When Alan Mullaly was a car salesman

Not long after taking over as Ford Motor Co. CEO in 2006, Alan Mulally was meeting with dealers in Las Vegas when someone suggested he visit Galpin Ford in Van Nuys, Calif., if he wanted to find out how the business really worked.

Bert Boeckmann was only too happy to oblige and remembers the visit fondly.

"That was a lot of fun," Boeckmann said. "He contacted me and came out here. He was supposed to meet me at 8 a.m. I arrived at 7:30. He had arrived at 7. We had him sell a couple of cars so he could go through the experience, and we had him address our managers."

Mulally visited Galpin's Horseless Carriage restaurant and was photographed with a chef's hat on. Mulally famously kissed Boeckmann on the way out. Boeckmann says:

"We had a wonderful relationship with him."