Shop owner has seen it all in 55-year career
Ira Murdick has spent a fair share of his 75 years either in front of a wheel or under the hood of a car.
These days, he usually stands behind a counter at Murdick's Auto Parts & Racing Supplies, making sure his customers do more of the former and less of the latter.
Murdick's 55-year career in the trade started at Murphy Auto Parts, a Butler shop that has long since closed. He planned on buying the store and taking it over, but the owner passed away before Murdick could carry through with it.
It was then, in December 1968, that he decided to try his hand at running his own brick-and-mortar business in Connoquenessing Township.
It started solely as a speed shop. Murdick and his brother had stock cars, but couldn't buy the parts for them. With money he had set aside, he purchased carburetors and other equipment needed for the race cars. He got into selling drag racing parts and even entire engines, at one point.
Not long after, Murdick expanded his catalog to include auto parts. In 1970, he erected the building his shop still sits in today.
“It's been 53 years now,” Murdick said. “And we're still going.”
Murdick said his auto parts shop was the first in Butler to computerize its inventory, which helped keep count of how many parts had been sold and allowed product pricing to stay consistent. Each part had to be entered into the computer manually. Other stores soon followed suit.
For a while, he also sold parts from a truck at the racetrack. That idea didn't take long to be copied, either.
While chain stores strive to keep up with the times, Murdick has kept all the bases covered.
Things overlooked at other places are the lifeblood of his business and the minor parts, he said, are what keep a vehicle going.
“When I stocked something, I put in the little parts as well as the big parts,” Murdick said. “(Whereas) with the big mass stores, they don't worry about the rest. ... Other parts stores, as soon as (the sales on a part slow down), they send them back. I keep the old stuff.”
In an overcrowded stockroom, Murdick has parts dating back to the 1920s. He explained that, when he first started, a vehicle used one of 30 types of mufflers. Today, he estimated, nearly 5,000 mufflers make up the market.
“You can't stock all of that,” Murdick said. “You've just got to be a guesser of what the market is going to be (made up of) in your local area.”
Through helping his brothers put race cars together mostly from junkyard parts when he was younger, Murdick gained an expertise with specialized speed parts that other stores can't offer. Today, his nephew, Dave, is one of Lernerville Speedway's top runners. His great nephew also races.
Murdick has toyed with a little bit of everything, he said, and has worked on just about every vehicle one can imagine. It's not uncommon for people who work at other stores to come in just to pick his brain.
“I tell them it's getting awfully full anymore,” Murdick said, laughing.
At one time, Murdick had 14 employees. Now, he practically runs the shop himself, with some help every now and then from his children — Renae, Lori, Rose and William. His wife of 54 years, Sharon has given a hand when needed, too.
Murdick makes orders each morning before going to work. When he gets home after his shift, he fills out the needed paperwork. On the weekends, he and his daughter-in-law, Roberta, take care of his U-Haul rental business.
As falling leaves transition into slick roadways, the salt and chemicals put down to counter the weather conditions might take their toll on older vehicles' brake rotors and exhausts. Rust might eat away at others.
“You'd think the factories almost design cars to (wear away) sometimes,” Murdick said. “It's a constant change of parts and how long they last.”
When the locals' vehicles do inevitably need attention, Murdick will be there to lend a hand, just as he has been for the better part of a half century.
