Business: Pumpkin Fine Cars & Exotics
Location: 3084 English Creek Ave., Egg Harbor Township
Owner: Franck and Gina Freon, of Linwood
Employees: Four
Phone: 609-646-7676
We buy and sell preowned cars and trucks, developing the truck segment now that we have much more space.
In cars, we sell a little bit of everything. We sold a Saturn today, and a Honda a few days ago.
We were handling a lot of German cars, and now I’m repositioning the company to buy and sell all fine cars and trucks.
What makes the company is the auto-racing approach.
For 23 years, I was in the racing world in Indy cars, Le Mans and Daytona, and you learn that you do it and you do it right. Otherwise, besides not winning, it could be very dangerous at 200 mph.
Basically I just don’t know any other way. We apply the same principles of high-quality and pristine equipment to everything we handle.
In our old location on Fire Road in the township, you couldn’t even see us from the road, but people were coming to us because of our reputation.
Right now our inventory starts at about $7,000 and ranges up to about $50,000.
Our strong range is between $10,000 and $20,000 — for example, a 2008 BMW X3 or a Mercedes Benz 2007 E-350.
We also have a 2004 Lexus ES-300, as well as a 2008 Ford Mustang. We also carry Volvos, Volkswagen Beetles, a 2008 Smart car, and a low-mileage Ford F-150 four-by-four.
I go to sales to find inventory or buy them outright from private parties. If it’s up to my standards and I feel comfortable putting my name on it, I buy it.
We subcontract all of the services preparing or repairing cars. We do our own detailing.
We are very aggressive in helping arrange financing. We have several lenders we use, and try to accommodate people with a wide range of credit scores.
Entry: I was still racing from when I first opened in 1998 until 2004. I knew I’d have to stop eventually, so this was a good continuation of what I was doing.
We were at our previous location for 10 years. But we needed more inventory and more space to grow, so two years ago we started looking for a new location.
I love the new showroom, which can accommodate 50 cars and trucks. And I really enjoy the drive-by traffic between Ocean Heights Avenue and the Black Horse Pike.
The future: I’m developing the truck department and I’m looking to discover a little more about environmentally friendly vehicles such as electric cars.
