Do You Remember? Dec 07

December 26th, 2007 | webmaster | Memory Lane

By Gene Norton

Do you remember the old repair shops and mechanics that were around in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s? Here are a few of them that I remember and where they were located.

Mr. Early Perry lived on what was called back street where he had a little shop behind his house. He liked the old flathead Ford engine. How about the garage operated by Cliff Anderson on 211 beside White Oak Church? Later on it was Lewis Building Supply until he closed down. That building was torn down and the property is now a parking lot.

Do you remember Frank’s Auto Parts, owned and operated by Frank Hester? He had a repair shop in the rear of the building and his sons, Frank Junior and Bobby did mechanic work there.

How about the big white block building that was located where the post office is now? At the time it was a garage and you could get just about anything repaired on your car back then. It was operated by Bobby Tatum and his partner and I think he was a McDonald. Later on the Sunshine Laundry was there and they rented uniforms and that sort of stuff. The building suffered fire damage and was torn down.

Do you remember the long block building that was on the corner of Butler Mill Road and highway 211? It was owned by Albert Thompson. Over the years it had a store and sewing shop in it. The time I remember Albert Junior put a body shop there for awhile and Roscoe Mayes did the body and paint work. The building is gone now and the lot is used by Richardson Used Cars for parking cars.

The Ford place had a body shop behind their car lot and to get to it you had to drive through the middle of the car lkot. Milton Davis operated the shop for years. The building is gone and is now an empty lot. Across the street there was a metal building with a fence around it used for storage and wrecked cars. Later on there was a body shop located there for awhile operated by Steve Hargrove. The metal building was moved behind the fire station and used by the town maintenance department for awhile. First Citizens Bank is located on that land now where the metal building was moved from.

Buddy Cain operated a garage just across the railroad on Pine Ridge. That building is still there.

Do you remember the welding shop C.R. Lewis operated? It was just across the bridge on highway 242. There is no telling how many lowering blocks and cut outs he made for all the young drivers back in the 509’s and 60’s. The old building is still there and is now a garage.

Buddy Butler did mechanic work at the Amoco station a few years.

Do you remember Shorty Ward’s Upholstery Shop located on highway 410 across from what is now the Time Saver Store? His house and shop was all in one. He moved away from the ‘Boro but the house and shop is still there.

All of the gas stations in town at the time did a lot of minor repairs and I am sure that I didn’t mention all of the shops and mechanics that worked in the area. A lot of people work on their own cars back then. I know that I have pulled a few motors out of cars from the limb of a tree in the backyard and a lot of other people did to. I guess that is where the term shade tree mechanic came from and if you were lucky you had a cardboard floor under the shade tree. My how things have changed. Ever now and then you can still see a motor on a chain hanging from a tree limb.

The cars of the 60’s era are hard to beat. Most of them looked good, they rode good, and if you liked performance, you could get one that was really fast. If you worked on the cars of that time, it was fun and you always had grease under your fingernails.

Most of the old mechanics are gone, like most of the places they worked. The cars are almost gone of that time. You see one now and then on the road and at car shows. I guess a lot of us are lost in the 60’s when it comes to cars and as I think about it, I can’t remember the last time my hands and fingernails have been grease free.

Until next time, “Do you remember?”