Northeast’s Ulrich Motors used-car lot closes shop

After 75 years at the same Central Avenue address, the Ulrich Motor Company has sold its last used car.

The business, which was family-owned for its entire history, closed its space in the 2600 block of Central Avenue NE on August 1, leaving an empty lot with two wooden shacks where car sales took place at an average rate of four per day over the seven-plus decade span.

Art Ulrich and a partner had a car radiator company on Central Avenue in 1948, and Ulrich decided to go into the used-car business with another partner, but they didn’t get along. They literally rolled dice to decide how to move forward.

Ulrich came up the winner, and in 1950, the dealership at the corner of 27th and Central Avenue was his. Ulrich owned and managed the company until his death in 1994, at which time his son Bill became the owner. Bill had been running a separate operation on the corner lot, where he learned to run a business and buy and sell his own cars.

In 1988, Columbia Heights native Joe Patel joined the company. At the time, the company was selling 80 cars a month. He said, “After I got there, we started selling 125 cars a month. Art didn’t want to be a buyer, and (he) told me I would be the buyer, which happened to be my favorite part. I still would love to do it right now, but Art always told me that people who buy these old cars — and they were old, you know; we were selling the old repairables — you had to be a mechanic. And back then, there were a lot of mechanics around.”

Asked whether used car sales were seasonal, Patel has a theory. “Thirty years ago, people filed their tax returns right after the first of the year and used their refunds to buy cars in January and February. The cars we were selling were very inexpensive cars, back then. The average car sold for $1800, so people would get their tax refund money, and the first thing they wanted was to buy one. Then President Obama realized that he could delay everybody’s tax refunds which would leave more money in the government’s pocket, because the interest on those billions of dollars was significant, so he delayed refunds until the end of January, and pretty soon it was in late February, and we had to adapt to that market timetable.”

Patel said he would then have to buy as many as 200 cars near the end of February and have them in dealerships and parking lots. He made deals with car auctions, buying cars starting in December. “It was a crazy time,” he said. Patel added that his degree at the University of Minnesota started out in electrical engineering; he called himself “a numbers person.” He researched the company sales history for 1997 to 2017 and found that an average of 125 cars were sold per month for that 20-year period. “Our best day was March, 1991, when we sold 185 cars.” In July of this year, Ulrich’s last month of operation, car sales went right down to the wire: “In the last 10 days, we had 30 cars left.” (This included some cars he called ‘mechanically challenged.). Usually, you want a full lot so people have more choices. Still, we sold our last car on our last day of business.”

After Bill’s death in 2024, his widow Carol became president of the company. Patel said he’d known Carol for 45 years and noted that she did not express interest in continuing the company. Patel’s daughter, who worked with him, also decided she didn’t want to take over the business, which had been part of the plan. It was around that time that Patel’s health problems became a factor, and the end of the business, as a retail concern, was near.

Patel reminisced about his years with Ulrich: “We had many great times together over all these years, and we’d go, four times a year, to Arizona, where we’d have business meetings, but they were really hiking, golfing and drinking. At that point, I also found myself working 50 hours a week again, and doing all the work while having coronary artery disease.”

He said he’s changed his diet and spends more time running and exercising, and that retiring as he approaches 67 years old will give him and his wife time for travelling. About the used car business, Patel quoted Art Ulrich: “You’re not going to make everybody happy, but you try to be more than fair. Not just fair, but more than fair. If they have a really legitimate beef, just take care of them. You don’t give away the store, but just take care of them, even though you don’t have to.”

Patel added that Ulrich Motors, as a business, has not officially ended. If a new buyer were to take over the franchise and the name, it would continue, but just not in the Ulrich family.