Motorcraft is an electromechanical service company located in Muncie, Indiana that has been in business since the 1930s. Throughout its history, the company has been passed down through generations of families who follow the tradition of the husband running the shop while the wife does the bookkeeping. This tradition has helped provide continuity for the business as it has weathered the decline of manufacturing in Muncie. While many other similar shops have closed, Motorcraft has remained open by diversifying its customer base and sticking to the philosophies and practices that have served it well for decades.

1. If it ain’t broke . . .
An electromechanical service company in Indiana sticks with what works
By Kevin Jones, EA Senior Editor
MUNCIE, IND.—If you walk into
Motorcraft, a modestly sized electri-
cal and mechanical service company
south of this city’s historic downtown,
you’ll find a husband running the shop
while his wife does the bookkeeping.
And that’s the way it’s been since the
mid-1930s.
You won’t find the same husband
and wife running things today as
you would back then, of course, but
there’s a definite pattern to the way
things are done here, and this is evi-
dent from the physical surroundings
as well as from the way in which the
company is managed.
Keith and Kim Martin are the cur-
rent owners. They bought the business
last March from John and Suzy Maul,
who bought it from Don and Martha
Chesnut (Suzy’s parents), who bought
it from Roy and Nadine Austin, who
started the company during the Great
Depression.
Since that time, there has always
been a husband running the shop while
the wife does the books. It’s the cus-
tomary way.
An understanding of the way the
business is run has been passed from
couple to couple. The last two times
ownership of the company has changed
hands, there has been a transitional pe-
riod during which the couple giving up
ownership has been available to help
the couple taking over.
This practice appears to ensure con-
tinuity. A commitment to continuity
may be seen elsewhere in the company
as well.
The company’s name is painted high
on the exterior of the building. Though
the paint job is fairly recent, the logo
and lettering are old—the same logo
and lettering used by the company’s
founder. Another functioning relic of
the past may be found on the building’s
second floor, where a 5 hp oil-type mo-
tor from the 1930s powers a fan that
cools the entire building. There is no
air-conditioning.
At Motorcraft, not fixing that which
isn’t broken is more than an idle ob-
servation. It’s a philosophy. Much has
remained constant at the company even
as the neighborhood and Muncie’s in-
dustrial profile have changed.
On one recent morning, the new
owners, Keith and Kim Martin, joined
the immediate past owners, John and
Suzy Maul, to talk with a visitor about
the company’s history, the market it
serves, the company’s philosophy, and
what the future might hold.
A manufacturing town
When Roy Austin founded the com-
pany in the mid-1930s, Muncie was
home to a number of large manufactur-
ers, and much of the industrial activity
was clustered around Motorcraft’s cur-
rent location south of downtown.
“There used to be more employees
here,” Keith Martin said of Muncie’s
industry in general. “Back in the 60s
and 70s, this was a rockin’ and rollin’
place.” In fact, until the 1970s, there
was enough industrial activity in the
city to support four motor shops,
three of them within a three-block ra-
dius. The fourth shop was less than a
mile away.
Motorcraft’s former owners and new. Left to right: John Maul, Suzy Maul, Kim Martin, and
Keith Martin.
A fresh paint job for a traditional sign.
ELECTRICAL APPARATUS / NOVEMBER 2015 21
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2. While several of the manufacturers
had national profiles, the motor shops
were “more local to the area, feeding
the larger companies,” said Suzy Maul.
All four shops were committed to ser-
vice and craftsmanship, and everyone
in the motor repair business knew ev-
eryone else. “These guys who worked
there were really awesome in the motor
business,” recalled John Maul. “There
was plenty of work back then for ev-
erybody,” Keith Martin added.
Two of the shops, Universal Elec-
tric and Imperial Electric, failed to
diversify and went out of business as
the larger manufacturers left town. A
third shop, owned by a nephew of Mo-
torcraft’s founder Roy Austin, closed
when the owner retired.
Motorcraft was the only motor shop
left in town—the last man standing,
you might say. “Roy and Don and I
always had the attitude of ‘do a little
work for everybody,’” said John. “We
always had the philosophy of doing
work for a lot of customers.” In a word,
Motorcraft was diversified. When the
other shops folded, their former cus-
tomers turned to Motorcraft.
Nationally known companies that
have done business in Muncie over
the years have included Warner Gear,
Westinghouse, American Lawnmow-
er, Delco, and Chevrolet. All of these
companies have left town.
Other industrial operations that
once had a presence in Muncie but
have disappeared—either by being ac-
quired and moved or by going out of
business—included Duffy Tool, City
Machine (no relation to City Machine
Technologies), Hiatt Metal, HL Plat-
ing, and Colony Printing.
“We did work for Delaware Machine,
and they were bought by Delaware Dy-
namics,” said Suzy Maul, citing one
example. The Westinghouse plant was
bought by ABB and moved, but “Al-
bany Metals is still going,” added John,
citing another.
A sharp character sets the standard
Roy Austin, Motorcraft’s founder,
“was a really sharp character—and he
was a character,” recalled John. Apart
from his wife, Austin had no partner,
and at most he employed five or six
people, including “a lady winder,” John
recalled. “Some guys would work in
the factories in the day and then work
here in the evening,” said Suzy.
Roy Austin moved Motorcraft to its
present location in the mid-1950s, and
many of the furnishings and fixtures
from those days remain. [Roy’s worn
but sturdy chair, in fact, served this
visitor quite well during our interview.]
Don and Martha Chesnut took over
the business in 1978. They followed the
pattern established by Roy and Nadine
Austin: Don worked in the shop while
Martha did the bookkeeping—the ar-
rangement that holds to this day.
John and Suzy Maul succeeded Don
and Martha in 1995. “It was gradual,”
Suzy said of the transfer of owner-
ship. The Chesnuts traveled around the
country during their retirement, visit-
ing Florida and Las Vegas and points
in between, and John and Suzy would
sometimes contact them when they had
questions.
Meanwhile, years before the Mauls
and Martins knew one another, Keith
Martin was starting his own career as a
servicer of industrial equipment, begin-
ning in production at a Muncie news-
paper. In time he saw that the newspa-
per’s closing was imminent, so in 1996
he began a course at ITT Tech in India-
napolis to learn HVAC service.
During the day, Martin was a full-
time student. At night he worked full-
time at the newspaper. After com-
pleting the HVAC course, he went to
work for Mister Ice of Indianapolis, a
company that leases ice machines and
refrigerators to restaurants and other
commercial operations. “I’ve been in
more restaurant kitchens than I’d care
to count,” he recalled, laughing.
While he worked for Mister Ice,
Keith was also doing HVAC work as
an independent contractor for family
members and friends. Word got around
that he knew HVAC, and people began
calling him. Keith’s wife Kim helped
with this side work, and she’s the one
who first made contact with Motor-
craft, walking into the shop one day as
a retail customer.
Keith left Mister Ice in 2006. “I was
tired of the drive into Indianapolis ev-
ery day,” he said. “In 2006 I went to
work for a local HVAC company; then
I was in here all the time. About two
INDIANA
Indianapolis
Muncie
MICHIGAN
ILLINOIS
OHIO
KENTUCKY
Muncie is about an hour and a half’s drive
northeast of Indianapolis.
—Electrical Apparatus map
On the second floor of Motorcraft’s building, a 5 hp oil-type motor from the 1930s powers a
fan that cools the entire building—one of several examples of the way in which the company
sticks with what works.
22 ELECTRICAL APPARATUS / NOVEMBER 2015
MOTORCRAFT continued

3. years ago I came in here about closing
time and asked John what he was think-
ing about retirement. John said, ‘Well,
let me talk to Suzy and I’ll get back to
you.’” This was the beginning of the
discussions that led eventually to the
Martins buying the business.
The Mauls sold the company to
Keith and Kim Martin last March. The
Mauls are staying on with the Martins
for a year to help with the transition—
just as the Chesnuts remained in touch
with the Mauls for consultation when
needed. John is usually at the shop
every day; Suzy comes in when nec-
essary. The arrangement appears to
work, even if it does result in occa-
sional friction when one of the former
owners sees one of the new owners
doing something not in accordance
with the way things have traditionally
been done.
John and Suzy Maul plan to continue
this routine until next March. John said
he’ll be available after that—and from
the sound of things, he may be need-
ed. “This place can get a little hairy at
times,” he said.
A transformed industrial landscape
Today, with a reconfigured industrial
landscape, Muncie is home to a num-
ber of smaller industrial enterprises, as
well as retail and institutional establish-
ments, which together provide steady
work for Motorcraft. There’s also the
agricultural market, which provides
reliable, if seasonal, work. Together
these customers make up for what was
lost when the large manufacturers left
town. There may no longer be enough
work for four motor shops, but there’s
certainly enough for one.
One typical industrial customer is
Magna Powertrain, a transmission
manufacturer with a plant on the south
side of Muncie that supplies various
auto manufacturers. Another is Mur-
six, a tool-and-die shop northwest of
Muncie for which Motorcraft repairs
“various motors, fan motors, and three-
phase motors,” as well as tumbler mo-
tors for a plating process, said John.
Customers in the retail sector include
Marsh, the supermarket chain, with re-
frigeration units and HVAC systems,
and Village Pantry, a chain of conve-
nience stores for which Motorcraft
services condenser and evaporator fan
motors. “The HVAC business has al-
ways been a big part of our business,”
said John.
“We do work for all the schools,”
he went on to say. Schools served by
Motorcraft cover “probably the four
surrounding counties,” added Suzy.
Typically, the company will service a
school’s swimming pools and HVAC
systems. “The schools bring us a lot
of pumps,” said John, as well as blow-
ers for HVAC units, rooftop fans, and
exhaust fans.
The school and institutional market
in Muncie can’t be discussed without
mention of Ball State University, a na-
tionally known university on the north-
west side of town with about 21,000
undergraduate and graduate students.
“Ball State keeps us really busy,” said
Keith. “They bring us a lot of stuff.”
Added John, “For Ball State and the
schools, we do their HVAC, their three-
phase motors, and their fans.”
Then there’s the City of Muncie it-
self. Motorcraft’s work for the mu-
nicipality encompasses pump motors,
pulleys, and fans. Facilities served in-
clude the “Justice Center,” or jail, for
which Motorcraft recently repaired
some pulleys. Pumps serviced for the
city by Motorcraft are generally 30 hp
or smaller.
John Maul, Suzy Maul, and Kim Martin go over an order at Motorcraft’s retail counter.
ELECTRICAL APPARATUS / NOVEMBER 2015 23
Keith Martin, Motorcraft’s new owner, stands amid the six buildings the company owns. The
building on the right is used for warehouse storage.
Please turn to next page
—Electrical Apparatus photos by Kevin Jones and copyright 2015 by Barks Publications, Inc.

4. Beyond the city limits lies the agri-
cultural market. “The farm business is
big,” said John Maul. “Grain motors,
auger motors, and fan motors—they
come from all over for that.” Agricul-
ture has always been a significant part
of Motorcraft’s business, according to
Suzy, and it is also steady, if cyclical.
“In the fall, everything revolves around
the farmers,” she said, adding, “Our
vacations revolve around the farmers!”
The agricultural market is one for
which the company is well prepared.
“We stock all your farm motors, from
½ hp to 10 hp in single- and three-
phase, for farming customers,” said
John. “We’ve got all the pulleys and
belts for the farmers.”
Motorcraft does no field service—
“or we try not to,” said Suzy. In the
past, John sometimes worked on com-
pressors onsite, but these calls tended
to come either early in morning or late
at night—a task for which John came
to consider himself too old.
For all the customers, from schools
to farms, “we can comfortably do up to
100 hp motors,” said John. Any larger
motors that might have been found in
Muncie were in the factories that are
now gone.
“Once in a while we’ll do a 40,” John
said. “The ones at Ball State, some of
them are pretty big. But most of them
are 30 or less.”
What’s Motorcraft’s appeal to these
customers? Buyers “are drawn to us
by our customer service,” said John.
“They bring in their stuff, and when
they get it back they can put it back in,
no fuss, no bother.” Added Suzy, “We
get it done exactly as it should be, so
all the customer has to do is slide it in.”
On the replacement side, “We stock a
huge variety of HVAC motors for both
residential and commercial,” said John.
The company also stocks fan blades
and blower wheels.
In addition to the industrial, com-
mercial, retail, and agricultural busi-
ness, Motorcraft does a brisk trade with
those who walk in off the street. “We’ve
always had a good retail business,” said
John. In the old days, “people would
call a heating company to work on their
furnaces, but a lot of people are doing it
themselves,” he said.
“You’ve got a lot of do-it-yourself
guys,” added Suzy. Many of the small-
er fans, motors, and other machine
components are being replaced rather
than repaired.
This applies to mechanical as well as
electrical components. Whether they’re
dealing with a homeowner who’s fixing
a furnace or someone from Ball State
University looking to have a large fan
blade repaired, the philosophy at Mo-
torcraft is the same: Give the customer
something he can just pop into place.
Carrying on the tradition
What does the future hold for Motor-
craft? Keith and Kim hope to continue
running the business as it’s always
been run, adjusting to the market as it
changes.
Otherwise, said Keith, “we’re not
changing anything.”
The Martins have a 23-year-old son,
Jacob, who’s interested in the business
but not yet involved with it. “The ex-
citing part is, with him as young as he
is, the company could hit the hundred-
year mark,” Suzy said. “I think we’ll
probably work here another 10 or 15
years,” added Keith, “and then, hope-
fully, if our son’s trained up, he’ll take
over.”
Who knows? Maybe he’ll even have
a wife with whom he can take over the
business in the customary way. EA
24 ELECTRICAL APPARATUS / NOVEMBER 2015
On Motorcraft’s top floor, John Maul surveys an assortment of fan blades, blower wheels,
shutters, fan guards, mounting brackets, and pump and motor parts.
MOTORCRAFT continued
Keith Martin at one of Motorcraft’s old but still very functional work benches.