Nordstrom’s Celebrated 50 Years!

Shannon Nordstrom of Nordstrom’s Automotive says it’s hard to put a finger on the actual start date for the business, though the closest he can figure is approximately September of 1969, the year he was born. This was the year the “Nordstrom’s Special” debuted, a 1951 Ford 8N tractor with a V8 hot rod Ford car engine.

“[Art and Marie Nordstrom] have been out tinkering on the farm since ’69,” said Nordstrom. “They started fixing grain trucks and Ford trucks for neighbors, then started buying wrecks and telling the neighbors where they could be fixed.” After the success of selling those wrecks in a magazine in the 1980’s, he says, it just grew from there.

Nordstrom’s Automotive celebrated its 50^th Anniversary last Friday, September 27, with a customer appreciation event that included a meal, commemorative gifts, and tours of the facility that was opened last September. There was a large turnout that enjoyed the meal catered by Tony’s Catering, and several people joined the tours or walked around the facility on their own, reading posted signs that showed points of interest.

Nordstrom says that the relationships they build with their customers is everything, and that the goal of the business is to ensure that they’re around for a long time, able to provide high-quality parts that also help the environment by increasing recycling. And with the new, larger facility and a podcast (Under the Hood) that is growing rapidly, it looks like that goal is more than attainable.