Retired from tires

By ANDREA FURLONG

Bill McNulty, left, and his wife LeNae, stand outside Iowa County Tire, Williamsburg. McNulty worked at the business a total of 18 years, retiring just a few months ago.

Williamsburg resident Bill McNulty knows tires upside down and inside out—and he should, since he was in the tire business for 44 years.

The recent retiree of Iowa County Tire, Williamsburg, started working in the tire business when he was just 24 years old at a tire store in his hometown of Cedar Rapids. McNulty then went on to work at various Good Year tire stores in Marion, Britt and Mason City before he was recruited to be the manager of Iowa County Tire. When he accepted the position in 1991, McNulty had more than 20 years of tire service experience under his belt.

At the time McNulty arrived at Iowa County Tire, the only services it provided including patching used tires, selling new tires and oil changes. McNulty, who was always looking out for the customer’s needs, set to work to expand the services the business offered.

In his 18 years he worked at Iowa County he added alignment services, transmission flushes, radiator flushes, power-steering and brake system flushes and brake and front-end suspension repairs.

He also added a tool he considered vital to the tire business in rural Iowa: a farm service truck. At the time, no other business in Williamsburg had a farm service truck. The nearest business that had one was located 12 and a half miles away in Marengo.

“It’s kind of necessary in this kind of market that you better be able to take care of the farmers,” he said.

McNulty said the farm service truck allowed employees to “go out on the field and change (tires), instead of trying to fight with farmers and have them take it off the tractor or have them drag it in to us.”

While McNulty was the one who usually scheduled appointments and sold the tires, there were a few times he remembers getting in the service truck himself to help out farmers.

“It was a Saturday afternoon and I was closing up. A farmer had a flat tire out in the middle of his feed lot, and it was not a very pleasant situation. It was a guy who had never done much business with me before. I went out there and it was pretty messy . . . and the next week he came in and we sold him some new tires for his tractor and he became one of my very good customers,” McNulty recalled.

The farm service truck,  which was available 24/7, also made quite a few stops along Interstate 80 for semis with flat tires. After they got acquainted with Iowa County Tire, many semi drivers would stop in at the business, at the corner of Highland and State streets, when they needed help. McNulty remembers one time when he was out of the office, he returned to find out his wife, LeNae, who managed the books but knew little about tires, had sold one to a semi driver, with the help of employee Rich Pfeiffer.

“They made really good money,” McNulty said, laughing.

McNulty even credits part of his success with Iowa County Tire to LeNae and the 18 years they both served the business — LeNae managing the accounts and McNulty handling the customers.

“We did good because we each had our own thing that we did. She took care of the money and I took care of the inventory and making sure we had the tires on hand . . . and helping the guys in the shop,” he said, adding, “but I couldn’t have done it without her.”

McNulty and his business friend, Bill Brown, Iowa City, shared ownership of Iowa County Tire from 2000 to 2002. In 2003, McNulty became sole owner of the business, a position he maintained until his retirement a few months ago.

When he left, McNulty sold the business to Pfeiffer, an Iowa County Tire employee who worked alongside McNulty for 15 years.

McNulty said he is taking advantage of his retirement to spend more time with his grandchildren, although he likes to stop by the business occasionally to chat with old customers or employees.

“He’s a good talker. He likes to visit with the people,” LeNae said.

 

UPDATED June 5, 2009 9:47 AM