Car Parts Machine & Engine Supply in El Paso, Texas, is a labor of love and knowledge created by the Stafford brothers.

 

Ryan Stafford, a 32-year-old Iraq war veteran with a psychology degree, came to the performance business “fresh” less than five years ago.

 

“My brother Greg and I bought the business at the end of 2005,” he says. “When we bought it, my brother had been working here for about a year-and-a-half. He has a degree in mechanical engineering, and is great at assembling motors.”

 

Ryan, meanwhile, had the drive and business sense to want to own his own shop.

 

“I’d been in Iraq,” he adds, “but we were familiar with this place—we had motors built here in high school and we knew of the reputation. (Greg) didn’t want to run the business, and I love business and wanted to do something as soon as I got home. We worked it out and became partners.”

 

Years in the Making

 

The reputation Car Parts Machine & Engine enjoys has been built over nearly 80 years. The company was started right after World War I.

 

“It’s an interesting story,” says Ryan Stafford. “In 1920, a couple of guys got into the business of selling automotive parts. They bought war surplus from World War I and started reselling parts. Parts were interchangeable back then.

 

“They went on to buy some machine equipment from Detroit factories,” he adds. “They were the first machine shop in the southwestern U.S. From there, they grew the business into a chain of parts stores and eventually had about 20 stores all over the Southwest. That was the height of the original business. However, through some infighting and poor management, the numbers got reduced to a couple of stores, and the guy in charge at that point is the owner we bought it from. He’d closed all but the machine shop.”

 

At the start, the Staffords took on mostly machine work and the “parts” piece of the business grew naturally from those jobs.

 

“We began just doing machine work,” says Stafford, “and then decided to grow into selling parts, so we could provide parts in jobs we were doing.”

 

That meant Car Parts Machine & Engine needed more room in a hurry.

 

“We’ve had to do a couple of store expansions,” says Stafford. “In mid-2009 we were renting part of our building to a brake shop. We moved him out and knocked out the walls and thought we’d have a huge store, but it’s not as huge as we thought it would be. We started with a parts counter and a front office.

 

“Time-wise, it was the worst time to expand, but we did it anyway,” he adds. “It’s been surprisingly good. There is definitely a demand for being able to walk in and touch the product versus just buying it over the Internet. I love the competition, though.”

 

The business currently occupies about 15,000-square-feet, he notes, which provides enough space for the Car Parts staff.

 

“It’s all one building,” says Stafford, “We’ve got five guys in the shop, my brother and me, and our mother Karen.”

 

Changing Product Mix

 

Not surprisingly, the product mix at Car Parts Machine & Engine Supply (www.carpartsmachineshop.com) has evolved over the decades.

 

“Machine work-wise, it’s changed in recent years,” says Stafford. “At one time, back in the 1960s and ’70s, they had three crank grinders, but that’s gone away. Today we’re doing industrial work and race work.”

 

That includes plenty of business in the circle track, Sprint racing, modified and street performance markets.

 

“Circle track race engines are our bread-and-butter,” he explains. “We’ve had a lot of success with that. We’ve never tried to break into drag racing, but we’re starting to now.”

 

How the Staffords attract that business and other customers comes from a combination of a good reputation and online community building.

 

“In this business, word-of-mouth is everything,” Ryan says. “You’ve got to have it—you’ve got to have your reputation. If you’re building engines that win, everyone talks about it. If you treat people badly, that spreads too. We’re the most expensive shop in the city (for labor), but we also do really good work and our parts pricing is competitive. That’s our selling point.”

 

Spreading the word is a constant battle that’s been made easier by the Internet.

 

“We’ve had a lot of trial-and error-marketing,” he adds. “It’s funny because sometimes what you think will work and be fantastic doesn’t work. Then other things work well that you don’t expect.

 

“For example, one of our best marketing vehicles is online forums. I didn’t think online communities were really going to do anything for our business, but I posted pictures of our store after the remodel and then we had a grand opening. It was great. A lot of people came in from that and were buying stuff. People definitely look at what’s going on online, and it’s great in that it’s free.”

 

Along with its online presence, the company is also visible out in the community it serves.

 

“One of the things we’re trying now is full-color billboards at drag strips,” he says.

 

In fact, Stafford notes that the company’s reach has exceeded expectations.

 

“We’ve learned that Mexico is huge market for us,” he notes. “We’re close to the border and they love racing down there. They don’t do mail-order because of shipping issues, so they just drive up from Chihuahua, which is several hours each way. They’ll drive all day to get an intake manifold, so we’re going to try to do some billboards down there.”

 

The Little Things

 

Besides where his customers come from, Stafford also pays attention to what type of customer Car Parts Machine & Engine Supply cultivates.

 

“Any income is disposable when it comes to racing. There’s a guy down the street that sells tires and fixes flats,” he says. “He’s a kid in his mid-20s and married and has a child, but that guy comes here and gets parts for his car.”

 

The business has found a healthy balance.

 

“Percentage-wise, between the industrial work and the race work, we’re about 50/50,” Stafford says. “The industrial side is an older group of guys. It doesn’t seem like a lot of younger people are getting into opening up a truck shop. But the race people, they get into it in high school, and then there are guys in their 60s still into as much as they were in high school. It’s amazing what some people will spend on this. It’s a fanatical group.”

 

Stafford keeps track of those fanatical—as well as industrial—customers the same way he does his inventory: with technology. Technology has proven a boon to Car Parts Machine & Engine Supply in that Stafford can also eyeball what’s moving and what’s not.

 

“We just got computerized with our point-of-sale product,” he says, “and it’s shocking. We’ve got $140,000 worth of inventory in our little store that we’ve paid for.”

 

But it’s the big pieces that get most of the attention.

 

“We’re trying to focus on engine parts since we are a machine shop,” Stafford says. “Being careful, you can stay there and be competitive, like with rotating assemblies. We don’t stock a lot of cylinder heads because you tie up money with a low profit margin. We’ve got cooling products and radiators, performance oils—we’ve got a good selection and that’s a repeat thing, like spark plugs and plug wires. We do engine balancing in the shop, so we’ve got a good selection of balancers and flywheels. That’s a pretty easy sell once someone comes in for that.”

 

It all adds up to a smooth-running business that Stafford feels fortunate to have acquired.

 

“Running this shop is an education process for me,” he says. “My brother is the brains on the technical side. He runs the shop and he’s a fanatic when it comes to engine building. Anything I’m not sure about engine-building-wise, I tell the customer to chat with my brother.”

 

It’s a team approach that serves Car Parts Machine & Engine Supply, and its customers, very well.

 

“What I’ve learned is that you’ve got to have product at a reasonable price, but the customer also deserves expert advice,” Stafford explains. “You can make the margins on this business as you do with anything else. But back in the day, selling speed parts over the counter came with a 50-percent markup. You don’t do that now. You can make money now, but you also need to run a good, solid business.”