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In 1916 Edwin B. Moats left his jobs on the B&O Railroad and on the farm to sell the new Ford motorcar as well as Allen Automotives, made in Fostoria. He became a partner in the business with Andrew and Mable Weippert, and their company proudly became “Weippert and Moats.”
After several years, Andrew Weippert’s health failed and he sold his interest in the business to Edwin. Edwin did well selling Model T’s until his own untimely death at the age of 48. Edwin left the business to his eldest son Paul, who attended medical school in Cincinnati at the time. Paul then came home to help his mother take care of his siblings Terry, Lee, Elizabeth, and Fern. Paul never went back to school because he enjoyed the Ford business so much.
Paul E. Moats became a very successful Ford dealer and won numerous awards. As well, he helped build a Methodist Church and to open a bank in Sherwood after the infamous "bank holiday." Paul served as president of that bank for more than twenty years. Paul married in 1932, and he and his wife became parents of John, a Bryan physician and Mark, the present owner who followed his father in the Ford dealership business.
Mark Moats graduated from high school, attended Miami University, graduated from Defiance College, and served in the Army for two years. He spent many a summer night working at the Sherwood store doing all kinds of jobs, from parts-server to car-washer in order to learn as much about the business of car sales and car service as he could. As time passed, The Ford Company wanted bigger stores, so the 66’ x 132’ store in Sherwood was joined by a new, larger store in Defiance, first on Baltimore Road in 1971, and then only two years later moved to a new store on U. S. 24 West, where it remains. Mark Moats’ hard work in the business soon earned him the prestigious “top hatter” award from Ford headquarters in Detroit. Mark married Karen in 1963. Their daughter Amy worked for Proctor and Gamble and is now retired, and their son Wes joined his father in the family business.
Wes Moats, who graduated from Northwood University in 1990 and learned the trade at Wickstom Ford in Barrington, Illinois, has served as new car manager for sixteen years.
The four generations of Moats gentlemen were born with "Ford in their blood," and their commitment to the Ford name and Ford products has been evident in their mission to give the best car, best service, and best price to customers in Northwest Ohio.
