This story first appeared in the August issue of autotalkau CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE
As part of its 50th year of operation in 2021, Burson Auto Parts has recognised one employee who contributed more than 32 years of service to the company, and has the distinction of being its very first branch manager.
Former operations general manager Terry Penney first met with Burson co-founder Ron Burgoine in 1972, while working as a mechanic in a Melbourne service station.
Andrew Schram was Penney’s apprentice and would go on to forge a more than 40-year career with Burson Auto Parts.
Burgoine started doing business with the service station bringing carpet mats that he and partner Garry Johnson had sourced using off cuts from the Ford factory which were then overlocked together by a team of machinists.
Johnson and Burgoine expanded the range of parts and accessories that Penney sold on consignment. Penney says he looked forward to Burgoine’s visits as he would bring fish and chips every Friday with the new stock deliveries.
Burgoine told Penney that he had the “gift of the gab” offering him a job in 1975 as a cash van driver with the now four-year-old Burson Auto Parts company.
Three years of being one of the top-selling cash van drivers followed. Penney would head to the company’s warehouse in Heidelberg to replenish his stock and it was during one of these visits that Johnson made him an offer that would shape the rest of his career.
“Garry approached me and said that they were looking at opening their first store, in Braybrook (Melbourne). He wanted me to manage it and not knowing a lot about store management, I realised that I needed some help,” Penney says.
“I called Andrew Schram and told him we were opening up a store and I needed him on board. When he said: “I don’t know anything about that” I replied with “Neither do I, but we are doing it,” Penney says.
As the first Burson Auto Parts store manager and second in charge, Penney and Schram dived into their roles head-first. This is where Schram started the role that would occupy the rest of his entire professional career, selecting the store’s stock to have exactly what the customers needed.
They also actioned something from that first Burson Auto Parts store that forever changed the trade – on-demand delivery of parts.
“The trade loved having the parts as soon as they needed them and as we all know, this service is now a staple of the automotive parts business in Australia,” Penney says.
Penney managed the inaugural Burson Auto Parts store for two years before the start of the company’s expansion with the opening of the company’s second store in City Road, South Melbourne.
He oversaw this store for three years before making the move to a new store closer to his home in Essendon, which as a Bombers fan suited him fine. After another successful four years there, Johnson offered Penney another career opportunity.
“Garry asked me to become a Store Supervisor overseeing the performance of ten stores,” Penney says.
“I put together a store set-up team and I would jump into the car with them and drive to each new store location and have it set up within a couple of days ready for business, no matter where they were along the Eastern Seaboard or in regional areas.
“We continued the store expansion program for several years and I moved into the Heidelberg head office to work alongside Garry to plan new store locations.
Andrew Schram had also moved into the head office by this time, firmly focussed on locating, establishing, and securing relationships with quality product suppliers.
“Business was going well, and we had managed to develop a strong rapport with the trade. It was at this time that Garry and Ron split, which was sad as I was very close friends with Ron, it was because of his belief in my potential that I became a part of the company.
“From that point my relationship with Garry became much stronger. His professional and personal guidance helped me so much in the years that followed. I never made it to secondary school, I had worked full time from the age of 14. Garry taught me so much and we remained side by side for the rest of my career,” he says.
Penney become the company’s head of sales and took care of the company’s delivery vehicle fleets. He was also involved in human resources for what had become a 70 store Burson Auto Parts network.
“For my entire career it was Garry, Andrew and myself running everything. We knew the time was coming where the reigns needed to be handed over for Burson to take its next leap forward. Darryl Abotomey and his Bapcor team has certainly done that and continue to do this,” Penney says.
“I retired in 2007 before Garry sold the business, as I promised I would at 60 years of age – and that was definitely the right thing. Andrew and I had gone from being mechanics in a service station to becoming company directors of one of nation’s top trade parts suppliers during our careers,” he says.
Another source of pride for Penney is that his son, Aaron, has followed in his father’s footsteps. Aaron Penney is one of Burson Auto Parts’ National Key Accounts Managers, having joined the team in 2020.
