Biography Bob McDorman
Biography
Bob McDorman, a Chevrolet dealer known for his Corvette collection and his longevity in a tough business, died on Wednesday morning after a short illness. He was 82.
“Today, we lost a legend, a true class act,” said a message posted on the Facebook page of Jeff Wyler Chevrolet, the Canal Winchester dealership that was Bob McDorman Chevrolet until 2011. “His legacy will forever live on in the multitudes of those that he touched. Rest in peace in that huge car lot in the sky.”
McDorman is being remembered for his passion for cars. When a car was a strong seller, he liked to say it was “hotter than a firecracker,” and he found ways to be excited about Chevrolet through decades of ups and downs.
He had been a Chevrolet franchise owner from 1965 until 2011. He sold a majority stake in his dealership to Wyler, but remained a regular presence in the office.
Selling cars “was his life,” said Tim Doran, president of the Ohio Automobile Dealers Association. “He didn’t golf. He didn’t play tennis.”
Last year, he opened the Bob McDorman Automotive Museum in Canal Winchester, which houses much of his car collection.
“The door was always open,” said Wayne Swisher, 68, who works at the museum and started at the dealership in the mid-1980s. “If you had a problem, you could go right in and talk to him and he would straighten it out.”
McDorman was a collector of classic Chevrolets, with a special fondness for the Corvette.
“He was a great guy, ran a great business,” said George Byers III, president of Byers Auto Group, a company whose Chevrolet store was a longtime competitor of McDorman’s.
McDorman “always was customer oriented in a way that many dealers today are not always customer oriented.”
In a 2010 interview, just before an auction of many of the cars he had collected, McDorman spoke about his enthusiasm for Chevrolet and his vehicles.
“You know, in life, you can fake enthusiasm and you can fake your attitude. But you cannot fake your passion, and I got the passion,” he said.
He is survived by his wife, Alice, two children and grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Dwayne R. Spence Funeral Home in Canal Winchester.
Join Year: 1975
Deceased Date: 06-03-2015