Anybody who has seen a Scott Donahoo television commercial for his car dealership might think he is crazy.
At a minimum, they probably got a chuckle.
The Baltimore native uses a disarming, comical Southern twang when he speaks. He often plays characters such as a cowboy and a leprechaun and sometimes uses pets in commercials that are more comedy than advertising.
“I?m always topical,” Donahoo said as he sat behind the desk of his second-floor business office in a renovated house on Belair Road in Baltimore.
“I make fun of what?s going on.”
The casual observer may not know that Donahoo is proving himself a marketing genius. He built Foreign Motors, which he started in 1987, in part by putting credit-risky buyers into cars who, after their finances improved, became loyal customers.
Recently, he persuaded Ford Motor Co. to allow him to reopen a Belair Road dealership that the company wanted closed. It is Ford?s only dealership in Baltimore City, and company executives weren?t thrilled when they saw the middle-class community moving in around it.
“I enjoy 70 percent repeat business,” Donahoo said. He put his sales people on a salary instead of commission-based pay. And the economical Kia and Suzuki vehicle brands were perfect for credit-challenged buyers in the community.
Last week he celebrated the grand opening of his Ford dealership, which he moved to a new building at 4810 Belair Road, while he converted the previous location at 5665 Belair Road to a collision repair facility.
Donahoo?s collision repair facility has state-of-the-art equipment, top service people and is a certified estimator and direct repair facility for auto insurance companies including State Farm.
Divorced but “with a longtime girlfriend,” Donahoo has three sons ages 16, 18 and 20.
His son David Donahoo, 20, has already helped the business with marketing a line of China-made electric vehicles soon to go on sale.
Friends call Donahoo honorable.
“He is one of the best marketing people,” said Louis Grasmick, of Baltimore, a former professional baseball player and owner of Louis Grasmick Lumber.
“He is a fun-loving, honorable, decent person, and it just happens that he loves to play characters in commercials.”
L. Scott Donahoo
» First job: Paperboy
» Education: Baltimore Northern High School
» Best job perk: “People I meet.”
» Number of daily e-mails: 0
» Number of daily voice mails: 25
» Essential Web sites: Drudgereport.com, examiner.com
» Career objective: To help inner-city children
» Favorite gadget: “My Ford F-150 pickup truck.”
» Born in: Baltimore
» Birthday: Sept. 21, 1955
» Original aspiration: Play pro baseball
» Sport/hobbies: Fishing, boating
