Mr. Norm Krause
Contents
Summary
"Mr. Norm" Krause was the more famous brother at Grand Spaulding Dodge.
Located in Chicago, Mr. Norm's Grand-Spaulding Dodge was the home of Dodge performance during the muscle car era. "Mr. Norm," alias Norman Kraus, along with his brother Lenny, started a used car lot next to their father's gas station. After specializing in late '50s stick shift performance cars (they used the line "Call Mr. Norm" in their classified ads and the name stuck), they were approached by Dodge to open a new car dealership. They initially passed, but when they heard about the Max Wedge performance cars, they agreed and opened the dealership in October of 1962. Their advertising was targeted at the young performance fan, and they created the "Mr. Norm's Sport Club" to fuel the fire.
Sales doubled each year for the first seven years and by 1966, Grand-Spaulding Dodge was the biggest performance Dodge dealership and by 1972, Dodge's largest dealer. A second location in Buffalo Grove soon became the number two Dodge dealer. Grand-Spaulding Dodge led Dodge's performance efforts. In 1967, the dealership started selling Dart's with the 383 big block, something that Dodge had said couldn't be done. By basically coping Grand-Spaulding's modifications, Dodge was able to introduce a 383 Dart by late 1967. Then, Grand-Spaulding Dodge began offering Darts with 440 engines, the so-called "GSS" conversions. In 1969, Dodge began to offer its own 440 Darts. One car that Dodge did not follow suit was the 1972 Demon GSS with its supercharged 340. It's 13.9 second quarter mile was evidently more performance than Dodge wanted to offer. Unfortunately, Grand-Spaulding's dependence on the high performance market, as well as allegations of odometer tampering on used cars, made it vulnerable when the performance era ended in 1973 and the dealership closed its doors in 1975.
Personal Data
- Full Name:
- Nickname: Mr. Norm
- DOB:
- Place of Birth:
- DOD:
- Place Interned:
- Spouse:
- Children:
