The Legacy of “Mr. Nobody”
Former Toyota dealer John Crump recalls his 40-plus years in the car business.
Words by Terrell Manasco | Images by Ryan McGill
They called him “Mr. Nobody.”
That was not a personal criticism of John Crump, owner of a local automobile dealership; it was statement that he truly wanted to help his customers, that he was willing to go the extra mile when no one else would. And it made him a very successful businessman.
Dressed in a white polo and jeans with a thick, unlit stogie clamped in his teeth, John Crump sits at his office desk inside the former Temple Emanu-El on 5th Avenue in downtown Jasper. The familiar face that adorned TV screens and billboards in the 1970s and 80s looks much the same, plus a few years, and the well-groomed hair is now gray. Plucking the cigar from his mouth, John relates his story in the casual, Southern-boy tenor of a man eternally grateful for the cards life gave him, yet surprised to have won the pot.
Born in 1946, John seemed destined for the car business from the get-go. His father, Hollis, owned a used lot downtown called Hollis Crump Motors and several uncles were also in the business. As a boy, John would clean up cars and do odd jobs. When he was 12, he sold his first car (he doesn’t remember the make/model), and from that moment on, the die was cast.
In 1963, John’s father passed away, leaving John and his mother, Elizabeth, to run the business. When John graduated from Walker High in 1964, he decided to forego college. Instead, the car lot, now renamed E&J Motors, became his university with his uncles as his professors, guiding and teaching him the inner workings of the business.
Soon after John and his mother took over the business, located in a service station on Birmingham Avenue, he began buying out his mother’s share. Within five years, he was the sole owner. At times, he struggled with a decision, but fortunately his uncles could advise him.
“It was a little scary at first,” John admits. “Sometimes I had to call and ask them what to do because I had no clue.”
The year 1972 was the year that changed everything. John decided to open a Toyota dealership and business took off—which he attributes to a fluke.
“A Subaru rep came by and wanted to know if I’d be interested in being a Subaru dealer in Jasper,” he recalls. “I told them no, if I was going to be an import dealer, it would be Toyota. The rep said, ‘You'll never get Toyota in Jasper. Six months later, I was a dealer.”
Inexperience wasn’t the only hurdle John had to overcome. It soon became clear that the increase in business demanded a larger staff.
“I didn't know how to read a financial statement,” John says. “When they delivered the parts for Toyota, I didn’t have a service or parts manager at that time. I had one salesman and one mechanic. I hired Frank Smith to be my service manager.”
The contract with Toyota stipulated that John would build a new facility. In 1973, the business moved into a newly constructed building on Viking Drive which is now the current location of Hometown Auto Sales.
The 1970s fuel shortage, while inconvenient for drivers, helped boost sales, since new Toyotas were more fuel-efficient. The problem was keeping up with the demand for Toyotas. “You could sell more than you could get,” John recalls. “We'd pre-sell them and they'd be sold when they came in.”
One well-known local ad campaign at that time featured the words, “Mr. Nobody” beneath a silhouette of John Crump wearing a tie. The concept, he explains, was a collaboration with the local newspaper.
“It said, ‘Car dealers have been saying, nobody but nobody will beat their deal. You'll find Mr. Nobody at John Crump Motors,’” he says. “I still get called that occasionally.”
Eventually, Mr. Nobody faded away and was replaced with “We'll do whatever it takes.” That slogan became so successful that his son, Scott, kept it when he purchased his dad’s business and renamed it Scott Crump Toyota.
In 1988, John’s business expanded its product line with the addition of Mazda, and later, GMC Trucks. Hummer was added in the 1990s, making John Crump Toyota the sole dealer in the state of Alabama.
In a small town with no shortage of car lots, one might expect the competition to be fierce, but John says Jasper is unique. “All the car dealers get along. We're all competitive but we are still friends,” he says. “All the dealers take care of their customers.”
It wasn’t that long ago that John’s uncles were teaching him the ropes. Now, John is the advisor to his two sons from a previous marriage, Randy and Scott. As mentioned earlier, Scott owns the Toyota dealership his father opened in 1972.* Randy owns a used car lot, Friendly Auto Sales.
John retired from the car business in 2005, capping a career that spanned over 40 years. He points out that his success didn’t come without a lot of help. “I had a lot of good employees. Some went on to open their own car lots,” he says. “My mother came back to work with me in ’73. They called her ‘Granny Elizabeth.’ She sold a lot of cars…she taught me a lot.”
Since retiring, John spends his time dealing in commercial real estate. He is aided by his wife of 26 years, Lisa, whom he refers to as “my left hand and right hand.” He particularly enjoys buying and restoring old buildings, like this temple, built in 1922, that he has converted into his office. Noting the vintage photos and memorabilia on the walls, he explains, “I try to keep the history alive.”
As he reflects on the success he has enjoyed in his life, John returns time and again to a certain train of thought—that he is simply a Walker County boy who got lucky.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes over the years… and I remember most of them,” he says with a faint grin. “I've been very fortunate.”
For someone starting out in the business, he offers four nuggets of wisdom gleaned from experience:
1. Take care of your people.
2. Be honest with your customers.
3. Never forget where you came from.
4. Try to treat people fair and know where you're going.
It worked for “Mr. Nobody.” 78
*Note: The Scott Crump Toyota dealership has since been acquired by the Bill Penney franchise.
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