Pioneering Calif. dealer Bert Boeckmann dies at 92

Bert Boeckmann loved his employees and led by example, never asking them to do anything he wasn't willing to do himself, his son said.

His example, and his legacy, will carry forward at Galpin Motors, the California dealership group where Boeckmann began his career 70 years ago, Beau Boeckmann said last week.

Bert Boeckmann, a pioneering California dealer who made customizing vehicles popular at his Galpin Motors group, died Friday, April 28. He was 92.

"He led by example by loving his employees and, of course, by loving his customers," said Beau Boeckmann, who became president and COO of Galpin in 2014. "To me, that's what makes Galpin Galpin, and it's a very special thing."

Bert Boeckmann joined Galpin Ford in 1953 as a salesman and worked his way up to ownership. He grew the group's Ford store into the brand's top-selling dealership by 1989, a distinction the store held for nearly three decades.

He was featured as a "legend of retail" in Automotive News in 2016, although Boeckmann downplayed the term.

"If I hear somebody use the word 'legend,' I tell them, 'I'm still breathing,'" Boeckmann said at the time.

Born Aug. 21, 1930, in South Gate, Calif., Boeckmann did not initially plan to become a car dealer. He attended the Reserve Officers' Training Corps in college and thought about serving as a military officer. He told Automotive News in 2013 that he joined Galpin Ford at the urging of a friend and wound up staying longer than his friend.

He was promoted to general manager in 1957. He recalled putting in long hours to improve the dealership's financial position.

"Even here, at first, a week didn't go by that I didn't think of quitting," he later told Automotive News. "In 1957, the store was losing money and it was out of trust. They made me manager and I insisted on doing things my way. I vowed to make it the most profitable Ford store in America, and we did. I worked every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m."

Boeckmann took ownership of Galpin Ford in 1968 and led the group as it added brands, including selling the first Saturn vehicle in the U.S. in 1990. He worked six days a week well into his 80s.

"My father started off having integrity and honesty in a business that really didn't, and he was more concerned about taking care of his customers than he was himself," Beau Boeckmann said last week. "He wasn't about one deal. He was about taking care of somebody."

Boeckmann initiated personalization and customization, dubbed "Galpinization" after the dealership group's founder, Frank Galpin. That led to the creation of the custom shop Galpin Auto Sports in 2006.

"If you really like people, and I genuinely do, you can keep the customers for generations," Boeckmann, who was named an Automotive News All-Star in 2005, said in 2009. "I've got them down to the fourth generation."

Galpin Motors ranks No. 63 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups in the U.S., selling 13,276 new vehicles and 6,779 used vehicles in 2022.

The group has 12 franchises, Beau Boeckmann said.

Boeckmann died two years to the day after his wife, Jane, his family said.

Beau Boeckmann said employees have shared stories with him about his father's impact on their lives, such as how his practices inspired others to pattern their own businesses after Galpin.

"The impact that Dad had on so many different people, in all walks of life, that was probably the most impactful for me," Beau Boeckmann said. "He made that impact on my life, but to hear that so many others were impacted in a same or similar manner was just wonderful."