AUTOINC. ONLINE - Shop Profile

In 1996, Scott Brown took over as owner and operator of Connie and Dick's Service Center, Inc., located in Claremont, Calif., just east of Los Angeles. Claremont is also home to baseball legend Mark McGwire. Sharing a hometown is not the only connection between Brown, McGwire and Connie and Dick's Service Center. Their relationships began more than 20 years ago.

Pictured left to right: Conrad Nelson, Scott Brown and Dick Bixel in front of the shop before the new addition was built.

Connie and Dick's has been operating in Claremont for the past 36 years. In 1960, the founders and shop namesakes, Conrad Nelson and Richard Bixel, were working in a Mobil station in downtown Claremont. They decided to open their own shop just below downtown Claremont in a building that is next door to their current location. In 1977, they moved over to their current location on Olive St., where they have been ever since.

Community Service
Being an active participant in the community was always important to Connie and Dick and they decided to sponsor a local baseball team, the Claremont Little League Athletics (A's). In 1976, the A's came in first place. Their star player was the young Mark McGwire. McGwire's father was the coach, and his younger brother also played on the team.

As the team sponsor, Connie and Dick's was presented with a plaque including the names of the players and coaches and a picture of the team. The trophy and picture have been proudly displayed since that time in the office at the shop.

Mark McGwire, middle back row, No. 12. His father is the coach on the left, and his brother is the second from the left in the back row, No. 4.

Early baseball memory:
"Home run in my first at-bat in Little League. Age 10. To right field. My team was the A's. Totally excited about that - of course I was."
- Mark McGwire

During the same year, McGwire was also playing soccer on the Upland Astros Soccer Club in Claremont. Scott Brown was playing on that same soccer team. The following summer, both boys toured Southern Mexico with the Upland Astros. The team's secret weapon was their 6-foot goalie named Mark McGwire.

"This was an under 13 team and to have a six-foot tall guy in the goal was really unusual. He was a great goalie and boy could he kick the ball!" said Brown. "We also had another famous athlete on that club who is still playing professional soccer. His name is Cle Kooiman. He played on the last two U.S. World Cup Teams.

"On the tour of Southern Mexico we would stay at other host team members' homes. This was a unique experience, as we stayed in homes that had no running water, some that had rock floors, and we even stayed in the Mayor of Toluca's mansion, which had a guest house, tennis courts, maids and butlers," said Brown. "I remember one game we played in a town called Calle de Bravo where the field was nothing but dirt. Midway through one of the halves we had to stop in order for a farmer to allow his animals to pass across the field."

History
Even though Brown was friends with McGwire, and Connie and Dick's sponsored McGwire's champion little league team, Brown was not familiar with Connie and Dick's Service Center until much later. During Brown's senior year in high school he decided to make automotive service his profession. He attended Arizona Automotive Institute, graduated, and then returned to California to begin his career as an automotive technician. Many years later, in 1990, Brown joined Connie and Dick's as a technician.

With decades of hard work and community service, Connie and Dick had made their shop one of the most profitable and respected in Claremont. In 1993 Connie retired and Brown became his replacement. When Dick (pictured, right) retired soon afterward in 1996, Brown became the sole owner and operator of Connie and Dick's.

Brown is an ASE Master L1 technician and has AC Delco tech certification. (Delco Tech was the previous name for Key Service Outlet). Connie and Dick's employs ASE-certified technicians and is a member of the Automotive Service Association (ASA), the Automotive Service Councils of California (ASC), the International Automotive Technicians Network (iATN) and is an AAA Approved Mechanical Auto Repair Shop.

Connie and Dick's joined ASA, "to become associated with other top level professionals within the industry. We feel that association membership displays professionalism," said Brown. "The information and benefits received from association membership are very valuable."

Inside, before office addition.

Growth
In May 1997, Connie and Dick's expanded their building with the addition of a new office to their workspace of 13,000 square feet. "The office has been a great improvement and we have received many compliments from our customers," said Brown.

The business has more than quadrupled in size as compared to 1962 when it was just Connie and Dick. Now they have eight employees. Six technicians complete repairs on about 90-100 cars per week.

Although Brown is the manager of the shop, he still works on the cars about 25 percent of the time. "I like the technical challenges that surface," said Brown. "The constant variety makes life interesting. Although some weeks you feel like you could use a dose of some easy-to-fix cars!"

Marketing
Brown feels that Connie and Dick's provides that extra level of personal service that customers really appreciate. They focus on solving problems properly the first time. They advertise on a local cable network in Claremont that allows them to run commercials on CNN, TNN, ESPN and other cable stations.

"From within the commercial we point our customers to our Web site (http://www.connieanddicks.com) and encourage them to find and bring us a copy of the maintenance chart from the site for a 10 percent discount," said Brown. "This is becoming very effective. In fact, I am seeing one of these maintenance charts almost daily. We feel that if the customer takes the time to read a little about what service intervals they may be at, and come to us for that service, we have just saved some very valuable time."

Baseball fever is in full force in Claremont right now and Brown is considering using his McGwire connection in more of his promotions during opening season. This will compliment his tribute to McGwire on the shop's Web site. Last year Connie and Dick's sponsored the Claremont Little League Phillies and they also sponsor Claremont High School sports teams.

When Brown first started working at the shop he noticed all of the baseball pictures hanging in the office. "I mentioned a few times to Connie and Dick that I had played soccer with Mark and knew him," said Brown.

"I've been following McGwire's baseball career since 1984 when he was on the U.S. Olympic Baseball Team and then he signed with the Angels. I feel that it is really special to know someone that is that famous," said Brown.

McGwire broke Roger Maris' home run record in 1998 by hitting 70 home runs for the St. Louis Cardinals in one season. If Mark McGwire happens to read this, Brown has a message for him: "We have a coupon for you for a free lube oil and filter service for your 1962 Corvette." He also hopes that someday he will get the Connie and Dick's 1976 Little League A's picture autographed by the famous player.

Mark McGwire photos above taken by Scott Brown while attending an Angels game in the early 90s.

Shop Stats

Name: Connie & Dick's Service Center, Inc.
Location: Claremont, Calif.
Number of employees: 8
Square footage: 13,000 (workspace)
Web site: http://www.connieanddicks.com
On the industry: “Our philosophy is to keep our current and new customers as educated about their automobile as possible. The more educated they are about the automobile, the more interested they are in taking care of things.” - Scott Brown, owner

Claremont Shop has Baseball Fever!

Shop Stats