Until quite recently, Ron Jones’ unique salvage operation had been called “All Camaro and Firebird,” a retailer of used parts for 1970 and newer year-model GM F-Body cars located in North Little Rock, Ark.
But the hard and fast rule of supply and demand forced a change: GM stopped making F-Bodied cars, and the Arkansas economy recently slipped into last place in the nation.
“We’ve gotten into a situation where less is more,” says Jones. “We’ve reduced our staff and maximized our profits through some of the changes we made in staffing. But we’re starting to build people back up and go again.”
Regarding the demise of the venerable Camaro and Firebird, he states, “it was unbelievable. But frankly I blame General Motors a little bit; I think they probably had 60-year-olds designing cars they were trying to sell to 20-year-olds...so I went ahead and branched out into other arenas when I first started hearing the rumors. I created another entity: Ronny’s Late Model Used Auto Parts, which supplies parts for other GM models and Fords. In the meantime, we’re just watching to see what’s happening.”
Involved with auto parts and repair since he was 17, Jones opened his first salvage yard/wrecker service in 1987. “We didn’t specialize in anything at that point,” he explains. “(But in 1988) I had decided to specialize because I thought it was better money, and I chose Camaros and Firebirds as they were a childhood love. And there was (better money) for a very long time — until they discontinued the cars.”
Currently, most of Jones’ market encompasses the central Arkansas area within a 100-mile radius.
“And we do draw new business all the time through the yellow pages, as well as the Locator Magazine, a periodical dedicated to this industry and sent to shops and repair facilities such as myself,” he explains. “We have done extensive advertising in that area.”
Jones also maintains a body shop and mechanical repair shop, something rather unique to the salvage yard business, but as he explains, retail is a very crucial part of his business, since this allows him to make a connection with customers by selling them a retail part, enticing them to come back for service.
Unlike most salvage yards, which today focus on selling to body shops, Jones does things the old-fashioned way, having built up a large and faithful walk-in clientele due to his specialization.
“We do a lot of (wholesale) also,” says Jones, “but we seem to be a little bit more customer-oriented as far as the retail end. We take the time to go check things for people, try to get stuff off a car before they get here; everything is inventoried on Fast Parts, a salvage yard software package.”
To help grab customer interest, Jones also keeps eye-catching items on display in the retail store: “We have shelves of aluminum wheels,” he reports. “We’ve got seats, taillamps, tires, speaker boxes; we also still sell a lot of engine packages for street rod deals, like the LS1 and LT1 Camaro and Firebird power plants. We usually have one or both of those on display on little rolling carts.”
Jones has also set up a website with a parts catalog, ronnyslatemodel.com, but admits to less-than-spectacular results thus far.
“It’s not been as lucrative as I thought it might be,” he acknowledges. “The Internet has caused things to become a price war; a lot of those customers don’t seem to be interested in service after the sale, but rather how much the part is. Call me old fashioned, but that type of selling is irritating to me. I want to give people a good piece and good service. But we’re also on other locator systems like carparts.com and Parts Express, a hotline service between multiple yards, which is nationwide, computerized and satellite operated. So we have the ability to buy or sell through many different outlets via the Internet, but it’s still not the same as ‘hands on’ sales.”
In that regard, Jones’ specific plan is to continue with his customer service and try to grow his business through his unique retail outlet.
In the meantime, he is watching and waiting to see what General Motors does.
“I’ve been in the SUV/truck market for quite a few years because I follow the markets as they take place,” he reports, “but the auto industry is a little fickle right now; trying to get ahead of the market, to guess where it’s going, is a little difficult. However, I believe that the market is going to change and cycle back to a sportier type of car. This may just be craziness on my part, but I think that General Motors is going to return with a retro Camaro. I haven’t heard any whisperings of that, but if they don’t, they’ll surely be losing out on the growing retro market. After all, they are building some big horsepower cars right now; I believe we are heading back to a muscle car era.”
Hey, nobody ever believed the Pontiac GTO would ever be resurrected, but it’s here. Can the Camaro and Firebird be that far behind?
The Vital Stats
Years in business: 17 years
Growth plans: Adding another 8,700 sq. feet of service space.
Number of employees: Three in retail; seven in support and service
Wholesale/retail ratio: 60/40
Snapshot of Ronny’s Late Model Used Auto Parts: Started his own salvage yard in 1987; sold this after 11 months to create All Camaro & Firebird, a niche market used parts business. After growth, the core business is once again a salvage yard, with emphasis on retail and service.
Affiliation: Arkansas Automotive Dismantlers and Recyclers (AADR)
Competition: Other local salvage yards, but not on the same retail/service level.
Location/Facility size: Located in North Little Rock, Ark., the retail store is 3,200 sq. feet; the whole facility, including warehouses and shop, is around 28,000 sq. feet, with 14.5 acres of salvage yard.
