Tydings: 75 Years of Car Repairs and Customer Satisfaction

Now run by the second generation, Irondequoit’s Tydings Automotive marks a milestone

By Linda Quinlan

 

Kevin Tydings started pumping gas at his father’s service station at age 14. He has owned that station, which marked its 75-year anniversary last fall, since 2017.

Irondequoit’s Tydings Automotive is still going strong and is considered a gem in the community.

“It’s the only service station I’ve used since moving to Irondequoit in 1979,” said Corrine Chorney. “I trust them completely.”

At 70, Tydings still works at the station seven days a week, but it is open only Monday through Friday.

“I’m it,” he said with a warm smile. That means that while he no longer does actual car repairs, he’s the face and voice of the longstanding business.

“I’m not sure what the future holds. But I will keep going as long as I can,” Tydings said. “I love the people … I know 90% of them by their first names.”

You might call Tydings Automotive the “Cheers” of service stations.

“We have used Tydings for more than 25 years and we have found them totally dependable, caring and fair,” said Tom Proietti of Irondequoit. “Honestly, I have never dealt with a kinder or fairer merchant than Kevin Tydings. He is a treasure.”

 

Opening Day: Oct. 5, 1950

The business was started by Kevin’s late father, Joe Tydings, who was a disabled veteran of World War II.

After the war, during which he served in Italy, his father got a job at Gleason Works, Tydings said. Then his brother, Gerald, who was a salesman for Sunoco, told Joe about a new station being built on East Ridge Road in Irondequoit and that they would be looking for someone to lease it. It has the distinction of being the first gas station built in Monroe County after the war.

Opening day at Tydings Automotive was Oct. 5, 1950, when Joe Tydings was just 27. It has been a staple of the Irondequoit business community since then.

The business has earned a number of awards over the years and was recognized for its 75th anniversary by the Irondequoit Chamber of Commerce last fall.

Kevin Tydings proudly displays photographs taken through the years in the station’s small lobby office. An image of the Statue of Liberty still adorns the front window. His father commissioned the piece after Sept. 11, 2001, Tydings said.

He takes pride in the fact that the business has served and continues to serve generations of customers.

“I treat [customers] honestly and we do good work,” he said. He has just two employees, both mechanics, who have each been with the business more than 25 years.

“Kevin Tydings is about as skilled and professional as a mechanic can be,” Proietti said. “He is also a total gentleman who cares deeply about his customers and puts their safety and wellbeing ahead of his need to be profitable.”

“We used to pump a lot of gas,” Tydings said. The business also had a car wash, did car repairs and was home to an Irondequoit Tire Center. For a time, they had tow trucks that answered about 300 calls a month through the AAA (American Automobile Association).

After graduating from Irondequoit’s Eastridge High School, Tydings went to Monroe Community College and a General Motors school in Buffalo. He has been full-time at the station since 1969, working alongside his father and brother, Mike.

The station stopped selling gas in 1999 and today specializes in mechanical repairs.

“Brakes and tires are huge,” Tydings said. “But we also do a lot of diagnostics, inspections, exhaust systems and check engine lights …. People are holding onto their cars longer.”

He has done more than his share of car repairs over the years and said that solving electrical problems was probably the most satisfying.

“But I do very little turning the wrench now,” Tydings admitted. “I can’t do it anymore.” He injured his back in 2022.

He credits his wife, Carla, with keeping the business going while he was recuperating.

“If it wasn’t for her, I’m not sure the business would still be here,” Tydings said.

The couple has two sons, Brendan and Daniel, and three grandchildren. Brendan is director of the Genesee Valley Regional Market in Henrietta, and Daniel is a CPA, he said proudly.

 

Taking care of his customers

Tydings is a wealth of knowledge on the history of the community and cars.

He recalls that next door on East Ridge Road used to be a place called the Ridgecrest Inn, where jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie and big bands would play regularly. Among those who would “sit in” on Sundays would be the Mangione brothers, Chuck and Gap. The address is now home to a Chase bank.

Changes in cars have meant regular upgrades in costly equipment and even, in recent years, monthly software subscriptions for “gateways” to work on a particular car.

Tydings still looks over most cars that come in.

“I finalize the estimates, but when I do, I want to look at the car myself,” he said. “I want to know the answer before the customer asks the question.”

It’s the little and not—so—little things, too.

“When I bring my car for inspection or service, I get a ride home, so I don’t have to wait there,” Chorney said. “When the work is completed, I get a phone call and a ride back to the station.”

Tydings said he simply tries to take care of his customers.

“I know my customers’ driving habits and try to treat their cars like it’s my car,” he said.

If asked for his recommendation, if someone is buying a new car, Tydings said he will answer that Honda and Toyota “lead the pack … but General Motors is a good third runner-up.”

With any car, though, he stressed, it’s all about whether you maintain them well.

“Like other independent car repair shops in the area, the advantage is that you’re dealing with the owner,” Tydings said. “It’s more personal when you’re dealing with the owner from start to finish.”