A longtime Maryland Ford dealership left its longtime family fold to join a growing area automotive group.

Plaza Ford in fast-growing Bel Air, Md., between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., sold to Bob Bell Automotive Group.

The deal, brokered for co-owners Tom and Charlie Walls by Kerrigan Advisors, ended a Walls family association with the dealership that started in 1947 when their father, Ralph, joined the store as a bookkeeper.

The brothers decided to retire from the business, Kerrigan said.

Bob Bell Auto added the seventh store to its multibrand stable with the purchase. It already operated one other Ford store, along with one each for the Hyundia, Kia and Nissan brands and two Chevrolet dealerships.

The group renamed the Bel Air store Bob Bell Ford of Bel Air. The dealershiphas been in business since 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression. After Ralph Walls joined following World War II, he rose to general manager in 1959 and three years later bought out the owner. He was named Maryland’s Time Dealer of the Year in 1992.

The store now sits on nearly 25 acres on major auto retail corridor Bel Air Road.

“Our family is proud of the legacy our team has built at Plaza Ford, and we are excited about the growth opportunities this transition creates for our employees,” said Tom Walls of the sale. “Joining a multi-franchise group like Bob Bell Automotive Group opens meaningful new doors for the people who have been at the heart of this dealership for decades.”

The Ford store is poised to reap good business, more than a third of residents in its home county of Hartford with above-average household incomes and projected county population growth of 11% by 2045, Kerrigan said. It competes with just one other Ford franchise in the county.

“Today’s growing dealers are moving from playing checkers to chess – making precise, market-driven acquisitions that expand their local dominance, optimize their franchise portfolios and position their groups for long-term success with added geographic scale,” said the sell-side firm’s founder and Managing Director Erin Kerrigan.

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