Fred’s Auto Then & Now

After so many years in the professional automotive field, I’m still learning every day.  From time to time, I’ll reflect on how things were back when we started in 1974 compared to how they are today in 2019:

In following articles, I’ll share some additional comparisons.

Every now and then, it is useful to reflect on then and now. What are the principles that are timeless and which practices should we progress with time?  You may recognize the intersection of Pleasantville and North State Roads in Briarcliff Manor.  This shot from decades ago show less traffic, angled parking, and telephone poles framing each side of the road.

Today, there’s a double-yellow line separating northbound from southbound traffic; there’s a traffic light and leafy trees line both sides of the thoroughfare.

One thing that remained the same is the location of the gas station – although then it was Gulf and now BP.

Back then, we were auto mechanics repairing mostly mechanical systems.  Today, we are technicians repairing interdependent mechanical systems controlled by specialized electronics.

Certain physical break-downsor mechanical failures can be spotted visually.  For example, a flat tire is easily seen and might cause a rough ride.  Tire replacement services changed much, with the exception of using manual tools compared to power tools.  But related tasks, such as balancing has progressed.  Back in the day, we got away with a bubble balancer but today we use road force balancer that spin the tire for a more accurate balance.

Alignment was performed only on front wheels but today we do all four wheels, calibrating  steering sensors on each wheel.  Back in the 70’s cars had drum brakes and you needed a lot of foot pressure to stop a car.  Today, brakes on modern cars have four-wheel disc and anti-lock systems (ABS) that employ power boosters requiring shorter braking distance to stop.  When we first opened, engine tune-upswere generally needed every 10,000 miles replacing spark plugs, the condenser, the distributor cap and ignition wires.  Today only spark plugs are replaced, and typically between 60,000 to 90,000 miles.

Certain operations are not apparent – such as the air and gas combustion mixture that occur in your engine and impacts the emissions of a car.  When the timing between systems is off, your on-board-diagnostic (OBD) computers issues a warning, such as “Check Engine Light”.  There are thousands of diagnostic codes.  We use a diagnostic instrument to retrieve the exact number(s) recorded in your car.  Then we perform specific tests for each indicator.  We perform related test as well to determine if the triggered code correlates to a secondary or “sub-surface” issue.

In the early 1970’s, only California had emission requirements – now most States do.  So much of car’s systems are computer controlled today.  Therefore, a lot more equipment is needed to test and repair cars now.  Whereas we could make do with hand held tools and a handful of repair manuals, today we need scan tools to decipher over 2,000 codes.  We subscribe to four different sites – Alldata, Mitchell, Shop Key and Idenfix – to help us find the information you need quickly so that we can accurately get you back on the road.

At Fred’s Auto, we’ve changed with the technology and with our customers.  Through it all, our core culture has been and is a constant commitment to customer service and the requirement of lifelong learning of its staff members.

To quote a saying I once heard:

“The product changes; but what doesn’t change is how we look after customers”.

How lucky am I that I work with great people and  learn every day doing what I love and earning your business!