Ford Motor Company awards Dutro’s for 50 years in Zanesville

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – An automotive dealership in Zanesville was recognized on Wednesday for 50 years of business with the Ford Motor Company.

In 1976, Clay Graham’s father bought the dealership from family friend, Gene Dutro, after a garage fire. Now Graham is the CEO and co-owns the dealership with his brother, Bryan. Over the past 50 years, the dealership has grown and for Graham, a major highlight over those 50 years is the new showroom they built.

“The project started within a year after our father’s death in 2010. It took five years to buy a collective 20 parcels downtown here,” Graham said. “And then we started the new service center on the other side where you see it now and that was 2015 to 2016 and started this showroom here in from 2016 and it was finished in 2017.”

Dutro’s was presented an award honoring 50 years of service by Greg Ruminski, the regional sales manager for the Ford Motor Company in the Cincinnati region.

“50 years is an amazing accomplishment, especially in today’s world where things change so quickly and so rapidly. To have one family involved with the Ford brand in Zanesville and the community for that long is certainly special. And it’s an honor to be here to recognize the Graham family for that,” Ruminski said. “I get to do something like this maybe once a year sometimes not even. We’ll have a lot of 25 year anniversaries, we’ll have a 50 now and then and we’ve had one 100. But 50 is usually pretty special and it is very special and that’s why we wanted to be here today.”

Graham says that of all the partnerships with car franchises, he’s probably the proudest of the relationship with the Ford Motor Company. Dutro’s also has a Ford dealership in Mansfield, Ohio.