Modern Tire Dealer Celebrates 75 Years of Excellence: 75 years of service

July 16, 2015

By 1919, the country had already witnessed 10 years of motor travel in Henry’s venerable Model T and emerging competitive vehicles of the time. 

Ford’s wooden-framed chug-buggy, only capable of a modest 35 miles-per-hour on today’s modern roads, sputtered its way along the dirt, gravel and brick roadways of the time, often axle-deep in mud during foul weather. 

It was a far cry from the sleek, aerodynamically efficient, passenger-friendly cars we know 75 years later. 

As automotive technology has progressed service support has likewise seen quantum leaps in the equipment and tools required to sustain automotive life. 

Seventy-five years ago, the fledgling automotive repair shop managed to operate with a short list of items that might have included a source of compressed air, a forged steel breaker-bar, a few tire irons, a handful of wrenches and an acetylene torch. 

The high-tech shops may have added a few ail drills, air hammers and impact wrenches. 

In the beginning, vehicle undercarriage work was performed by jacking up the car on a stand, or accessing it from an open service pit. 

Tire repair alone was then a mainstay of the independent shop. 

An article on a survey of dealers in our 1920 magazine reported that the typical shop could squeak by with a $750 expenditure in tire repair materials. 

Add the torch, a few floor jacks, a bench vise and a variety of hand tools, and you’re looking at maybe $1,200 to $2,000 to equip a complete shop of that era. 

By contrast, a shop today may be outfitted with one or more vehicle lifts at a cost of $3,000 to $8,000 each, an alignment rack and system at $35,000 or so, a dynamic wheel balancer at $4,000, a pneumatic changer at $3,000, a brake pressure bleeder at $200, one or more air compressors at $1,500 each, an air conditioning station at $3,200, a combination brake lathe at $5,000, a four-gas BAR 90 exhaust analyser at $5,000 or so for diagnostic use, or possibly upwards of $40,000 tor a state-approved emissions program, and a decent assortment of engine diagnostic tools such as a multimeter and enough computer scan tools to handle most vehicles for a price tag of about $6,000. 

Add a few hydraulic floor jacks, a selection of specialty tools such as pullers, spring compressors, etc., a rack and pinion bench vice, a hydraulic press and an assortment of air and manual hand tools, and today’s shop is facing a tool and equipment bill of $85,000 to $140,000 or more! 

Also, consider the investment cost of technicians training for alignment, suspension work, engine diagnostics, climate control and ABS. Interestingly, the cost of a few items have actually decreased over the years. The behemoth rolling engine diagnostic analysers of the 1980s, for example, commonly in the $30,000 price range, have given way to a handful of scan tools, breakout boxes and multimeters, at a fraction of the “big scope” cost.

About the Author

Mike Mavrigian

Longtime automotive industry journalist and Modern Tire Dealer contributor Mike Mavrigian also is the editor of MTD’s sister publication, Auto Service Professional. Mavrigian received a bachelors degree from Youngstown State University in English literature with a minor in journalism in 1975.