Unser Gears Up to Open 2 Auto Care Centers : Partnership: The Indianapolis 500 winner teams up with two businessmen to operate Huntington Beach and Orange facilities.
When four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser sees competitors make mistakes on the racetrack, he passes them. And as Unser sees it, there is a lot of passing room in the business of providing auto care to U.S. drivers.
So Unser has decided to offer an alternative to the nation’s assortment of dealers, gas stations, oil change and other specialty providers--and he will begin in Southern California. On Aug. 1, Unser and Orange County businessmen Richard Peckham and Bob Smith will open a Huntington Beach auto repair center that they envision as the first in a chain of facilities designed to meet all the auto service, maintenance and repair needs of local drivers.
The Huntington Beach Al Unser Auto Care Center, a retrofitted Auto Care 500 facility already owned by Smith, will feature separate facilities for repairing domestic, European and Japanese cars, as well as facilities for lube, smog, brake and muffler service. Customers will receive computer printouts with recommended repairs based on the ages of their cars. A second Unser center, set to open in April, 1994, will be in Orange.
“You hear a lot of complaints from people that they aren’t happy with their maintenance service,” Unser said Monday. “People should have a place where they can bring in their car to be serviced, have it done right and leave as a happy person.”
The facility will be immaculate, with auto racing wall decorations and mechanics dressed in black-and-white outfits patterned after racing’s checkered flag. It will also feature touches such as pagers for customers to let them know when their cars are ready, and it will offer them free rides to work.
“People want value for their dollar, a nice environment and good service,” said Mel Berkley, who will head day-to-day operations. “This is going to be top-notch mechanics performing with quality equipment in clean state-of-the-art facilities--it’s what the industry is dying for.”
Some analysts, however, noted that Unser’s company appears to be steering in the opposite direction from the rest of the automotive industry.
“The complexity of what they are suggesting staggers me,” said Maryann N. Keller, an analyst with the brokerage Furman Selz Inc. in New York.
Though chains like Pep Boys and Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. sell parts and offer installation and other limited services, no one has proposed car care on a scale of that being planned by the Unser group, Keller said.
“No one wants to be a repair shop providing all things to all people. You specialize like Jiffy Lube does with oil changes or Midas with mufflers. Are they going to have a mechanic familiar with every model of every car? For this to work they would need the greatest mechanics and the greatest manager in the world.”
Unser partner Smith, owner of Orange County Plastering in Santa Fe Springs, dismisses such criticism. The Huntington Beach facility, which awaits only the addition of Japanese car service and remodeling to make it complete, has been highly profitable, he said, since it opened 18 months ago under the Auto Care 500 name.
The Unser center in Orange, designed as the model for future franchise expansions, will feature even more facilities, such as both hand and automatic carwashes, a tire store, a gas station and a detailing tunnel exhibiting racing photos and Unser memorabilia, Smith said. It will cost 10 times the $500,000 spent expanding the Huntington Beach facility.
For the facilities to be successful, Smith said, about 200 cars a day will need to be serviced or repaired at each.
Further expansion through franchises will depend on the success of the first two locations, said Peckham, who is chief executive of Westside Building Material Corp. in Anaheim. He is working with Smith to locate and develop auto center sites.
Unser said he has declined many previous endorsement offers but decided to put his name behind the Peckham-Smith group because of its successful existing auto shop, deep pockets and willingness to adhere to his standards.
Unser, who at age 54 has slowed down to five races a year from 16 annually, will put up no money and will receive 20% of the equity in the business if it is successful. He will actively promote and market the business and will sit on an advisory council for the project.
For Unser, the move into auto repair is a return to his racing family’s colorful history. During the Depression, his father, Jerry Unser, founded Unser Auto Care in Albuquerque. That business, though now defunct, helped give the four Unser children--Jerry Jr., Louis, Bobby and Al--the money they needed to get into the expensive sport.
“I have a lot of fond memories of working in my father’s garage, but it wasn’t easy,” Unser said. “My father was a man where you did it the right way or kept on doing it.”
Al Unser Auto Care Centers at a Glance
Business: Automobile maintenance, repair and detailing
Owner: Bob Smith. Al Unser Sr. will receive up to 20% of the equity.
Headquarters: Santa Fe Springs
Huntington Beach location: 23,000-square-foot complex at 19316 Beach Blvd. Includes lube, smog inspection, muffler and brake service for imported and domestic automobiles. Special facilities for fleet vehicles. Will employ about 20 people; expects to service up to 200 cars daily.
Opens: Aug. 1
Orange location: 31,000-square-foot complex at 1935 E. Chapman Ave. Same services as Huntington Beach site plus gasoline and tire sales. An auto-detailing center will feature racing photographs and memorabilia. Will employ about 30 people; expects to service 200 to 250 cars daily.
Opens: April, 1994
Source: Barnes Dyer Marketing Inc.
Profile: Al Unser Sr.
Position: Associate, Al Unser Auto Care Centers
Born: May 29, 1939
Background: Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner and auto racing legend. Began his career in 1957 in Albuquerque. In 1960, he placed second to his brother, Bobby, in the legendary Pikes Peak Hill Climb. The two eventually dominated Indy car racing for decades, challenging each other for the sport’s most glamorous titles. His son, Al Unser Jr., won the Indianapolis 500 in 1992.
Honors: Fourth and most recent driver to win consecutive Indianapolis 500 races in 1970 and 1971. Admitted to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1991.
Source: Barnes Dyer Marketing Inc.
