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Column for March 7, 2005
A lasting effect created by the 1970s energy shortages
was the way we get our gasoline. In a few short years, we went from full
service stations which pumped the gas, checked the oil and fixed your car
to making ourselves content with self-service stations which offered ‘pump
your own’ gas and sold convenience store items without any service bays.
This created an opportunity for three brothers, Richard, Robert and James
Sabo, to open an auto parts store in Flint called Action Automotive in 1976.
The auto parts store was successful enough for the brothers to open more
stores in former Sunoco stations which, of course, also offered Sunoco gasoline.
One of them is pictured in its abandoned state. That is the former Action
Auto #2 which began as a converted Sunoco station, still offering Sunoco
gas (as you can tell from the ghosts of Sunoco signage on the canopy.) It
expanded to include service bays and even had an out building which served
as a training center. When I hinted in an earlier column about Action Auto,
it was suggested that I take pictures of the former Action Auto #2 at Center
Road at I-69 in Burton. It’s a good thing I did because it was torn
down before 2004 ended. Unlike most Action Auto stores, this one did not
reopen as anything else. That site was contaminated and is listed as
Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site number MID000674879. No one
wants to be saddled with the environmental cleanup cost which explains why
this location was abandoned. 
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Starting with the one store in 1976,
it grew to 27 stores in 1984. By 1986, Action Auto was doing $60 million
in annual business with its chain of combination auto parts, repair and
self-service gas stations with locations throughout central Michigan. The
company went public in 1987 when it had 52 stores and a long term debt of
$16.4 million. The Action Auto management was very ambitious and even offered
franchises. They wanted to be the McDonald’s for your car and designed
a unique hip roof for not only its ‘one stop auto shops’ but also
for its gas station canopies. They even made the roof design a registered
trademark. The unique design of the roof allows you to figure out which locations
were former Action Auto stores. In 1988, it grew to 67 stores and opened
a huge distribution warehouse at the corner of Longway and Averill in Flint.
But the rapid growth created a staggering $36.2 million long term debt. At
its peak, it was a $100 million operation with 71 stores. But the combination
of rapid growth and undercapitalization was the company’s Achilles’
heel and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1990.
Action Auto auctioned off 50 properties including 12 stores reducing the
number of stores to 45. 
Most of the Action Auto stores, 32 of them, were sold to Total Petroleum
in 1991 and most were converted to Total stations. I believe Total sold the
locations which were located near existing Total locations. The number of
Action Auto properties Total acquired increased to 55 stores after a deal
was made with the State of Michigan limiting Total’s liability for former
Action Auto properties which were contaminated sites to $14.2 million. These
Total stations were later converted to Speedway stations after Speedway parent
Marathon Ashland Petroleum bought Total’s retail operations in Michigan.
What was left of Action Auto became ServiceMax, owned by an investment firm,
which leased the service bays of former Action Auto stores from Total. There
were 27 ServiceMax shops which initially offered parts and service, but switched
to the more profitable mix of tires and service. But that didn’t last
very long. Locally, ServiceMax shrank from seven Flint area locations in
1994 to two in 1997 and none in 1998. One former Action Auto in Clio became
a Chrysler dealership which is on the Internet at
http://www.cliochrysler.com
and you can still see the distinctive Action Auto look on this dealership.
Some former Action Auto locations were acquired by Coopersville MI-based
Admiral Petroleum which converted the service areas of their locations to
retail space. An Admiral station which used to be Action Auto is pictured
here. Also pictured is a Speedway station--in which C&B Tire leases the
service area–and a Rich (former Speedway) station in which the service
area is vacant. That space used to house a ServiceMax and two different
franchised transmission shops. Rich is a secondary gasoline brand owned by
Speedway SuperAmerica LLC. I’ve also included a former Action Auto,
now a Marathon station and convenience store, which just sold parts and gas
and had no service bays. 
Before I conclude this month’s column, I note with great sadness the death of Max Fisher, whom I mentioned in my column dated March 20, 2004 titled "Traveling Michigan and Gassing up Before Self-Serve." He was 96 and was considered to be the best friend Detroit ever had. For my next planned series of columns, I’ll be traveling. I’ll be eastbound on I-69 to where it ends for my first stop.
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