Lakewood Lore

Life has its new priorities for well-known auto dealer

Whatever happened to longtime Lakewood auto dealer A.D. Pelunis, who sold cars here for 29 years during the rosy era of domestic makes?

We found him in a small Shaker Heights office festooned with award plaques and other memorabilia. Though he’ll be 80 this summer, A.D. is still the same genial, warm-smiling, trim-moustached, impeccably dressed businessman that he always was.

“I didn’t retire,” he said. “I just changed my priorities.”

After selling his Lakewood Oldsmobile dealership at 13123 Detroit Ave. to Tom Ganley in 1979, A.D. concentrated on other investments. Today his major interest is a deep discount business -- Drug Emporium Inc., which operates 223 stores in 34 states. He is a member of its board of directors.

In a literal sense, however, A.D. remains near his first love -- the auto business. His office adjoins the showroom floor of one of Ganley’s 10 dealerships -- a Nissan agency at 16005 Chagrin Blvd.

In Lakewood he gained an enviable reputation for honesty and fairness, and was known also for his generosity in helping our community’s hospital, churches and charitable organizations.

“Through 30 years of advertising, I tried to live up to my slogan: ‘A.D. Stands for Always Dependable,'” he said. Actually, the first initial is for Abraham and the second for David.

Every day upon coming to work, A.D. made a point of walking through all areas of his dealership to greet each of his employees with a “good morning.” When asked how many people, he had working for him, he would answer, “I hope none -- my employees work with me, not for me.”

Suffice to say, he had very little turnover in his staff. His car buyers also stuck with him. He was able to boast a 76-percent customer loyalty during his Lakewood days.

A.D. was born on July 26, 1912, at East 37th and Woodland, the son of a cabinetmaker. When he was a teenager, his parents died, leaving a family of five children, for which A.D. became the sole breadwinner.

After attending John Adams High School, he started in the auto business in 1928, at age 16, as an office boy for Blaushild Motors at E.121st and Kinsman. The business was being run by Lester Blaushild as a Hudson and Essex dealership, but was to switch shortly to a Chrysler-Plymouth franchise.

Within two years, A.D. was promoted to service manager, a job that enabled him to keep the family together just as the nation entered the depths of the Great Depression.

In 1935 he was assigned a Collinwood branch office to manage for Blaushild, and three years later acquired this branch as a dealership of his own for $3,000 in borrowed money.

It was a Chrysler-Plymouth agency he called Arrow Auto Sales. But the timing was bad, and the depression hit him unmercifully hard.

“I owed everybody up and down the street,” A.D. remembered.

“In 1939 I had to close it and return to Blaushild’s as a salesman. There my luck changed and I was able to pay back all the money I owed.”

In 1942, to help out in the World War II effort, he became part-owner of a machine shop. At the end of the war, he returned to automobiles, opening Chrysler-Plymouth dealerships, first in Lima, Ohio, and then in Lockport, N.Y.

Within a few years, A.D. sold those, and in 1950 came to Lakewood, having obtained a DeSoto-Plymouth franchise at Detroit and Grace avenues. The franchise lasted seven years, during which time he received the manufacturer’s Quality Award presented to only 19 dealers out of 3,000 nationwide.

A.D. changed to Oldsmobile in 1958 by buying out Hanks Motors of Lakewood, and he continued at his Detroit Avenue location with the new line. In the ensuing years, he bought and sold several other dealerships before finally selling out his Olds franchise here and leaving Lakewood.

A.D. continues his philanthropic interests here as honorary trustee of the Lakewood Kiwanis Scholarship Foundation. His latest citation is a Legion of Honor Award for having chalked up 25 years as a local Kiwanian.

This year, A.D. and his wife, the former Rose Blaushild, daughter of Les, will celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary. They have three daughters, eight grandchildren and live in Shaker Heights.

A.D. denies any plans to move to the Sun Belt.

“I measure wealth by the number of friends I have,” he said.

Instead of a lot of money, I made friends. I’d much rather stay here with them than follow the sun.”

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post April 2, 1992. Reprinted with permission.

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