April 17, 1964. The Making of Two Legends.

The day James Hodge sold his first car is part of automotive history.

“April 17, 1964,” Hodge recalled. “The day the Ford Mustang came out. They had butcher paper on the dealership windows and everyone kept coming to wait for it to open. There were lines of people who came in. I had no training or anything. But I sold the first Mustang in Durant.”

Since selling that first Mustang for $2,395, Hodge has sold thousands of Mustangs, T-Birds, Toyotas, hybrids, Hyundais, Chevys, Chryslers and trucks. That 22-year-old rookie salesman went on to own eight auto dealerships, including three in Muskogee.

“In 1964, when I was 22, I decided selling cars was a lot better than working on a peanut farm,” he said.

When Hodge started with that Durant dealership, he took the farmer’s work ethic with him.

“I learned you had to work hard,” he said. “You didn’t have to be smarter, but you had to work harder.”

Hard work at Durant made young James Hodge a good seller. He opened his first dealership in Idabel in 1970. Nine years later, he opened Kiamichi Chevrolet in Broken Bow.

He came to Muskogee in 1989 with James Hodge Ford Lincoln Mercury.

“It was a larger town than the others,” he said. “The opportunities were a lot greater. It has many industries, which gave us opportunities to expand.”

Hodge acquired the Muskogee Toyota dealership on Main Street in 1996. Sales had been so successful, he built a newer, larger facility on Shawnee Bypass for the Toyotas. He moved his Hyundais from Paris, Texas, to the empty Toyota lot earlier this year.

Hodge said Muskogee continues to be a good place to sell cars.

“The VA hospital is a large employer, you have the federal courthouse, a lot of manufacturing for a town this size.”

“Northeastern State University, Connors State College, Bacone, too,” Mary Kathryn Hodge said.

“And we have two large hospitals here, a number of banks,” James Hodge said.

Muskogee Phoenix June 27, 2009

http://WWW.JAMESHODGEAUTOGROUP.COM

Mr. James Hodge and son Jack Hodge. Jack carries the torch his father ignited as President and CEO of The James Hodge Auto Group.

Three generations of Hodge men. No doubt The James Hodge Legacy is in great hands.