Auto Dealership Group Purchases Landmark Daytona Harley-Davidson Dealership

The Florida-based Ed Morse Auto Group, a chain of 32 new-car dealerships, is expanding into motorcycle retail in a big, big way — specifically, with the blockbuster purchase of Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Harley-Davidson, a landmark Harley dealership, and a trendsetter in experience-based branding and retail sales, since the 1990s.

Besides selling roughly 1,000 Harleys annually, the motorcycle dealership also does a land-office business in Harley-branded clothes, merchandise, and jewelry, as well as parts and accessories.

The transaction also includes an adjacent commercial real estate development, Destination Daytona. All told, the purchase covers more than 100 acres of real estate, including a hotel, restaurants, and rental condos, in addition to the dealership.

Terms of the deal, between two privately held companies, are undisclosed. A separate location, Bruce Rossmeyer’s New Smryna (Fla.) Harley-Davidson, will be closed at the end of November, according to a press release.

“I love the brand. I love riding,” said the buyer, Teddy Morse, CEO of the Ed Morse Auto Group, Delray Beach, Fla. “I always fantasized about being a Harley dealer, but I thought it would never happen,” since the Morse group is so deeply involved in auto sales, he said in a phone interview.

The Morse group is named for the late founder, who was Teddy Morse’s grandfather. The Daytona Harley dealership is renamed Teddy Morse’s Daytona Harley-Davidson.

The Daytona operation is the Morse group’s second Harley acquisition. The group recently closed a deal for three Harley dealerships in Texas, all branded Cowboy Harley-Davidson; in Austin, Beaumont, and San Antonio.

Morse said his group became aware the Daytona dealership could be available, while they were still working on the acquisition in Texas. “We weren’t actively seeking out to purchase the Daytona property. But when an iconic property like this becomes available, it is not an opportunity to pass up,” he said.

The Daytona motorcycle dealership’s namesake was the late Bruce Rossmeyer, who died in 2009. Rossmeyer’s widow, Sandy Rossmeyer, took over the dealership after his death. Their five adult children, now all in their 50s, were minority shareholders before the buyout, and three of the siblings ran and will continue to run day-to-day operations.

“Bruce had a vision. It wasn’t just about selling the bike, it was about selling the myth,” said Brian Brown, president of DCG Acquisitions, the dealership M&A firm that facilitated the sale. DCG Acquisitions is part of the New York-based Dave Cantin Group.

“What Bruce meant by that idea wasn’t only to own a Harley, it was to be part of something bigger. He built an experience,” Brown said in a phone interview.

Rossmeyer family members in dealership management agreed to stay at the dealership as part of the deal, along with all of the current employees — “all those who want to stay,” said Teddy Morse, the new owner.

Shelly Rossmeyer Pepe, general manager of Daytona Harley and a daughter of the founders, said the timing of the sale was Sandy Rossmeyer’s decision.

“Our mother has been our president since our father’s passing in 2009. She decided, and I’m only quoting her, here, that she wanted to sell all of the business, as she’s going to be turning 80 next year, and she wanted to settle her affairs, and live the rest of her life, and she wanted us kids to do the same,” she said in a phone interview.

“Along with that, from a business perspective, you should sell when you’re on top. We feel like we’ve been on top for many years. We’re feeling really good about the Harley-Davidson brand, and the motorcycle business,” she said. “I feel like the timing was really perfect.”