After 40 years and only two owners, Floyd’s Inc., 1221 Industrial Road, is still going strong.
Floyd’s, an auto body and mechanical repair shop, was opened in July 1968 by Floyd McCracken. The original location was 616 Prairie St., where the business operated for about 14 months. In the fall of 1969, the business moved to its current location. A second building was built in the mid-1970s, McCracken said. The business operates out of two buildings now in about 9,000 square feet. With the building expansion, Floyd’s expanded from the body shop to mechanical repair and muffler and exhaust-system repair. Along the way, the business also went from one employee to 15 employees at one time, McCracken said. Today there are usually nine or 10 employees.
McCracken started Floyd’s after he had been working at Satterfield’s Body Shop when he was a freshman in high school. His older brother was in the body shop business too.
“That influenced my decision too,” he said.
For a few years right after graduating from high school, McCracken worked at Rainbow Bakery.
“I guess my real interest was in motor repair and that’s where I’ve been ever since,” he said.
McCracken ran the business until he retired in January 2005. At that time he sold the business to long-time employee John Wheeler.
“John worked for me for a total of over 20 years,” McCracken said.
Wheeler said he painted his first car in the summer of 1975 and came to work for McCracken in 1980.
“And he told me how to do it right,” Wheeler said, with a laugh.
Wheeler’s life always took him back to the automotive field, namely, Floyd’s, he said.
“I tried college, I tried my own business,” he said. “I was a parts salesmen, front-end alignment ... and he kept hiring me back. I think he got tired of me hiring me back and sold me the place.”
McCracken said there are many factors that have kept the business running for four decades.
“We’ve always tried to be honest and fair with people and do quality work,” he said. “We’ve had a good warranty program and take care of our customers.”
Wheeler added that there are more services under one roof as well as location and quality of work.
“Basically that’s what’s kept the doors open,” he said. “He (McCracken) set the bar pretty high.”
A lot of changes in the industry have taken place since McCracken and Wheeler entered the field.
“The structure of the cars has changed immensely in the industry,” McCracken said. “It has changed from full-framed cars to uni-body construction.”
Vehicles are running much longer, Wheeler said.
“You used to be able to get 100,000 and you’re done,” he said. “Now at 150,000 (vehicles) are still going. Stuff lasts longer.”
The muffler and exhaust business has changed dramatically, McCracken said.
“When I started in 1975 in exhaust, we were repairing mufflers on cars two years old,” he said. “By the late 1980s, early 1990s, the exhaust systems are outlasting the cars.”
Longer lasting mufflers have been a mixed blessing. That side of the business has slowed, but the custom exhaust business has made up for some of the loss on that side.
Doing business in the automotive field has become a lot more expensive since the introduction of computers, airbags and computerized diagnostic systems.
“We used to get by without any diagnostic equipment,” Wheeler said. “It was just unheard of.”
Throw in the cost of maintaining that equipment and the frequent employee certifications that have to be completed, and it gets even costlier.
“There’s always something new you need to get certified for,” Wheeler said. “It’s not a backyard, do it in your friend’s garage industry anymore ... the technology has changed so much and if you’re not keeping up with this you’re not doing justice for the customers.”
One of the things that hasn’t changed at Floyd’s is the automobile paint that is used — PPG.
“We do have a lifetime written guarantee on our paint,” Wheeler said. “Which is kind of unique in the industry. We’ve used the same brand of paint since 1978.”
railroadhorn (anonymous) says...
This business may have grown too fast. They can be very testy on the telephone at times to loyal customers. I excuse it because they do good work, but I wonder if they have enough office support? There's room for improvement, but still it's a super place to go for car repair.
April 6, 2008 at 11:43 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )