Dundee Auto Parts

The following story is from the Dundee Reporter,09-23-1999

Dundee Auto Parts still Provides Quality, Service after 66 years

When Carl Williams surveys his 66-year old business, his face shows determination, pride and satisfaction. Standing in the entry of Dundee Auto Parts, Williams is an unofficial customer greeter. He understands the part that friendly service plays in maintaining a successful business.
"I started in 1933, during the Depression," Mr. Williams said. "No one could even buy a job, so I made one of my own."
Borrowing $50.00 from his brothers, who sold Chryslers and Plymouths in Dundee, he and a friend Harold Furrow bought five old cars at "$10.00 a piece." The two men dismantled the cars with a sledge hammer and sold the parts. This was hard work. At that time car bodies were metal, and a much heavier gauge that is currently used. The frameworks were generally made of wood, "which you wouldn't want to have today," Mr. Williams said.
Mr. Williams soon bought Mr. Furrow's share of the business and continued on his own. He spent three years on South Riley Street, where he expanded to include sales of new parts, before moving to Plank Street from 1936 to 1972. In 1973, he moved to his present location on Main Street.
Pointing to a 20-foot section of pegboard mounted on the wall over the entry way, he says with pride, "These are the emblems off the cars we tore apart."
Anchored by a 1927 Hudson connecting rod, the display includes such little-known and classic names as the REO, a Lansing-made vehicle; a 1924 Maxwell; a Stutz Bearcat, and an Auburn. These and other classic insignia parade across the board, all harvested from his business.
During the earliest years, Mr. Williams accumulated a few "driveable" used cars from Monroe, Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. In a two-year period, Mr. Williams acquired a Cadillac touring car, which he promptly "remade" into a wrecker.
Most times on these car acquisition forays, Mr. Williams brought his wrecker and a driver or two to bring the used vehicles back to Dundee. With pride, he noted that on one of these trips that same Cadillac towed a car up an icy Ann Arbor hill while pushing two others in front.
During the Second World War, Mr. Williams was closed for a two-year period when he was in the Navy. He spent this time at the Norfolk Naval Base, working on trucks and passenger cars. That period really "hurt his business," Mr. Williams said. He had sold the "goods and parts" he had on hand to other dealers when he went into the Navy, but was forced to buy them back two years later at a higher price.
As his sons Butch and Jim grew, they started helping in the business after school.
"They're both good mechanics," Mr. Williams said. "One specializes in lawn mower service and the other in chain saws. I couldn't have run it alone."
Dundee Auto Parts has room after room of stock. According to Mr. Williams, they carry "more parts than any other jobber around." One room is lined with long and short, bent and straight tail pipes and mufflers; another is hung with all lengths and shapes of rubber hoses; still another holds enough rubber belting to reach Chicago and additional rooms are crammed with shelves holding boxed parts.
Dundee Auto Parts also provides special services. They make custom hydraulic hoses for area farmers, once designing a 25-foot long replacement for a car- hauling truck with a hydraulic lift.
"We're about the only ones around here who do that," Mr. Williams said.
They also stock welding supplies for farmers and others who fix their own equipment.
Though all the inventory is listed on the computer, Mr. Williams said that both Butch and Jim are so familiar with the stock that they remember what they have and where it is. The computer automatically reorders as stock gets low and the business gets a daily delivery to replenish supplies, especially the best-selling disc brakes.
At one time, Mr. Williams rented out space for "do it yourself" mechanics. He provided a well equipped bay with all the requisite lifts and pulleys, jacks and tools. However, tools disappeared and equipment was left dirty, broken and out of place. What proved to be the end of the do-it-yourself bay took place when a would be mechanic grabbed a welder and set his car on fire.
Some people realize he's the oldest business in Dundee.
"The Old Timers come in," Mr. Williams said. "I'm still here."
A recent sunny Saturday encouraged an endless stream of customers, young and old, with their kids, shopping, seeking advice, encouragement and the right parts for their jobs.
When two leather-clad young men came in looking for a bolt for their cycle, Butch walked outside with them to their motorcycles and helped select the right bolt for the job. That's service. And, oh yes, he smiled when he did it.