Mike's Auto Parts

When Pat Mahoney started his auto parts business in the early 70s, he wanted to call it Pat’s Auto Parts, but unfortunately someone else had already used that name. “My given name is Patrick Michael Mahoney, so I just went with my middle name and it became Mike’s,” he recalls. He was only 20 years old when he bought an empty building in southeast Portland and opened the doors on his first business. He got into the auto parts business even earlier. “I was fifteen years old, a high school student without a job or direction but full of ambition. Our family was poor and anything I wanted, I had to earn. My father suggested that I speak to Tom Kreuder, who operated an automotive shop and gas station a block from where we lived. He ran his business for 40 years at that location and was known for detailed quality work. My father called him a master and said I could be his apprentice. I worked there through high school learning mechanical and business skills. When Tom Kreuder’s health deteri