DaGiau dedicated to dealership for 65 years

Editor's note: Michael Prout served as the dealer at Sandusky Motors — selling Audis, Hondas and Volkswagens — for 20 years. His most trusted employee was Gene DaGiau, who, at 65 years and going, represents the longest-continuous Honda employee in the country. SANDUSKY — Gene DaGiau is still going strong in his 65th automotive year at the age of 86. In high school, like many kids of his era, DaGiau had a paper route but not just one: He had three paper routes that he did simultaneously through Sandusky neighborhoods. When he realized a chance for advancement at the Sandusky Register, they found three kids to take over his routes. In his junior year, he eliminated a study hall and got out of school at 2 p.m. to roll up papers for motor routes to man the switchboard and to work various other tasks that the paper needed done. Other employees were not happy with how much money he was making from his multitasking. After graduating from Sandusky High School in 1957, Gene went to work for the state of Ohio as a state highway inspector, building Interstate 71 in Mansfield. Everything he learned, he learned in the employee manual. DaGiau was also a bellman at the Cedar Point Hotel Breakers and traveled through Europe for two years. Once back in the early 1960s, he started working at Dietrich Motors — Sandusky's original import car dealership with Volkswagen initially, then with the addition of Audi. The Honda franchise was added in 1976. In 2025, Honda of America recognized DaGiau as being the longest continuous Honda salesman. This month, DaGiau will celebrate collectively 65 years of employment at the "same" dealership, only the owners and the locations have changed: • Dietrich Motors from 1961 to 1982, 21 years • Sandusky Motors VW Audi Honda from 1982 to 2002, 20 years • Sunnyside Automotive from 2002 to 2006, four years • Victory Honda from 2006 to 2024, 18 years • Firelands Auto Group from 2024 to 2026, two years • Feldman Automotive from May 2026 That's over six decades and six ownership changes — and DaGiau has remained that one dedicated, record-breaking employee. "I intended to stay only two weeks, but I stayed on to train a new salesman," DaGiau said. "I got so busy that I never left to look for a career that I intended to do: engineering." As the cars evolved and the owners changed, DaGiau went from Gene-of-all-trades to salesman, sales manager, general manager and inventory specialist. His primary position now is having the cars in stock on the lot that a customer is most likely to buy. When asked what he liked most about the job, DaGiau said, "the constant activity. I believe in exercise, so I did my running in the morning and then exercised my mind at work." With the current era comes yet another new store location at the U.S. 250 and Strub Road auto hub where the Feldman Auto Group is relocating its newest Honda Store. Many changes over the past 65 years, yet there has been one person who has been a first-hand witness to all that has taken place: DaGiau is still going strong. "The common notion is to retire at 65," DaGiau said. "I will have been here at work for 65 years this month. My retirement date is not on the radar."