Whatever happened to ... that blonde in the car ads?

Susan Gailey helped Casey Chevrolet sell automobiles on the Peninsula for about 25 years. Now the former actress is selling real estate in Hawaii. (courtesy photo)

By TONY GERMANOTTA
The Virginian-Pilot

Hers was the face that launched a thousand car sales. For about 25 years, Susan Gailey was the pitch woman in the nearly constant parade of Casey Chevrolet television spots.

"You always get your way at Casey Chevrolet," she'd coo.

Then, in the early 1990s, she vanished, leaving many fans wondering what had happened to the ever- so- familiar blonde.

The actress, once dubbed the "sweetheart of the showroom," is now 67 with a 14- year-old grandson.

She's moved from peddling cars to selling dreams.

Gailey sells real estate on the northernmost Hawaiian island of Kauai.

That's the tropical paradise that formed the backdrop for the movie "Jurassic Park" and the opening scenes of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Elvis Presley shot "Blue Hawaii" there.

One of her listings last week featured wondrous mountain views and a $10 million asking price. Starter houses on the island run half a million dollars, she said.

Gailey has been living on the lush island since 1988. That means she was flying from Hawaii to do the last of those Casey ads. In fact, she never lived in Hampton Roads.

Gailey was discovered by an ad agency while doing dinner theater in her native York, Pa. She started doing ads for a Maryland Chevy dealership.

That gig got her the job at Casey a few years later, and she traveled to its Peninsula car lots over the years from Pennsylvania, New York City and Los Angeles, where she lived for 15 years chasing her own dreams.

She put a few TV acting credits on her resume: "Starsky and Hutch," "L.A. Law" and "Police Woman." She appeared in several national commercials, including spots for Jell-O, Ore-Ida potatoes and Sanka, the latter with Robert Young.

Her last couple of years in California, she started selling real estate. It was a practical vocation, bridging the slow times when she couldn't land commercials and, as she would learn later, one that is in demand even in exotic locales.

Gailey discovered her island of Kauai on a honeymoon trip. She no longer has the husband, she said, but her love for the location never waned.

"It's one of those places you never want to leave," she said. She eventually imported her daughters and their families.

"I managed to get us all here and tucked in," she said proudly.

Gailey has two places - one a 3-acre home with horses on the North Shore of the island - and just loves her job.

"You drive around all day and look at beautiful things," she said.

There's not much call for commercial shoots on the out-of-the-way island, she said, but she doesn't miss the acting - or those East Coast winters.

"Every day I wake up and say, 'Thank you, God,'" she said. "I'm happy I'm here."