where she welded Spitfire fighter planes in London. It was at a Welder’s dance that she met my father. My grandmother, who had also escaped to England during World War II, worked at a girl’s boarding school, and helped my father whenever she could. Her meager savings, along with my mother’s, enabled him to start his repair shop when they immigrated to the United States. When they started the business, my grandmother worked with my father running his office, and after his death, she worked with me until her retirement at age 96. I can still remember my mother canning food just in case we needed food in the event that the business wouldn’t succeed. Thank goodness I never had to eat that stuff.
My wife, Leesa, also came from a family who loved cars. Her father, Norman Solomon, was the controller for a large AMC/Jeep/Renault dealer in Hartford, Connecticut for many years. His passion for vehicles and the car business, along with his kindness towards his employees and customers, are responsible for making an impression on Leesa that “great people can make the difference”. That is where the slogan comes from. It was my father-in-law’s desire to please customers that made the difference for a lot of people. I can still see him tinkering with all the old models in his garage as his hobby. So many people who remember Norman for his genuine desire to help, and his sense of humor. One particularly funny story was the Norman walked into an empty movie theatre that had only one guy sitting in the seats. He walked up to that sitting guy and with a serious face said, “You’re sitting in my seat”.
When we took on the Kia franchise in 2010, my cousin Ricardo joined the company. His engineering background was a great fit, having the patience to handle details that only an engineer’s mindset is good. His parents emigrated from Germany during the war to Bogota, Colombia. Ricardo speaks English, Spanish, German and little bit of Romanian. Above all, he has a great sense of detail, and our customers are loyal because of the great service team he has put in place.
We have always felt that buying a vehicle should be an enjoyable and happy experience. Selling a vehicle to someone should be a long-term relationship. Throughout the years, most of our sales have come from happy customers who refer their friends and family. All of our customers know that we will be there for them long after the sale. As my father-in-law Norman used to say, “the customer is your best advertisement.”
We are proud of our heritage and proud of the services we provide. Whether you need a new Kia, or want to look at our large array of pre-owned vehicles, we want to welcome you to our new Kia dealership! We hope you become one of our customers for life!
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