Frank Morsani couldn't resist snatching up Lindell Mazda not long after selling three of his own lots.
By LOUIS HAU
Published June 5, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - Frank Morsani just can't seem to quit the car business.
Morsani, whose Precision Enterprises sold three of its four Tampa auto dealerships in 2000, completed the purchase Thursday of Lindell Mazda on Tyrone Boulevard. He declined to release financial terms of the deal. Morsani purchased the dealership from Carl Lindell Jr., another name that has been a fixture of the Tampa Bay area car market.
Add to that Precision Toyota in Tampa and minority stakes in two Kubota tractor dealerships in Plant City and Land O'Lakes, and the 73-year-old Morsani suddenly finds himself back in the game.
"You need something to do," Morsani said. "I've been in this business all my life, and I wasn't willing to get out of it completely."
Besides, he joked, the extra free time he had wasn't a big hit back home at the 800-acre cattle ranch in east Pasco County he shares with Carol, his wife of 53 years.
"She said she told me, for better, for worse, but not for lunch," he said.
By the end of the year, Morsani plans to pare back his 100 percent interest in the newly acquired Mazda dealership to 51 percent, with the remainder split between two longtime associates, Dave Fogel and Ron Scotson.
Fogel, 47, will serve as vice president and general manager of the Mazda dealership. Scotson, 44, is chief financial officer of Automotive Investments, as Precision Enterprises was renamed after the dealership sales in 2000.
Fogel said the new Mazda dealership will expand from 37 to 50 employees. "We see potential to grow this business," he said.
In keeping with Morsani's longtime practice, the location will not carry his name. Instead, it will be rechristened Tyrone Mazda. The name change won't appear for another month or two because, Morsani said, "you have to get signs, stationery; you don't get that done overnight."
Fogel will run the day-to-day operations of the Mazda dealership, keeping Morsani updated on daily sales totals.
"I've always viewed my job as an automatic pilot in a plane," Morsani said. "I only get involved when it goes off course."
Since buying his first auto dealership in 1970, Morsani has owned 22 in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Nevada.
Morsani is a longtime Tampa Bay area business leader, an early force in trying to bring major league baseball to the area and a major contributor to the arts scene.
But his overriding passion remains the car business. Standing in the air-conditioned showroom of his new acquisition, the new-car smell wafting in the background, Morsani tried to explain why.
"It's the only business where you have new products every year and people can feel them and touch them," he said. "If you have a row of TVs, you can't tell if they're a 1998, a 1999 or a 2000."
While Morsani said he has no immediate plans to buy more dealerships, he added that "if we find other opportunities we can take advantage of, we will do something."
- Louis Hau can be reached at 813 226-3404 or hau@sptimes.com
