One of the area's biggest Ford dealers has bought Rodeo Ford in Plano and plans to refurbish the struggling dealership.

Sam Pack, who owns three area Ford dealerships, renamed the dealership Five Star Ford of Plano. On the first day it was open last week, the new dealership bought a 60-foot American flag for a giant flagpole out front, replacing a worn Ford blue-oval banner.

Last month, Rodeo Ford sold just 28 new vehicles, said Brian Huth, the new general manager of the dealership on Plano Parkway, in between Coit and Preston roads.

"We have a modest forecast of 100 units once we get this place running the way we want," Huth said.

Ford Motor Corp. approached Pack about purchasing the dealership, which was a fairly solid store as Middlekauff Ford but stumbled in recent years as Rodeo Ford. Pack said he was interested because of the location, Ford's potential and the opportunity to spread advertising and administrative costs over four dealerships rather than three.

"It's an opportunity," he said. "Ford has great new products now, and I know what's coming in the future."

Pack, who owns Five Star Ford in North Richland Hills, Sam Pack's Five Star Ford in Carrollton and Ford Country in Lewisville, is one of Ford's most influential dealers, sitting on dealer product committees that have a role in shaping new cars and trucks. He also has access to Ford's top executives in Dearborn, Mich.

The dealership will ultimately employ about 100 people, Huth said. Most of the Rodeo Ford employees left, he said, and the Five Star group is borrowing employees from its other dealerships to fill key positions.

Many repairs are needed, he said. "For example, we've got 180 parking lot lights," Huth said. "About 120 of them were out."

Ten years ago, the dealership did reasonably well selling higher-end vehicles such as Ford Expeditions and loaded F-150 pickups. The new dealership expects strong sales of well-equipped Expeditions, Explorers, Flex crossovers and Mustangs, Huth said.

"The first day here, we sold three cars," he said. "This is going to be one of the jewels in Sam's crown."