Honda Franchise Family Plays and Stays Together
INDIANAPOLIS — Along a road sits a simple Honda dealer storefront in a plain part of town. All looks unassuming except for its sign, “Oldest Honda Dealer in the USA.” Among the nearly 1,200 Honda motorbike dealerships found on the highways and byways of this nation, this is the one that is home to Honda’s oldest. The franchise is on the National Highway, a historic road authorized in 1806 by President Thomas Jefferson and Congress to serve as one of the first federally funded highways. It was later extended and passed through Indianapolis by 1840.
The Dreyer Honda dealership is actually store number nine for Honda. The Indianapolis-based store remains open after eight others that came before it gradually passed away, outlived by an upstart that found the magic formula for transmitting a business from generation to generation.
In 1956 Floyd Dreyer, Sr., patriarch of the franchise clan, formed a Honda dealership with his son, Floyd Dreyer, Jr. It was the culmination of decades of involvement with motor racing and motorcycles. His first ride was on a Pope motorcycle in 1912. “Pop” Dreyer would eventually hold the record for the mile dirt track and be inducted into both Knoxville, Iowa’s National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Sun Prairie, Wisconsin’s National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame.
Fifty-four years from its founding, the Dreyers' little showroom of bikes has grown to take up an entire block. Pop is long gone and his descendants have spun off other dealerships. Pop’s grandson, Mike Dreyer, now runs the Honda franchise. Mike's brother runs the Yamaha dealership next door. And the next generation is working its way up: Mike’s daughter works in the business.
The Dreyer family history is strongly connected to the community. In three weeks, its annual Floyd “Pop” Dreyer Memorial Ride will kick off. Hundreds of bikers will ride through the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Moto GP track.
What is the secret to the business’ longevity?
Honda Motor Company’s press manager Bill Savino says that he thinks what helped the Dreyers survive when others wimped out over time was that the whole family had so much fun around bikes. “These guys are true motorcycle enthusiasts,” he says. “If you look at their location, it is a museum in itself.”
Scattered between the maze of rows and rooms of bikes in the block-long complex are small museum sections and historical pieces. In one office hangs a photo of Floyd, Sr. meeting Mr. Honda when he wanted to start a franchise. In another section is a museum display of midget race cars that Floyd, Sr. built.
Savino continues, “It is a cool place to hang out. Nowadays there are just very few places that ooze enthusiasm like Dreyer Honda.”
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“Motorcycles are a fun business,” reiterates owner-operator Mike Dreyer. “It’s not like pushing pencil sharpeners. In this business we get to meet many people from different walks of life.”
Mike says that motorcycles allow him to have a blast with the grandkids when they come over. “I have a four-wheeler and a dirt bike, so when the grandkids come visit, we go biking,” says Dreyer. “I guess most of us got introduced to the sport and to the business that way.”
Dreyer advises franchise owners to be open to ideas from new generations of family growing up in the business. “As long as it is not too outlandishly expensive and we can see the benefits, we try it,” Dreyer declares. He describes how his daughter recently launched a Facebook page to market their motorcycle business and network with bike enthusiasts. Mike Dreyer was clueless on the new social media phenomenon and even the Internet. But his daughter had a passion for it.
“If you say no and discourage family, they’ll want to go somewhere else,” he observes.
The group of dealerships now has a Facebook page.
The franchisee speaks about how tough things were during President Jimmy Carter’s administration. Inflation was rampant and consumers were reluctant to buy. “Loans were in double digits,” observes Mike. “I remember my dad said to my grandfather one day, ‘They just raised the price of the motorcycle to over a thousand dollars. We’re done.’ “
Dreyer says fortunately consumers started to buy bikes above a thousand dollars. The business survived.
“This business is truly our family heirloom,” says Mike.
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