Ricart, the auto merchant, thinks it can make a go of selling airplanes as part of its retail transport empire By Kathy Showalter BUSINESS FIRST Fred and Rhett Ricart, the car-selling brothers who made the ad hype "We're dealin' " synonymous with their auto showrooms, are dealing in a more glamorous mode of transit - reconditioned airplanes. The Ricarts formed a company last October to buy, refurbish and sell airplanes - from small-engine aircraft to lO-seat executive jets - in their latest move to diversify their Columbusbased holdings. With longtime Columbus aircraft broker Randall Long as its general sales manager, Ricart Aviation Inc. has sold eight planes, generating $1.5 million in sales. Long, through his Lancaster-based MCR Aviation, has brokered airplane sales for about 18 years. Joining Ricart gives him the means to expand his business. For the Ricarts, it's another business avenue into the transportation industry. "We wouldn't go into the see Ricart, page 63 Ricart continued from page 1 restaurant business because we don't know anything about restaurants," said Greg Dryden, chief operating officer for the Ricart companies and a licensed pilot who ·bought his first airplane through Long. 'But buying, reconditioning and selling transportation vehicles - that's what we have expertise in." llicart Aviationis a limited liability company separate from other llicart holdings, which include nine new-car franchises and used car, leasing, financing, cellular telephone, van, recreational vehicle and motor homes sales operations. 1brough their Tracir subsidiary, the Ricarts also sell property-and-casualty insurance. Dryden said such diversity gives llicart an edge among reconditioned aircraft dealers because Ricart Aviation can take a trade on a motor home or a pricey Mercedes-Benztoward the purchase of a plane. "It's one of our competitive advantages," he said. Much of the contact with prospective buyers is made over the Internet, Long said. He was among 14 Ohio brokers listed on Website Aircraft Shopper Online. Carolyn Flick, associate publisher of Tennessee-based Trade-a-Plane magazine, said thousands of reconditioned airplanes are bought and sold every year. "It's a relatively small industry compared to the automobile industry or heavy construction equipment, but these can be high-ticket items," Flick said. "Used airplanes have appreciated substantially in value. You can buy a plane today, fly it several hundred hours and sell it for a whole lot more than you paid for it." The price appreciation is rooted in a limited supply of aircraft. Liabilityconcerns prompted many manufacturers to stop making small-engine aircraft in the 1980s. Though liability is now capped by laws and modest new-plane production has resumed, small aircraft remain in limited supply. Dryden said corporations' interest in private planes is growing,because they can prove a time saver for traveling executives. One of llicart Aviation'sgoals is to sell Cen- tra1Ohio executives on the price of owning a plane that can be financed. over a number of years. Long delivers international contacts to Ricart Aviation. He has bought and sold aircraft from and for clients in Europe, South America, Australia and Africa. In the late 1980s when the dollar was weak, many American-made planes were sold to European pilots, Long explained. "Now, that's reversed," Long said. "They're coming back." Two aircraft purchased by Ricart Aviation were being flown from Europe the week of April 12. Ricart Aviation,based in Lancaster, has 10 planes prepared for sale, plus the two being flown in from Europe. The planes are stored in hangars at llickenbacker and Fairfield County airports and at Lane Aviation at Port Columbus. Among the inventory is a 1957-model T-28, which was used to train Navy pilots on take-offs and landings from the aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The plane was restored in 1996. The T-28, dubbed a "Trojan warbird" by enthusiasts, was built in Columbus at the old North American plant. It will be used by llicart Aviation at air shows to market the company - unless someone ponies up the $425,000 to buy it. . The·most expensive aircraftin the Ricart inventory: a jet priced at $2.65 million. Dryden expects Ricart Aviation to expand into sales of larger executive planes. He projected 1999 revenue at $3 million to $4 million. The company employs five. Mac Gordon, senior editor with Michigan-based Ward's Dealer Business, said branching into airplanes sales is unusual for car dealers but not particularly out of the ordinary for the llicarts. "It's an unusual sideline, but they've been looking at sidelines," Gordon said. Because Ricart operates a financing arm, the dealership does not refer an unusually sizable portion of business to Ford Motor Credit, given the size of the company, Gordon said. Ricart sold more than 30,000 cars in 1998 for more than $600 million in gross revenue. "When it comes to financing, they're pretty much their own boss," Gordon said. 2 I: Ii p C p ( '" 51 ) b 51