Howard Mackey's trip to the top.

• Author: Mattson, Sue
• Position: M & O Auto Parts

HOWARD MACKEY'S TRIP TO THE TOP

In 40 years of business, the Fairbanks entrepreneur's M & O Auto Parts has traveled the road from an out-of-the-way parts place to the automotive industry's Jobber-Machine Shop Operator of the Year.

WHEN HOWARD MACKEY opened the doors of a business that this year is celebrating its 40th year, customers had to travel a round-about route over dirt roads to reach it.

Travel that route they did. In 40 years, M & O Service Station grew from a small store offering gas, groceries and auto repairs to M & O Auto Parts Inc., a 14,000-square-foot store selling auto parts retail and wholesale and operating a nationally recognized machine shop.

Mackey, 64, is a whiz at dates, at least those with a personal involvement. He reels off the date the business opened--Feb. 1, 1949--as quickly as most folks do their birthdays. He continues with milestones in the history of the business:

* In 1951 M & O acquired the Nash automobile dealership in Fairbanks and put in a line of auto parts.

* In 1954 groceries were dropped and a showroom was added.

* In 1956 the machine shop was added and Mackey bought out partner Floyd Olson. Gasoline sales and auto repairs were dropped.

* In 1957 the Nash agency was sold, and the business turned exclusively to auto parts and machining.

* In 1959 a branch store was opened.

* In 1981 Mackey set up a 10-year plan to transfer ownership of the business to a group of five employees. Long-time employee Russel Wooden became corporation president.

Today, Mackey acts as a consultant for the business, also spelling managers as vacation relief during summer months. He spends winters in Palm Springs, Calif.

Mackey, not a tall man, sports white hair and natty clothes. He wears a gold chain necklace, complemented by a gold nugget watch band on one wrist and a gold nugget bracelet on the other. His smile comes readily.

Mackey is bullish on Fairbanks and proud of M & O's record during the slow economy the past few years. Though the volume of business is down from the spike it hit during pipeline construction years in the 1970s, the overall trend continues upward, and the number of employees has remained fairly steady at the main and branch stores.

"Fairbanks has always had its highs and lows," he says. "The survivors are those who understand and know that, and run their businesses based on that."

Mackey attributes M & O's success to its record of good service to customers. Many of the parts counter employees have...