04/07/2022
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 9 years since we bought our 2nd store.
It’s Fall. The leaves have all turned brown and the year is 1935. You have just sold the last of your to***co crop. Your old ’29 Model A Ford is broke down again and you have decided that it is time for a change. What do you do? You make your way over to Simpson’s Service Station and check out the brand new 1935 Chevrolet deluxe at Simpson’s Service Station.
That’s right. You could buy a new Chevy in downtown Stokesdale in 1935! In 1932, two brothers, Perlie and Ed Simpson, built a building and opened up a service station. They also sold Texaco gas and ran a garage there. They sold Chevrolets until 1939 when they switched to Pontiacs. It was called Simpson’s Pontiac. Later on, they started selling GMC trucks. The first fire truck that Stokesdale had was a 1954 GMC that was bought from the Simpson brothers. They sold cars and trucks there until 1965.
After that, they sold gas and worked on cars and farm machinery. In 1969 it became Stokesdale Auto Parts with Carquest providing the parts inventory. Bob Simpson was the owner-operator at that time.
One day Bob got a phone call from one of his customers. The customer needed a part for his pick-up truck that he was working on. But the only way he had to get it was to ride to the store on his 1958 420 John Deere tractor. Bob got a friend to watch the store while he delivered the part to his friend. Bob and his father and his uncle were more than businessmen. They were friends to folks, and they helped keep the economy going which kept Stokesdale alive and growing.
By the way, Stokesdale Auto Parts is still there today in the same building serving folks of Stokesdale selling oil, anti-freeze, and parts for old and new cars. (By Bob and Janice Simpson)
