HTCAV SPONSOR PROFILE – BURSON AUTO PARTS - JUST CARS

HTCAV Sponsor Profile – Burson Auto Parts

Words: Chris Ralph

Photos: Supplied, unless indicated

Ever met anyone named ‘Burson’? Only five listings appear in the White Pages, but no-one of that name started the automotive parts company whose name now appears on 200 stores Australia-wide.

The HTCAV’s newest major sponsor has a fascinating back story and their special relationship with the trade and car enthusiasts has seen it grow to become Australia’s largest automotive aftermarket products group.

As Aussie as…

In the 1960s, two smart young Melbourne blokes saw an opportunity to make a quid - delivering stuff to busy garages. With car boots full of common parts and consumables, they soon became popular with mechanics, grateful for the time saved and their new vendors’ trade knowledge.

With the new enterprise growing fast, the duo thought, ‘We’d better start a company’. So, in 1971, Garry Johnson and Ron Burgoine each donated a bit of their surnames to form the word “Burson”, which probably had a better ring to it than “Garron” or “Johngoine”.

In 1978, Burson opened its first store in the western Melbourne suburb of Braybrook, then the business really came on to the cam. More stores followed, building the Victorian presence. Burson crossed the border in 1984, opening its first interstate store in Albury. After buying out Ron Burgoine’s share in 1986, Garry Johnson was overseeing a group of 15 Burson Auto Parts stores a year later.

One of Burson’s earliest retail outlets.

Making it real

While hard work and good advice had fuelled their rise, Burson started down-to-earth and stayed that way. Their competitive difference has always been ‘knowledge’, freely available over the phone or across the counter. It’s a no BS game and their ‘can do’ approach gave them an edge.

Combine this with keen pricing, a stock of the best quality products and a mania for fast delivery and it was no wonder Victoria’s trade and DIY enthusiasts bonded with Burson Auto Parts.

Business continued accelerating through the ’90s: 25 stores by 1996 and 50 by the early 2000s. But by 2005, having outgrown their logistics infrastructure they really were ‘Burson at the seams’!

Catering to increasing growth, Burson had this head office and parts distribution centre built in Preston in the 1990s.

Going national

A new purpose-built head office and distribution centre was commissioned, planning ahead for national growth. Cue another burst of expansion…

Within two years, a further 16 stores in New South Wales were added, with 11 more after a Queensland acquisition during 2008. In 2010, the first Burson Auto Parts store opened in the Northern Territory, while the acquisition of 11 stores in 2011 took Burson into the South Australian automotive trade market.

A highly successful privately owned company that had expanded over half of Australia? That made them look very attractive in the corporate world…

By the late 1990s, the red, white and blue Burson Auto Parts stores had become a familiar sight throughout Victoria – with a growing presence interstate, too.

Going public

Quadrant Private Equity reviewed the nature, spread and reputation of Burson Auto Parts. They liked what they saw and acquired the business in 2011 with the goal of taking it public. That came in 2014 under the new name of Bapcor Limited.

Time for yet another strategic and unparalleled growth trajectory, as Burson Auto Parts became Australia’s number one national trade aftermarket parts, tools and equipment supplier.

Today, with 200 stores nationwide, Burson Auto Parts claim more stock per store than any other automotive parts, tools and equipment supplier in the country.

Garry Johnson, one of the pair of enterprising enthusiasts who founded Burson more than 50 years ago, took the business to new heights in the ’90s and ’00s.

Keeping it real

From two young blokes selling parts out of car boots to a massive national organisation, has the Burson Auto Parts secret recipe changed?

Unique herbs and spices include the many long-term staff and management crew who know their business intimately and have passed the culture of knowledge and enthusiasm down the line. That’s why those in the motor trade and fully-engaged, hands-on classic car people know that if it’s to be found, there’s a better chance they’ll find it (with advice) at the red, white and blue stores.

What’s more, there’s a goldmine of product and how-to information for them to discover on burson, especially in the free ‘Bur-Sun’ magazine…

Ben Bargwanna flies the Burson flag in the TCR Australia series.

Keeping it sporty

With its highly engaged following, Burson Auto Parts is a natural fit for motorsport. They’re involved with racing categories like Production Cars, Supercars, S5000 and TCR, supporting cars in each, as well as community-based car clubs and groups.

Now they’re supporting a whole new category.

Historic Touring Cars appealed to Burson, especially the successful HTCAV sponsorship scheme under the JUST CARS banner that returns several hundred dollars each year to individual competitors, depending on the number of meetings entered.

Burson stores are hubs for car people all over the country to congregate.

Spirit of the ’60s

It’s not just a shared five decades of history that aligns Australia’s No1 trade aftermarket parts, tools and equipment supplier with Australia’s No1 historic racing category.

The hands-on, have-a-go attitude of today’s historic touring car racers fettling and driving the cars they love reflects the same attitude that drove Ron (Bur)goine and Garry John(son) to start the all-Australian company that’s now putting back into a grass roots category that has always supported them.