Photo by Mike Lamb Cars Unlimited owner Cory Horejsi holds his son, Memphis, while standing next to mechanic David Steinhaus, center, and his dad, Jim Horejsi.

MARSHALL — After seven years of operating a successful car repair shop on Highway 59 North in Marshall, Bob Larsen had to figure out a different way of making money.

He was battling back issues and “the doctor said I needed to find a new job,” Larsen said. “When you are old, it’s hard to find a new job — teach an old dog new tricks

He found a solution to his dilemma while still working in his repair shop.

“A lot of customers would bring in cars (planned to purchase) for me to look at,” he said. “I would tell them if they needed to get the price down or anything else. And I got to thinking if a person would sell cars, have them pick cars ready to go, a guy could make some money.”

And that’s exactly what Larsen decided to do, starting out selling cars part time. In 1986 he built a building next to his repair shop and called his business Cars Unlimited.

What happened next, Larsen called “amazing.”

Not only did he sell dependable cars to his customers, he was persistent in ‘treating customers good after the sale.”

He passed on that philosophy on how to sell cars to his friend Jim Horejsi, who became the next owner of Cars Unlimited in 2014. Cars Unlimited has now been in operation at the same Highway 59 location for 40 years.

“When I sold it to him, I didn’t think he would have done as well as he did. He went far beyond my expectations,” Larsen said of Horejsi.

Horejsi attributes any success with the business by following Larsen’s advice on selling cars.

“For the first couple years Bob stuck around to help me learn the ropes. Teach me how to do it his way because Bob had such a great reputation with it in town here. He helped us keep that going,” Horejsi said. “Ended up taking it over eventually, and running the show now.”

But he credits a lot of recent success to his son Cory who joined the business in 2019.

“I tell everybody I’m the janitor here,” Horejsi said jokingly. “I pretty much leave it up to Cory now.”

Cory Horejsi attended the University of Minnesota for business marketing and management and later worked for a number of banks.

Jim Horejsi said his son’s experience in finance was a big boost for the business.

“He finances a lot of cars here we wouldn’t have if he weren’t here. Surprises me how many. Over 50 percent of the deals are financed. If you don’t get that financing here you would be selling a lot less cars,” he said. “Bob used to sell a couple hundred cars a year and we have kept in that couple hundred cars a year. For a little place we move out a lot of cars. Cars Unlimited is where you get the good cars. This is the place that has the good cars. Bob started that when he had it.”

Cory Horejsi admits he never envisioned himself working in a car lot business, but he is happy with the decision to join his dad at Cars Unlimited.

“It’s got its challenging days, but I wouldn’t trade for anything,” he said. “We are very laid back, stress-free atmosphere not only with our sales, but people enjoy us … There’s not a bunch of pressure to create an image that’s not necessarily who we are. We always tell people ‘we treat you the way we would want to treat our family. Treat you the way I treat my brother.’ Goes a long ways.”

Cory Horejsi said Cars Unlimited recorded “one of our best years ever.”

“We have a number of repeat customers who become family,” he said. “They just tell us to go find a car for them. When it’s time to find something new, they trust us to get what they want.”

The cars never hit the lot,” Jim Horejsi said.

“Go out before anybody sees them,” he said. “What amazes me — is (not) the size we are to sell 200 cars a year, but how many in Iowa, South Dakota — we just had one leave the other day that went to Tennessee. A dealer from Tennessee bought a pickup from us. I’ve sent them to New York, I’ve sent them to Florida, Arkansas, Arizona. All over. It’s amazing how far we can get stuff sold.”

Jim Horejsi and Larsen both also attribute their success to their longtime mechanic, David Steinhaus.

“I had my nephew out of vo-tech doing repair work. I couldn’t do it myself. He is still with Jim. He ended up being one of the top notch mechanics in Marshall. It’s kind of amazing,” Larsen said. “I trained him to do things the way I was trained to do. What worked for me. I don’t think I would be wrong to say he is one of the best mechanics in the city of Marshall right now. He treats people fair and square.”