1934 Unlike most employers during the Depression, Pep Boys does not cut salaries. In fact, vigorous growth allows Pep Boys of California to raise salaries by 18 percent.
1936–37 The auto manufacturing industry unionizes.
1940 Thanks to the Works Progress Administration and other programs under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the United States finally has a paved system of roads from coast to coast.
1941 The United States enters World War II.
1942 Pep Boys begins and fully funds a Pension Trust Plan for long-term employees.
Car assembly lines shut down as the use of steel is forbidden for nondefense products. Chrysler produces Sherman tanks. Ford produces B-24 Liberator bombers.
Pep Boys stores in the 1940s were noted for their window displays featuring Manny, Moe, and Jack as well as the large, Art Deco–styled sign titled “The Pep Boys Auto Supplies,” common to Pep Boys stores of the era.
Rubber is scarce, leading to a surge of sales in tire patch kits.
1945 World War II ends. Half of all cars in the United States are at least ten years old. Rather than spend time designing new models, car makers manufacture their old models in order to meet huge postwar consumer demand.
1946 Pep Boys becomes a public company listed on the American Stock Exchange. (The California Pep Boys, a separate corporation, is not part of the offering.)
1947 Pep Boys moves its general offices in Philadelphia from Fifth and Courtland Streets to 3111 West Allegheny Avenue, which originally contained a warehouse and offices. (The building is no longer a warehouse but remains the company’s headquarters.)
Pep Boys sells merchandise on credit for the first time since the Great Depression.
Studebaker introduces the first car designed after the war.
California authorizes the building of a new type of fast road called the freeway.
1948 The “Big Three” automakers (Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors) all introduce new models. GM’s Cadillac, with its tail fins, sets a trend for car design throughout the 1950s.
1950 Pep Boys reaches its post-World War II goal of sixty stores. Further expansion is put on hold due to shortages of automotive supplies.
The company begins an unbroken chain of paying cash dividends to shareholders.
1953 Pep Boys experiments with television by sponsoring baseball games from Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C.
The Chevrolet Corvette power-top convertible becomes one of America’s most sought-after cars.
1954 Ford joins the sports car trend with the first Thunderbird.
1955 The company establishes The Pep Boys Educational Foundation, which provides college scholarships to children of employees.
1956 Carmakers offer air-conditioning as an option for the first time.
The Interstate Highway Act funds a nationwide system of toll-free roads. Some 41,000 miles of roads will be built through 1966, at a cost of $54 billion.
1957 The United States faces a financial recession and a blow to its pride when Russia launches the spacecraft Sputnik. Funds are diverted to the Cold War. Smaller, more gas-efficient cars such as the American Motors Rambler are introduced.
1958 Pep Boys partners with Diners Club to offer a customer charge program.
The company enlarges the warehouse portion of its Allegheny Avenue building by 10,000 square feet in order to warehouse its own tires. The expansion costs $109,000.
The first Volkswagen Beetle is sold in the United States.
1959 Cofounder Emmanuel “Manny” Rosenfeld dies. His son Lester, who joined the company in 1946, is named to the board of directors.
Pep Boys pays off its mortgage on 3111 West Allegheny Avenue, now owning its headquarters building free and clear.
1961 Two companies officially become one as the Philadelphia-based The Pep Boys—Manny, Moe & Jack acquires The Pep Boys—Manny, Moe & Jack of California.
The company expands into Texas under the leadership of Robert P. Strauss, Moe’s son.
The United States establishes a military presence in Vietnam.
1964 Pep Boys’ Texas subsidiary is merged into the parent corporation.
The economical but fun-to-drive Ford Mustang is an instant success. Competitors counter with such “muscle cars” as the Chevrolet Camaro and the Plymouth Barracuda.
1966 In the wake of Ralph Nader’s 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed (an indictment of the Chevrolet Corvair), cars begin to have seat belts.
As this 1960s-era storefront proves, Pep Boys specialized in eye-catching window displays that could pique anyone’s curiosity. Showing everything from swing sets to bicycles and tires, customers were always sure to see something in the window they needed for their home or vehicle.
1969 Sales of foreign cars top 1 million in the U.S. However, large and midsized cars still account for 72 percent of all U.S. sales.
1970 The Clean Air Act gives automakers six years to cut emissions in new cars by 90 percent.
1971 Pep Boys begins to close smaller, outmoded stores and disbands its Texas operation.
1973 Benjamin Strauss, Moe’s son, is named president. Moe remains company chairman.
U.S. troops leave Vietnam after a ceasefire is declared.
The Arab oil embargo forces Americans to line up for gas, and ushers in 55-mile-per-hour speed limits nationally.
The economic climate worsens as inflation and interest rates rise. Pep Boys fights back with new and improved stores and more aggressive promotions.
A circa 1970s store uniform patch prominently displays Manny, Moe, and Jack.
1975 Pep Boys’ sales top $100 million for the first time. The company rebuilds a California warehouse damaged by fire the year before and capitalizes on two national crazes by selling citizens band radios and recreational vehicle accessories.
1976 Pep Boys begins an ambitious program of store remodeling, aimed at making stores more self-service oriented. This allows outlets to carry up to 8,000 items, more than any offered by competitors.
Sunday openings become the norm for most Pep Boys stores in the East.
The company shifts from a six-day to a five-day work week at its stores “without a corresponding reduction in individual compensation.”
1978 Moe steps down as chairman, but stays on as a company director and chairman emeritus.
Pep Boys announces that its emphasis will be on large, freestanding stores with extensive service capabilities.
The company introduces AutoSense, one of the industry’s first diagnostic computer systems. It also begins computerizing its sales and inventory functions.
1979 Pep Boys opens its largest store to date, a 26,000-square-foot Garden Grove facility in Anaheim, California.
Auto sound equipment becomes a growth center for Pep Boys.
Mitchell Leibovitz joins the company as vice president of finance.
Murray Rosenfeld dies.
1980 In its most aggressive expansion in a decade, Pep Boys opens nine new stores.
The company becomes a television sponsor of the Philadelphia Phillies, airing commercials with Manny, Moe, and Jack as animated characters.
In prudent response to interest rates nearing 20 percent, the company prepays all variable rate mortgages and replaces its in-house credit sales with an outside credit card program.
Japan overtakes the United States as the world’s largest car manufacturer.
Near insolvency, Chrysler secures a loan guarantee of $1.2 billion from the U.S. government.
1981 Pep Boys expands its TV sponsorships to the Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams.
1982 Cofounder Maurice “Moe” Strauss dies in Beverly Hills, California.
Morton A. “Bud” Krause becomes president and chief operating officer. Benjamin Strauss continues as chairman and adds the CEO title.
Pep Boys stock moves to the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol PBY).
The company opens eleven new stores and begins building two new warehouses. A milestone is
the Los Angeles flagship on Washington Boulevard, a 40,000-square-foot facility with twenty-three service bays.
Japanese carmaker Honda opens a plant in Ohio, sending shock waves through Detroit.
1984 Unique in the field, Pep Boys commits itself to the “automotive superstore” concept and national expansion. Service and repair are the fastest-growing business segments.
Chrysler achieves financial turnaround with sales of $2.4 billion.
1986 Mitchell G. Leibovitz becomes the first non-founding family member to be president of Pep Boys. Benjamin Strauss remains chairman and CEO.
An expanded point-of-sale program enhances the company’s purchasing, distribution, and financial systems.
Many competitors merge or are acquired. Pep Boys remains independent, introducing an ambitious $475 million “Five-Year Plan” to expand its distribution, upgrade its systems, and double its store count.
1987 Pep Boys introduces TV ads with Manny, Moe, and Jack as three-dimensional animated figures.
1988 Pep Boys consolidates headquarters and administrative functions to Philadelphia to centralize its organizational structure for better efficiency.
Company stores stop selling bicycles and begin selling name-brand tires.
1990 Pep Boys introduces the Banner Service program for excellence in customer service.
1991 Pep Boys sales top $1 billion for the first time.
Steady monthly sales increases follow the company’s conversion from Sale Price/Regular Price to Everyday Low Prices.
The company completes its conversion to branded parts.
The first “warehouse unit store,” in Exton, Pennsylvania, opens. The company modifies existing stores on this new model, which offers a more user-friendly shopping environment.
General Motors starts the Saturn division.
1992 Benjamin Strauss retires as chairman, but remains on the board of directors.
Four Pep Boys stores are destroyed during civil unrest in Los Angeles following the infamous Rodney King trial. Local citizens defend the store on Hollywood Boulevard.
All stores convert to the PIR (perpetual inventory/automatic replenishment) system.
The company focuses on a three-tiered customer base: do-it-yourself, do-it-for-me, and the professional technician. It is the only aftermarket retailer capable of serving all three groups.
Pep Boys publishes its first bilingual catalogs for selected Hispanic markets.
Service managers, along with district and regional field management teams, are required to be certified by the Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE).
1993 All Pep Boys stores are open seven days and six nights a week (where legally permitted).
All service centers implement an electronic work order program.
The company repositions its tire line and creates the position of tire specialist.
Pep Boys registers its website www.pepboys.com.
1994 Mitchell G. Leibovitz is elected chairman.
The company opens its first “Concept 4 Supercenter” in Broomall, Pennsylvania. An additional fifty stores are converted to warehouse-format Supercenters.
The company begins to establish maintenance relationships with national auto fleets.
1995 Pep Boys celebrates its entry into Puerto Rico and the opening of its five-hundredth store.
1996 Pep Boys underwrites Road Ready, a car repair program on The Nashville Network, a cable television channel.
1998 Pep Boys solidifies its position as the industry leader in service and tire sales.
1999 Pep Boys expands truck and SUV sections in almost 500 stores.
The company consolidates its distribution function into a 400,000-square-foot warehouse in Chester, New York.
For the first time in company history, do-it-for-me customers (rather than do-it-yourselfers) account for a majority of store revenues.
2000 Pep Boys adds a vehicle evaluation program to tap into the $361 billion used-car marketplace.
The company introduces a $70 million Profit Enhancement Plan (PEP).
2001 The PEP initiative results in savings of $84 million.
Company stock achieves the seventh highest percentage increase on the New York Stock Exchange.
2002 George Babich, chief financial officer, adds the role of president. Mitchell G. Leibovitz remains chairman and CEO.
Online shopping for 120,000 accessories and tires is introduced at www.pepboys.com.
Rebranded “Pep Express Parts,” the company’s auto parts delivery business operates from 450 stores and 1,300 delivery trucks.
2003 Mitchell G. Leibovitz retires as chairman and CEO.
Bernard Korman becomes chairman.
Lawrence N. Stevenson joins the company as CEO and a member of the board of directors.
Corporate restructuring results in the closing of 33 of the company’s 629 stores (approximately 5 percent) and a subsequent reduction of about 3 percent of store employees.
Stores introduce new product categories such as personal transportation items, including electric and gas scooters, resulting in higher year-to-year sales by the third quarter.
2004 Store remodeling begins.
New product categories are added, including Personal Transportation, Travel, and Garage.
New logo and brand identity are unveiled.
Branded tires rejoin the Pep Boys lineup.
Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) is initiated.
Express Service is introduced, focusing on core repairs and maintenance services.
A new Pep Boys Auto Supercenter.
Air filter Keeps dirt and particles from entering the engine with the air needed for combustion.
Alignment The position of the wheels and suspension; alignment problems cause the car to pull to one side or drive erratically.
Alternator Charges the battery with “new” electricity; powered by the engine.
Balance A wheel is out of balance when its weight is uneven in different places; corrected by service technicians with metal weights.
Battery Stores electricity so you can start your car and provides electricity to all the components that need it.
Brake calipers On disc brakes, these “grab” the rotor with the brake pads to make the wheel stop.
Brake fluid Forced from the master cylinder into the brakes (both drum and disc), forcing pistons out against the calipers or shoes, causing the wheel to stop.
Brake lining On drum brakes, the surface (on the inside of the drum) whose friction against the brake shoes causes the wheel to stop.
Brake pad On disc brakes, the surface that the calipers grab and force against the rotor, causing the wheel to stop.
Brake shoes In drum brakes, the parts that push out against the brake lining, causing the wheel to stop.
Catalytic converter Converts more toxic waste fumes into less harmful water and carbon dioxide. Regular inspections and service on this keeps your car from failing an emissions test.
Clutch Moves the engine onto the transmission or gear box—in manual cars, the driver manually releases it to change gears.
Coil (or ignition coil) Turns a tiny amount of electricity into serious voltage to the spark plugs so it can ignite the gas/air mixture.
Control arms A pair of rods that go from the body of the car to the wheels, connecting them together with the shocks or suspension system cradled in the middle.
Coolant Fluid, usually in a 50/50 mix with water that circulates around the engine to keep it cool.
Crankshaft The “pedals” of the engine that pistons push down on and cause to rotate, driving your car.
Current The amount of flow of electricity.
Cylinder The housing inside which the gas and air explosion occurs, pushing the piston down against the crankshaft.
Differential Turns the crankshaft’s spin 90 degrees to drive the wheels (think of the crossed top of a T), and determines the difference in wheel speed when the car makes a turn.
Exhaust manifold A
bunch of pipes near the engine where the car breathes out, the first step on the way to the tailpipe.
Fuel filter C’mon. Self-explanatory, right?
Fuel pump Pushes the gas from the tank into the engine.
(Hydraulic) master cylinder Pushes out brake fluid when you step on the brake pedal, which then travels down brake lines and up into the brakes (see brake fluid, brake pad, and brake shoes).
Intake valve Closes and opens, allowing gas and air to enter the cylinder to be ignited by the spark.
Knock/Ping Noise created when there is a misfire in the combustion chamber; often occurs when too low an octane is being burned.
Muffler Quiets the explosions and noise of the engine.
Octane The number that determines the likelihood of gas knocking or pinging.
PCV valve Catches gaseous fuel that has escaped into the rest of the engine and sends it back in to be combusted properly.
Piston In the “engine as bicyclist” metaphor, the “foot” that is pushed down by combustion against the “pedal” of the crankshaft, causing it to turn.
Radiator Doesn’t heat the car—helps heat escape from the engine, keeping it cool!
Radiator cap The cooling system needs to be pressurized properly to work; besides just being a normal fill cap, a radiator cap helps keep that pressure.
E.J. Braswell Page 9
