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Lewis Webb ('52)

From rags to riches - Lewis Webb, owner of Webb Automotive Group

This article appeared in Ward's Dealer Business, Oct., 1996.

Twenty-one-year-old Lew Webb arrived in Long Beach, California in 1954 with a young wife, $35 and no job. Today, he is the nation's biggest Lexus leader.

If Lew Webb, not John Steinbeck, had been the author of the classic American novel The Grapes Of Wrath, the fictional Joad family would not only have arrived safely in California from depression-ravaged Oklahoma, they would also have become rich. This is because writers tend to reflect their own experience in their fictive inventions, and Lew Webb's life story is a case history of how hard work, positive thinking and integrity in one's business dealings can deliver more than mere financial rewards. In addition to providing a textbook example of dealership management expertise, Webb has, by his own admission, led an almost Horatio Alger life of rags-to-riches success. There's the story of his marriage to Margaret, his childhood sweetheart and next-door neighbor; then there's the story of his airplane, the realization of a childhood dream; and his ranch in Colorado.

Lewis Webb is what many would call a healthy a mix of pride and humility; he is pleased with the many things he has accomplished and yet is always ready to thank God for the good fortune he has enjoyed. Despite owning eight prosperous dealerships (three Toyota, and single sites for Ford, Buick, Nissan, Volvo and Lexus) in Southern California, he has never forgotten the struggles of growing up poor. He was the youngest of nine children; his father died when Lew was only three. After marrying his childhood sweetheart, Margaret, and leaving their native West Virginia for California in the early 1950s, Webb set about making a new life for himself and his bride. Lew's first job in his adopted state was selling cars for a Lincoln-Mercury dealership in San Pedro, an ironic occupation for a boy whose family was too poor even to own a car.

"I got bitten by the car bug during that time," says Webb "And even after I left it to do other things, I always wanted to get back into retail automotive because I wanted to do it right, with integrity and decency. Back in those days, people would lie and cheat and do anything to sell you a car. I hated that because I'm a Christian. I wanted to see if selling cars couldn't be done in an honest, forthright way. I know now, based on my own experience, that it can.

For two years, Lew sold cars, but when the automobile retailing business suffered a slow-down in 1956, he went to work for Texaco, first as a field representative and later as a service-station site developer. When he found a gas station location that appealed to him, he leased it himself.

Lew's wife Margaret has always been a partner in his business ventures. When they decided to open their Texaco station in 1960, they produced a promotional card that was designed to appeal directly to the neighborhood of new homeowners and their freshly planted lawns: the wheels on the drawing of Lew's tow truck were garden hose washers that his prospective customers could use when they needed to. Margaret distributed the cards announcing the station's opening date on foot to 6,500 homes in the area.

"It worked," says Lew. "The day we opened, they had to send the police out to direct traffic at our place."

Sixteen years later, Lew Webb was presented with the long dreamt-of opportunity to open his own automobile dealership. With an already well-established track record in providing the public with auto-related services, Webb quickly became a successful car dealer, opening store after store during the boom years of the 1980s. This year, Webb's automotive mini-empire, which employs 850 people and holds the No. 467 spot on the Forbes 500 list of top privately-owned U.S. businesses, should see revenues reach the $500 million mark. The Webb Automotive Group ranked No. 30 on the 1995 Ward's Dealer Business Top 100 Megadealer list. Webb's Lexus of Cerritos ranked No. 1 among Lexus dealerships on the 1996 Ward's Dealer Business 500, No. 185 overall. Webb's Toyota of Cerritos ranked second among Toyota stores on the list, No. 25 overall.

Webb's management secret is simple: spend less than you take in. "We were always building cash," says Webb. "A lot of dealers, when they take in $10,000, they'll spend $12,000. If I take in six, I probably spent two."

Another secret, he says, is "take the idea of customer satisfaction seriously, don't just pay lip service to it."

An active member of his community, Webb has served as a fund raiser for a number of organizations, ranging from the American Cancer Society, the Boy Scouts and the local YMCA to the Casa Youth Shelter and the Orange County High School of the Arts. In 1987 he received Cypress College Foundation's Citizen of the Year Award.

Success has its rewards, and one of the most fulfilling for Lew Webb has been owning his own airplane, an eight-passenger Cessna Conquest 425 propjet.

"All my life I've wanted to fly," says Webb "When there's a plane going overhead, I just have to stop whatever I'm doing and watch it. I can't tell you how many times my wife has had to yank my arm or nudge me or something. She's always saying, 'One of these days you're going to walk into something and hurt yourself.'

"I started flying when I was 45. I always told myself that when I had a few dollars to spare, I'd take lessons and get myself a plane. And that's just what I did."

Capable of speeds up to 345 miles per hour, Lew's Cessna Conquest, his second plane, makes him look forward to his next Arc en Ciel race around the world, an event in which he took part in 1992 - and which he thinks he can win in his new plane. The Arc en Ciel (French for "Rainbow") race is a nonprofit, goodwill event, sponsored by former Air France pilot Bernard Lamy. Flyers from a number of countries circumnavigate the globe, starting in Geneva, Switzerland, and ending in Cannes, on the French Riviera.

Race may not be the most accurate term for the event, says Webb. "My actual flight time was a little over 80 hours, but the trip took 23 days. French people love to stop everywhere and party, so that's what we did."

The Webbs' main flight itinerary, however, runs between Los Cerritos and their ranch in Colorado. "The Conquest is our family station wagon."

Webb recognizes the many ways in which he has been blessed. "I was talking with my wife recently," he muses, "and I told her I'd decided exactly what I wanted inscribed on my tombstone. We agreed that we were both mature enough to be able to talk about something like that. So I told her I want it to say, 'He Lived the American Dream.'

"She agrees that I have."

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