Dropout was giant in auto parts field

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the latest in a periodic series featuring pioneers in the automotive industry.

A founder, an innovator, an inventor, a marketing genius, a trendsetter: That is only a partial description of John E. Goerlich, a third-grade dropout.

While this series has spotlighted car and truck manufacturing leaders, today's column is a story of a member of the Automotive Hall of Fame who gained prominence as an auto industry supplier.

Born in 1898, Goerlich shied away from work in his father's butcher shop and developed an early interest in motor cars. His business career started by giving driving lessons and teaching the art of automotive repair.

To progress in business, he studied Gregg Shorthand and took typing lessons, which led to a job as secretary to the chairman of Illinois Central Railroad. By attending business meetings, he acquired experience in finance and negotiating.

John E. Goerlich

In the early 1920s, his vocational skills and time spent in the real world earned him a position in the dealer relations department with the Willys-Overland Co. in Toledo, Ohio.

After learning about consumer wants and demands, he left Willys-Overland and became a "waggon jobber" of automotive parts. In those days, there was virtually no retail automotive parts business apart from the auto dealers. What he saw was a "selling system," a better way for manufacturers to reach customers. So he started his own method of distribution. He formed a company, Associated Parts, which became AP Parts in 1933.

Goerlich also found time to invent many parts and accessories that helped shape automobiles. His numerous patents ranged from tools to major items. Twelve of his products were marketed in the 1922 Montgomery Ward catalog. He was 23 at the time.

He was a man of deep conviction and confidence in his own endeavors. He wrote at the time, "I will study relentlessly, untiringly, so that when my big opportunity comes, I will be prepared. I am young, healthy and in a limited measure have been successful. That big opportunities will come, I am absolutely confident."

In 1927, Goerlich patented the Universal Muffler. In 1987, an AP Parts advertisement read, "Keeping America Quiet Since 1927." He developed an auto heater for aftermarket sales. He later sold the heater business as carmakers started installing their own models.

AP Parts made a name for itself during World War II when it received the Army-Navy "E" award for excellence in war production. The company provided "victory pipe" used to transport fuel to Gen. George S. Patton's army.

In the 1950s, AP Parts began producing "Miracle Power," a predecessor to STP. It was one of the many existing companies he was to acquire.

Goerlich was a true marketing guy. He knew what could be sold, and could not, and he knew how, where and when to sell. He never took credit for inventing anything, detested the idea of being called an "engineer" and shied away from titles, preferring to be called the "founder."

Local ties

Paul "Put" Putman met Goerlich's daughter, Smiley, at Northwestern University. They soon were married, and Put later became president of the company. The Putmans now live on James Island.

In 1990 at age 92, Goerlich was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame. Also honored that day were Thomas Murphy, chairman of General Motors; Philip Caldwell, chairman of Ford Motor Co.; and Walter Reuther, head of the United Auto Workers. Good company for a third-grade dropout!

Goerlich died in 1991.

A colleague once said of Goerlich: "Thank goodness for grade-school dropouts. They start businesses so we college graduates have a place to work."

George Spaulding is a retired General Motors executive and distinguished executive-in-residence emeritus at the School of Business and Economics at the College of Charleston.