In 1965, the landlord sold the property to the Village
of Port Jefferson to construct the "Village Hall"
and the tire shop was forced to move to its next location
where Bob and Frank Fuhrman, a business associate were
able to purchase property on Rt.112 for their businesses.
This agreement between Bob and Frank was done over a hand
shake despite what is now considered a poor business practice!
Service was done outside in the middle of a cow pasture
where Bob had put down crushed rock for a parking lot
and work area. The jacks, tools, and stock items where
housed in the old farm house while compressed air was
supplied from an air compressor on an old service truck.
In 1966 a 50'X100" Steel Strand building was erected,
the farm house was torn down and an asphalt parking lot
was installed. In 1968 the business became known as Kunzler
North Shore Tire and the first new service truck was purchased
and another in 1970. Business was growing, Bob and his
wife Norma had been nursing the business for just over
10 years, both manning the phones, she doing the book
work and he selling both in house and on the road seeing
customers. My grandfather, affectionately known as Grumps
to my brother and I always said "Giv'em a square
deal, and their a customer for life". I thought that
was ironic being in the tire business, although i've always
kept that in mind while building the business.
In 1970, my father, John joined the business after college
and a year of teaching and suggested an addition to the
building to separate the automotive and truck tire businesses.
In 1972 a 70'X75' building was added to the property to
accommodate the truck tire business as a work and stock
area. At this time, local warehouses were few and far
between, and my grandfather had developed quite a relationship
with the manufacturers so he was able to buy direct and
house a large inventory. They began running 2 & 3
service trucks to service the growing business while adding
an automotive repair facility in the late 70's. Bob semi
retired in 1986 at 65 years of age. About that time Bob's
daughter, Susanne joined the business and handled the
front counter, quickly grasping a feel for the automotive
and tire industry, having to consistently prove herself
in a territory where women were not normally welcomed,
not to mentioned second guessed. Having a woman at the
front counter seemed to put our female customers at ease,
witch enabled us to be a family friendly auto repair shop.
My brother Robby, and I learned the tire business as we
grew and had part time jobs through our school years.
After my tour of duty in the Air Force, I worked in the
business and expanded it to the eastern end of L.I. In
1995 I made a decision to try my luck in another state.
Moving to Atlanta to work for a large multi-state tire
company, I began as a service tech and within 3 month's
I was able to convinced my superiors to let me try my
hand at salesmanship. I was sent to Michelin sales training
school as well as Bridgestone and Firestone. The education
I received not only the classroom or textbook as well
as on the street, I consider invaluable. Things were going
well, although I felt an obligation to my family. After
two years I made a decision to come back to L.I. to continue
in the family business. In 1997 I bought the commercial
end of the business changing the name to Dave Kunzler
Tire, leaving the auto repair and the front end alignments
behind. Concentrating on the construction, trucking and
municipality business. We currently operate 3 service
trucks out of a 3000 sq. ft. facility and growing
