Bob Kelley, the longtime writer of Kelley Blue Guide who oversaw the publication because it grew to become an indispensable useful resource for customers and the auto {industry}, died Might 28 on the age of 96.
He died in his house in Indian Wells in his sleep, his household stated.
Kelley joined the Kelley Kar Co. — at one level the biggest Ford dealership on the planet — and Kelley Blue Guide shortly after serving in World Conflict II.
The dealership was based by his uncle, Les Kelley, with three Mannequin Ts in 1918. However the dealership, sitting within the coronary heart of Los Angeles on Figueroa Avenue, was central to what would turn out to be a booming automotive tradition in Southern California.
The Kelley Blue Guide, or KBB, could be its bible.
The KBB was began in 1926 nevertheless it was beneath Bob Kelley’s management that the publication would develop to incorporate overseas vehicles, new automobiles, and bikes, vehicles and RVs.
Lengthy used as an important useful resource by banks, dealerships and courts, Kelley Blue Guide would turn out to be not only a go-to useful resource for the {industry}, however turn out to be the authoritative supply in valuing practically something on wheels.
“The man should have been the neatest automotive particular person within the nation at a second in time,” stated his son-in-law and former KBB editor Charlie Vogelheim. “It grew to become an necessary software within the {industry}.”
Born in Los Angeles in 1927, Kelley graduated from Los Angeles Excessive Faculty in 1945, then attended the College of New Mexico’s naval aviator coaching program throughout World Conflict II.
He joined the Ford dealership and was accountable for appraising and reconditioning used vehicles there. Used vehicles had been a serious a part of the dealership as a result of new vehicles weren’t constructed throughout the battle, Vogelheim stated.
The Kelley Blue Guide had already taken an necessary position within the {industry}.
It had began out as a publication itemizing the vehicles the dealership needed to purchase and the value it might pay for the automobile.
That was an necessary issue, Vogelheim stated, as a result of it gave authority and legitimacy to the costs listed within the e book to banks, monetary establishments and competing automotive sellers.
“The dealership was the biggest they usually [bought and sold] so many vehicles,” he stated. “They backed it with their conduct.”
The dealership closed in 1962, however KBB lived on.
With Kelley on the helm of Kelley Blue Guide, the publication started to make use of necessary modifications and elements within the {industry} to offer detailed, up to date values for automobiles.
Kelley Blue Guide started to incorporate mileage as an element, itemizing vehicles, coloration, even how present occasions may have an effect on pricing and values.
“The problem was having lots of, after which hundreds, of fashions in a e book that slot in your pocket,” he stated.
When the web got here alongside, disrupting the publishing enterprise, Kelley Blue Guide noticed it as an industry-transforming change.
“It was a troublesome enterprise determination, however a straightforward determination to make info simpler to succeed in,” Vogelheim stated. “It could possibly be up to date, and be very particular. Our different rivals had been saying, ‘No, we’re not going to try this.’ Once more, Bob and KBB had been it as a practicality.”
In 2010, Cox Automotive’s Autotrader.com purchased KBB for greater than $500 million.
“Bob Kelley was a real pioneer within the automotive {industry},” Cox Automotive stated in a press release. “From its humble beginnings to the great on-line useful resource we all know as we speak, Bob’s influence has been immeasurable.”
Vogelheim stated Kelley had been in hospice for a number of years, however his youngsters and grandchildren had been capable of see him the weekend earlier than he died.
He’s survived by his spouse of greater than 50 years, Wanda; his sister; 5 youngsters; 12 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
“He was a really good, fantastic man with a pleasant humorousness and a fast smile,” Vogelheim stated. “We miss him terribly.”
Even in his later years after retirement, Vogelheim stated, Kelley was sharp and fast with numbers, keen to supply his recommendation on enterprise or anything.
“You might speak to him about something past automotive values, and you possibly can hear him utilizing percentages in his head,” he stated. “He didn’t have a school diploma on the wall, however he was smarter than a few of the those who did.”
