Kentucky Store Leaves Family

A Kentucky auto dealership is in new hands after its longtime family owner decided to leave the business. 

O’Brien Auto Team, led by founder Joseph O’Brien Jr., picked up Jack Kain Ford in the Lexington metro area town of Versailles, making 10 dealerships for the group across Kentucky, Illinois and California. 

The store had been operated by the Kain family for almost 50 years, said sell-side adviser Performance Brokerage Services. The Kains branched out from a Frankfort DeSoto-Plymouth store bought in 1953, becoming one of the country’s first “six-pack” dealers with the acquisition of two competing dealerships, including the Ford store. 

The family, since that 1970s expansion, later operated dealerships across the state for Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford and Nissan before whittling down the group to the one Ford dealership. 

“After 67 years as a family-owned dealership, making the decision to sell was about much more than a business transaction. It was an emotional decision for our family,” Bob Kain said. 

The O’Brien group has been in business for nearly 40 years, starting with a new Illinois Mitsubishi dealership in 1987. The latest acquisition is its second Kentucky Ford store, which it renamed to O’Brien Ford.