Mr. Wood's background in the automotive industry started while he was
attending Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. He was a new car salesperson
for a Mercury-Edsel dealer. After college he continued to sell full time until
he had the opportunity to buy a small Hillman Sunbeam dealership in Kalamazoo.
Within two years the manufacturer went out of business and Mr. Wood was forced
to change his operation into a wholesale-retail used car lot with a complete
body shop making up the major part of the total volume. He continued that
operation until moving to Indianapolis in 1967 and purchasing Hedges Pontiac,
which was located at 3125 E. Washington Street.
Since that initial
franchise acquisition, Tom Wood, Inc. has grown to seventeen franchises and a
full scale leasing operation, out of several roof-top locations in four cities -
Indianapolis and Anderson in Indiana, Lexington, Kentucky
and Richfield,
Minnesota.
The current franchises include: Toyota/Scion, Nissan,
Volkswagen, Subaru, Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover, Porsche, Audi, Ford, Lexus and
Honda. In addition to these franchises, there is a Quality Leasing, and Premier
Acceptance.
Although
Mr. Wood lost a long, hard fought battle with cancer in February of
2010, his inspiring legacy in the Indianapolis community will long be
remembered. Mr. Wood's philosophy is "Success is not measured by the
number of franchises or locations an organization has; it is measured
by the people associated with it." All of the employees of Tom Wood
Automotive strive every day to live up to Mr. Wood's philosophy by
making every customer a loyal and satisfied customer for life.