Our current logo has a horse on it. At first glance you might think its copied from the Ford Mustang emblem or the Mobil Gas logo – not even close! A little history – my grandfather on my dad’s side was Old Order Amish and my dad was raised Amish as was my mother, who was a Miller. Both Beiler & Miller are prominent Amish/Mennonite surnames.
My grandfather’s name was Daniel (Dan), which is my namesake. He was a “jack of all trades” and even invented a working light bulb in his workshop, which of course drew the ire of his home church bishop. He also had some artistic ability and spent some time as a tin-smith. The horse you see in our logo is from a tracing of a weather vane he drew and cut out of a piece of tin with tin-snips and placed on the roof of his Amish farm in Lancaster PA.
When I re-branded the shop a few years ago, I wanted to use that horse in our new logo to honor my Amish heritage. Pictured, you’ll see my Amish grandfather Dan S AND my dad John, holding a recreation of the weathervane at my shop standing in front of a lighted 3 dimensional version of our logo.
Danny Beiler – Owner
The Beiler family has a long history in the Fruitville community. John Z Beiler purchased an Esso station on the corner of Cattlemen Rd and Palmer Blvd in the mid 60’s.
He shared the responsibilities of running the shop AND driving an 18 wheeler back and forth up the eastern coast with a business partner. John was somewhat of a glutton for punishment as he specialized in working on Ralph Nader’s nemesis – the much-maligned Corvair. Eventually, John bought his partner out of the Esso station and worked full time there. Rolling their 18 wheeler with a trailer full of potatoes onto its side in Canada helped him make that decision.
John had 3 sons – Danny, Steve and John(S). They grew up in Pinecraft and attended Sarasota Christian School less than a mile from the station. Most days you would see the boys riding their bikes from SCS to the gas station after school. Also their summer days were filled with taking turns working at the gas station with their dad. Back then, there was no self-service and the boys were tasked with pumping gas, cleaning windshields (we HATED love-bug season!), correcting air pressures in tires and checking the engine oil on customer’s vehicle while filling their gas tank with fuel. Danny says he can take the credit for the invention of the gas cap tether after forgetting to put it back on many customer’s cars after a fill-up. In the late 70’s John leased out the gas station for 5 years and the family made a move to South Carolina. At that time the new tenant called the place Poor Ole’ LB’s and stopped doing auto repairs, replacing it with selling fishing bait(WHAT?!?) After 5 years, the Beiler family had had enough of SC, moved back to Sarasota, and took possession of the now EXXON gas station. The fishing bait business left with LB and the auto repair business was resumed along with the adding of self service gas pumps. Danny, Steve and John formed a partnership, renting the property from their father for the next 5 years. Then in 1986, the boys built a new building just a block west on Palmer Blvd and called it Beiler’s Auto Repair. John(Z) remodeled the gas station, adding a deli and coolers and (GASP!) began selling beer (the Mennonite church he attended wasn’t too pleased)! A few years later John sold the gas station to his Exxon fuel distributor, Weeks Oil Company. The boys new shop concentrated on auto repairs and tires. Most of the tires were Cooper brand and purchased from Lanning Tire Sales. All 3 boys performed repairs but eventually Danny took over the office duties and Steve and John concentrated on the repairs along with a couple other employees. Over the next 35+ years Steve and John were bought out of the business by Danny who now manages it along with 2 service advisors, an operations manager and 5 technicians.
