Densho Digital Archive - Bill Hirabayashi Interview (denshovh-hbill

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BH: So then anyway, I worked for 'em and the first week that I worked, the first job, he gave me car and he didn't give me an estimate on it. So I asked for the estimate. He says, "You don't need an estimate." He says, "Just fix that fender." I said, "Yes, but it's got a molding on it, and I don't want to take the molding off and find out that when I put it back on, that I was supposed to put a new one on or something." And so I says, "Time is money." And so he says, well, so he brought me the estimate, so I looked at the estimate and so every job that he brought me, I looked at the estimate so I knew what to do. But in the meantime, I kind of privately wrote down the labor so I knew what I was doing. Well, then, when Friday came, he came up with a fifty dollar check, and I knew I had already done $220 worth of work for him. So then I just looked at it -- so then one week that I worked that way, and if I was only worth fifty dollars, I thought, "Well, it's time to quit." So then I just said, "Thank you," and I stuck it in my wallet. Then I went outside and backed the car up. And one of the guys said, "What are you doing?" I said, "I'm picking up my tools." Said, "How come?" I said, "Well, you heard him. He just gave me a check." He said, "Yeah," they said, "so what?" I said, "For fifty bucks." And they said, "Fifty bucks?" And I said, "Yeah, that's why I'm leaving. And then before I knew it, by the time I got part of the tools in my trunk, Jim came back out and he said, "Here. Will this keep you here then?" And he gave me another check for another fifty dollars. So then I thought I was worth more, but I just thought, "Well, I don't have a job and no place to go, I better accept it, be humble about it." So then I stayed on working for him.

And after two or three weeks to a month, different people started coming by and they started handing me cards saying, "Hey, if you ever need a job, look me up. I'm Bob Hagen from Hagen Autobody," you know, started doing that. "I'm Skogmo from ABC Motors." So that was fine. But I worked for him for a whole year, and I was all ready to kind of quit, I thought, "I deserve a vacation, but I'm going to quit." And then it happened at the most inopportune time, because this one customer had a real nice car, it was a black car. It was so nice and shiny, and he wanted a part fixed, the body work on it. So I did the body work, but Jim's policy was when the car's all done, take the air hose and blow out the upholstery stuff on the inside, it gets pretty, dust in it, and blow the dust off of the car. But we were not allowed to wash the car. So anyway, I washed that fellow's car, 'cause I ate my lunch, I brown bagged and ate my lunch, and he was at the restaurant. And when he came back, he says, "Who washed that car?" I said, "I did." He said, "What do you want to do that for?" I said, "Because he's my customer just as much as he is your customer. Because if there's anything on that car that wasn't done right," I said, "he knows that it's me, and I'm the guy that has to make it right." And I said, "When that car came here, it was spotless, and I want him to pick it up spotless." And Jim says, "If you start doing something like that," he says, "everybody's going to want their car washed." I said, "Well, I guess you and I have a different idea about the thing." I said, "Can you get me my check?" I said, "I quit." And so he made my check out and I quit, and it was just that simple. And I loaded my tools, and one of the guys said, "God," he says, "now Jim's going to have to buy a port-a-power, and he's going to have to buy a DA sander," because that's what I had that they didn't have.

And I loaded up everything, and I went straight over to Don Skogmo , and I said, "Do you remember me?" He said, "Oh, yeah, you're Benny." Well, Benny Izaki had a gas station on Fiftieth and Washburn, and he got me mixed with him. And I said, "No, I'm Bill." He said, "Oh, yeah," and then he remembered. So right away, he called Jim Baumberg, his manager, he said, "Hey, Jim, this is the guy I was telling you about," whatever. So then Jim got me a stall right away, helped me unload it, and I worked for him. And that ended up that Skogmo got the MG and Jaguar franchise, so we moved to St. Paul. And so then he operated for one year, and then after he operated for one year, he said, "I'm losing so much money," he said, "I'm going to quit. So you guys have to start looking for a new job first of the month." Well, my wife had a car accident, this was in 1953, and her arm was broken and all this sort of thing. So I had to go home, and Skogmo gave me the option to be able to go home and help things and come back again, and my hours were all scattered around, but I had a job. Well, then, when he said he was doing that, I said, "What would it cost for me to buy you?" And he says, "All I care about," he says, "you just have the thing. I don't care, you just buy what parts I have or whatever." But he said, "Make sure the landlord will let you have the building, 'cause he's a tough guy." So I looked up old man Wicker, I mean, Mr. Wicker, and he says, "Okay, you can... he asked a bunch of questions and then he said, "Okay, you pay me the one month's rent in advance, and one for the month, and one month extra so that if you destroy something, so if you give me three months' rent, then you could have it." So I did that. And from that point, then things went well, and I did all kinds of different things, and things went real well. And that's when Jaguar came to ask me if I wanted a dealership.

MA: So you ended up involved with a Jaguar franchise. And you had the --

BH: Yeah, Jaguar and MG. But the thing was, see, I was repairing the MGs and Jaguars because Don's customers still kept coming. The customers were telling the distributors that I was doing all this stuff, and they were not satisfied with the dealer that they had. Well, with that kind of a thing, it was more or less gifted to me. So then when I told the distributor, I said, "Look, I don't have that kind of money." 'Cause Don Skogmo , his parents were, they had this, like Ace Hardware, they had a whole bunch of Gamble-Skogmo stores like that. Anyway, so what happened was that when I told the distributor that I don't have that kind of money, they said, "Yes, you do." I said, "No I don't." They said, "Because we already checked with your bank, and you have good credit. And so we could loan you x-number of dollars so you could buy so many cars," this and this and that. Well, it all goes back to when I first started -- I'm jumping around -- but when I started, I paid for everything that came into my place, whether it be paint or sandpaper or whatever, parts. Well, then I got to a point where I thought to myself, this is hard because I have to wash my hand, go in the office, open up the checkbook and write, and it kills a lot of time. And I'm an advocate of "time is money." So then I went over to M&L Motor Supply, and I said to Tim Lipshultz, I said, "Hey, Tim," I said, "I'm here to talk to you." He says, "Well, how's business?" I says, "It's going good." And he said, "Well, are you here to pick up some more paint?" I said, "No. I brought you a check." And he says, "What for?" I said, "Well, this is in advance. So when this is used up, let me know, and I'll come and give you another check." And he said, "Oh, okay." And so that's all it was. So then, well, I kept on working, and then I decided that I'd probably used that amount up already, so then I went over and Tim says, "How's it going?" I said, "Good." And I said, he said, "Well, what are you picking up today?" I said, "Nothing, I just brought you this check." And he says, "Bill, hold that check." He says, "You're good. Your credit's good." He said, "You don't have to worry." And so I got my first person that gave me credit. And that's how I worked for several months, just as a body shop, then I started taking on mechanical work, too. But then from that point, it was tough to keep having to stop and write stuff. And by that time, I started getting a few employees and stuff.

So then I went to Midway Chev to pick up a fender or something one day, and I got talking to the parts manager, I gave him the same song and dance I gave Tim Lipshultz. So then he says, "Well, you'd have to talk to Ralph Kresel, who's the owner." And just as we were talking like that, then he came in the door, and he was a very wealthy man. And when Joe introduced me to him, then Mr. Kresel says, "Oh, I know who you are," he says, "You're in that Yellow Cab Building, and so on and so forth." Says, "Yeah." So then Joe right away says, "Bill wants to know how he can get credit from you." And so Kresel says, "Oh, that's no problem." He says, "Well, tell me who you have credit with." I said, "Well, right now," I said, "I have credit with M&L." And he says, "Who gave it to at M&L?" I says, Tim Lipshultz did." He says, " Tim Lipshultz gave you credit?" I said, "Well, yes." He said, "How long?" "Oh, I've had it for," whatever it was, two or three months, whatever. He says, "Shucks," he said, "if Tim Lipshultz gives you credit, you're okay. Hey, Joe, Bill's okay. He could have credit here." And so that went on for a few more months, and then I went to Slawik Chrysler Plymouth and I used to buy cars from him, used cars that they had (wholesale). And then I gave him the same shot. And he says, "There's no reason why you can't have credit." He says, "Who do you have credit with?" And I mentioned Tim Lipshultz and Ralph Kresel. He says, "Did you get it from Ralph Kresel himself?" I said, "Well, yeah," you know, not from his bookkeeper. And he said, "Don't worry about Bill, you're okay." So he told the parts manager, "Bill's okay for credit. Twin Cities Autobody is okay for anything."

MA: I see, so that's how you built the credit and established the business?

BH: That's how I built the credit, by making it easy for myself by bringing a check ahead of time and saying, "Use this check for whatever amount of stuff I buy, and then when you're finished with it, let me know, so I can bring you another check." And Tim Lipshultz had a reputation, I guess -- and now I know -- he was very close with the money, and he scrutinized everybody that he had credit with. And so this is why Ralph Kresel knew about it and so did Harold Slawik. And I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a shopping center called Har Mar. And that's because after Harold passed away, his wife's name is Marie, and she opened up this shopping center and called it Har Mar, and it's close to where I live. H-A-R for Harold, M-A-R for Marie. That's where Har Mar came from.