A lifetime in cars

His license plate reads “Car Guy” and that pretty much describes Frank Alderton, who is retiring after a lifetime in the car business.

Frank grew up in a family whose father was a General Motors executive and his mother was the daughter of a legendary local GM dealer. So it seems only natural that motor oil flows through his veins in a 45-year career in cars.

Frank’s father Rod was an executive with General Motors in Los Angeles and his mother Jan was the daughter of Storm Lake Oldsmobile-Pontiac-Cadillac dealer Carl Peterson. The Aldertons, including Frank and his siblings, moved to Storm Lake in 1968 and Rod went to work in his father-in-law’s growing business here.

Frank, who graduated from Storm Lake High School in 1977, entered the car business in 1978 when his father assigned him to a part-time job cleaning up cars at Peterson Motors, then located on West Milwaukee Avenue. He got bit by the car bug and worked in sales at Peterson Motors from 1978-86.

After a while, “I wanted to see how the big dealers worked,” Frank said, and took a job with a dealer in Missouri Valley that had a big presence in the Omaha-Council Bluffs market. He rose to become sales manager.

Frank returned to Storm Lake to rejoin his uncle Rick Peterson at Peterson Motors as service manager. He was the fourth generation of the Peterson family to be associated with the business.

When Peterson Motors was sold to cross-town rival Fitzpatrick Auto in 1993, Frank struck out on his own and opened Wheels and Deals, a used car business on North Lake Avenue.

After seven years on his own, Frank joined former rival Tom Fitzpatrick in sales at Fitzpatrick Auto Center, which had become the area’s only full-line General Motors dealer. Frank stayed with the business when Fitzpatrick Auto was sold to Edwards in 2015.

Six years ago Frank went to work part-time for Holzhauer Motors in Cherokee. When Holzhauer bought the Ford dealership in Storm Lake three and a half years ago, Frank was named general manager. He ran the business until the end of this May when, at age 64, he stepped aside for new manager Tom Letsche.

The car business has changed dramatically during Frank’s five decades in the business, transitioning from relatively simple gasoline-powered engines to complex computer controlled systems that are guided by satellite technology. Now the whole system is in upheaval with the advent of electric vehicles, and Frank has been in the forefront of the learning curve there.

He’s learned a lot. In his career Frank has sold new cars for all of the Big 3 Detroit automakers: GM, Ford and Chrysler.

Besides cars, Frank is mostly interested in golf and travel. He and his wife Nancy, who retires at the end of November, plan to use their time and travel trailer to get around more. They have also been involved with volunteer work at Lakeside Presbyterian Church, which is next door to their home.

What kept Frank in the car business so long? “I enjoy people,” he replies. And people enjoy Frank.

John Cullen is the founder and retired publisher of The Storm Lake Times. He can be reached at news@stormlake.com.