'I Never Forget Where I Came From:' Street Sign Dedicated To Former Chrysler Dealer

OAK LAWN, IL—Frank Mancari never met a Catholic high school ad book he didn’t like. The founder and long-time general manager of the former Mancari Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, now Bremen, he was commemorated with an honorary street sign on an Oak Lawn street corner at 95th Street and Kenton Avenue.

“I never forget where I came from,” Mancari, 86, said. “My grandma told me I was growing up as a kid. She says one day maybe I won't go up, but never to forget if I come up.”

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Born impoverished in Calabria, Italy, Mancari recalled picking asparagus and mushrooms, which he sold to make pocket money. He ate orange peels people had tossed on the ground because he was too poor to afford an orange.

He arrived in America with his father at age 15 as an uneducated youth with a good head for numbers. The teen worked various jobs and helped his father eventually send for his mother and his siblings.

“I didn’t speak English, nothing,” Mancari reminisced for Patch. “My first job paid $10 a week in a grocery store. My boss was Italian. I worked in a bowling alley. Everyone smoked then. I swept cigarette butts off the floor.”

Mancari was working at the ITT Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Co. in 1962 when the company was sold and he was out of a job. That’s when he discovered he had a hidden talent for selling cars.

Living in Bridgeport with a wife and three kids, he landed a job with Metro Motors in Brookfield, then left to join a Ford dealership at 7101 Stony Island Ave.

“I did real good the first month. I worked there for three or four months,” Mancari said. “I went to various car dealers and then decided to go by myself. They never took care of their customers. They promised stuff they never delivered.”

With $5,000 in the bank, Mancari opened a small lot with a tiny building on it. He started financing cars and opened a larger lot in September 1964, before moving to Western Avenue in 1967—the South Side car dealership corridor whose commercials blared Sunday mornings during black-and-white returns of “The Lone Ranger” and “Cisco Kid.”

In 1978, Chrysler approached him about opening a new car franchise on Western. Three years later he moved to Oak Lawn, where Mancari Chrysler became a landmark for the next 40 years at 4630 W. 95th St. Mancari opened other dealerships in Crestwood, Orland Park and Des Plaines.

Mancari’s daughter, Christine Radanovic, said she’d never forget 45 years ago, when her father came home and announced he banked everything they owned on a new car dealership.

“‘So don’t think I’m going to be home at 5 o’clock for dinner,’” Radanovic recalled her father saying. “‘I'm going to be working seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and you're not going to see me too much. But this is what we got to do.’”

Radanovic said her father was part of a group of Chicago-area car dealers who decided jointly to close their dealerships on Sunday (and to prevent their competitors from staying open and stealing business) so they could spend time with their families.

“This is a man who came here who didn't know a word of English, and he built a legacy for 45 years here on 95th Street. He helped everybody,” his daughter said. “There was never a time somebody came to him where he said no. It was always okay. How much? Okay, when do you need it? How can I arrange that? Children's hospital? How much do you need? We did a lot of benefits for [Advocate Christ] too. So, if anybody deserves a street sign, it’s my dad.

In time, what would eventually evolve into Mancari Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram became the biggest revenue generator in Oak Lawn and one of the most lucrative car dealerships in the state. He would eventually move his family to Oak Lawn and have a couple more kids.

Like his grandmother advised, Mancari never forgot where he came from. He donated to all local candidates’ campaigns, donated cars for grand prize raffles, sponsored parish carnivals, bought ads in ad books, and helped local families procure handicap-accessible Chrysler vehicles.

Oak Lawn Tr. Alex Olejniczak called Mancari “the embodiment of the American Dream,” who never forgot his roots or what it felt like to eat discarded orange peels off the ground.

“When you really know Mr. Mancari, you know that he's a kind, generous businessman,” Olejniczak told Mancari at the sign dedication. “I can tell you there are so many people who benefitted that Mr. Mancari quietly took care of and never took any credit. That’s the true testimony of a man who understands where he came from, and he’s generous to people who need it. It has been great working with you, and I appreciate everything that you’ve done for Oak Lawn.”

In 2022, the Bermen Automotive Group purchased Mancari Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep Ram. It hasn’t kept Frank out of the auto business. Today, he operates Oak Lawn Auto Sales, 4440 Southwest Highway, Oak Lawn, offering pre-owned vehicles.

“I’m proud of this. I want to thank everybody at the Village of Oak Lawn,” Mancari said. “There was great support every time I needed something. America’s a great country. If you work hard and can make it here, you can make it anywhere.”