Rydell Chevrolet was founded by Leonard Rydell (1913-2000), who started the car business in the 1940s in Montgomery, Minnesota. In 1954, at Chevrolet's request, he moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota to operate the Chevrolet dealership. Leonard had many strongly held business and personal philosophies that served him well. These philosophies, known as "Leonardism's", help guide our group through our daily business and personal decisions.
In 1976, Leonard sold the business to his son, Wes. Under Wes' direction, Rydell Chevrolet converted to the one price, no hassle, no haggle pricing policy that is followed today. In subsequent years, Rydell Chevrolet added Cadillac, Oldsmobile, GMC, Pontiac, and Buick franchises to their lineup in Grand Forks. In 2005, Rydell added the Saturn brand to our model lineup in Grand Forks. Over the years some industry brands have come and gone, and today our Grand Forks dealership sells and services new Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac models, in addition to a wide variety of used cars.
In 1980, Leonard and Wes helped one of their managers purchase a dealership in Mandan, North Dakota. Their goal was to help that manager eventually own the dealership outright. The plan worked and Leonard and Wes have repeated the process with many other managers since then. The Rydell Group has now grown to over 85 dealerships in 18 states and continues to grow to this day. Today's brands in the Rydell group across the states include Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac, Ford, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, KIA, Toyota, Volkswagen, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram.