About Barry Maney Ford

A Rich History

The journey began when Barry & Shirley Maney opened the doors of Barry Maney Ford on July 1, 1976. Barry had over 18 years local motoring industry experience under his belt when he and Shirley agreed to purchase the Mount Gambier Ford Dealership from Kelly Ford on a walk in, walk out basis with a team of 20 staff. At the time, the dealership traded from two facilities, with the new car showroom, workshop and administration at Railway Terrace and the used car yard and truck sales at 153 Commercial Street East.

However, renowned for his long-term vision, at the same time as taking on the dealership, Barry also purchased a 10-acre site on Jubilee Highway West, Mount Gambier. Barry’s plan was to build a complete new dealership, with a focus on premium service facilities and the first stage, comprising the truck service, panel shop and truck sales yard was completed in December 1977. The remainder of the dealership was completed in May 1980.

Barry was extremely proud of his impressive new Dealership and always made sure it was impeccably presented. His professional high standards in presenting all the Maney properties in pristine condition is widely recongnised. Ford Australia launched their American designed Louisville range of heavy duty trucks during the second half of 1976 and this product was a real winner for Barry Maney Ford.

In 1985 Barry Maney Ford was awarded the Time Magazine National Motor Dealer of the Year for Australia, which was a huge achievement for Barry and his team, after only nine years in business.

Over the years, Barry Maney Ford have won numerous Industry awards, in particular Customer Service recognition and the Dealership received the coveted Ford Australia President’s award for seven years in a row from 1991.

Maintaining his commitment to his experienced team, in September 1993, Barry introduced a formal succession plan and offered four of his Senior Executives, David Millard, Michael Donovan, Fred Hill and John Bradley, the opportunity to become Directors and partners in the Dealership. John Bradley later left the group to move to Adelaide in 1996. In April 2005, Barry Stafford and Jim Cornolo were also invited to become Directors and partners in the Dealership.

Today, the Barry Maney Group has a team of more than 80 staff at their four sites on Jubilee Highway West, Commercial Street East, Crouch Street North Mount Gambier and more recently in Warrnambool Victoria. Barry credits the Company’s success to an unwavering commitment to customer care and a belief that you always need to genuinely care and fully support your employees and also the community. Barry says ‘he enjoys helping all his valued team members realize their full potential and it’s very rewarding to bring people together as a team and achieve exciting goals’.

“My business philosophy is simple, ‘Success in business needs to be balanced with the welfare of those around you’ he said, and I look forward to continuing the journey”.