CEO, Steele Auto Group
2010 Top 50 CEO Hall of Fame Inductee

How the CEO of Steele Auto Group fell in love with cars all over again— thanks to Evel Knievel

He runs one of the largest auto dealerships in Atlantic Canada and has for decades. But talk to Rob Steele, CEO of the Dartmouth-based company that bears his name and he’ll admit there came a time when he got a little tired of cars.

“As much as I loved them when I was younger,” he says, “other than it being a business, it got to the point when they didn’t really hold a lot of appeal for me anymore.”

Then came COVID, when Steele—like much of the rest of the world—suddenly found himself with nowhere to go, little to do and, perhaps for the first time in years, time to think about the things that had once fascinated him before they became inventory.

Which is roughly when, he says, the expensive toy of a long-dead childhood hero entered his life. “One day while I was poking around online, I came across a cool-looking boat that was for sale. It was listed as a 75-footer, commissioned floating office. Something about it … interested me.”

What he didn’t know was that the yacht had once belonged to Evel Knievel, the leather-clad 1970s motorcycle daredevil who made a generation of boys like Steele believe that gravity was a mere suggestion.

“It wasn’t until after dealing with the brokers and whatnot that I found out,” he says. “I mean, that guy was a pioneer of the whole extreme sports thing. Kids grew up glued to their televisions watching him. And I had his boat.”

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