By: Frank Finger
Finger’s Radiator Hospital
North Brunswick, New Jersey

I grew up in a two-room house, one hundred feet from a one bay, one man radiator shop. At the age of three, I was riding my tricycle around the shop. That was 80 years ago. By age of 10, I had a little wooden bench and a hose. My father would pay me 25 cents allowance for each radiator I would rod out. I worked in the shop during the summers until I graduated from high school. Once I graduated, I went right to work in the shop full-time, but there was barely enough work for the two of us. My father said, “In order to grow this business, you’re going to have to go out and get some new ideas.”

I had heard of a new group of radiator men that had formed in 1954. They were going to have a meeting in 1955. I went to the meeting, and the group called themselves NARSA. I went to that meeting and every convention for the next 64 years. Every single person that helped me grow my business, I met through NARSA. I was invited by many NARSA shop owners to visit their shops, and I came back with many great ideas which helped me improve sales and make our shop run better. My father always told me that you can steal more with your eyes then you can with your fingers any day of the week.



I have been working in the business for 64 years, and at every NARSA meeting I attended, I have learned something valuable and met brother members that have given me many great ideas. Once we started distribution, every company that I became a distributor for, I met at the NARSA conventions. Every year, I would meet another company and become a distributor for them. I distributed for over 35 of the best companies in America. I ended up with 35 warehouses throughout North America plus two manufacturing plants and two full-service radiator shops. The business was generating over one million dollars a week.

 
Every single person that helped me grow my business, I met through NARSA. I was invited by many NARSA shop owners to visit their shops, and I came back with many great ideas which helped me improve sales and make our shop run better.

Frank Finger
Finger’s Radiator Shop / North Brunswick, New Jersey

When I sold my businesses, I sold them to NARSA members. I kept the radiator shop that we started in, and I am still running it to this day. It is doing very, very well. I attribute whatever success I have had directly to NARSA. Every person that helped me grow my business and gave me great ideas were NARSA members. NARSA is the only place in the world that you can meet people that are doing exactly what you are doing. If you will take advantage of all that NARSA has to offer, I promise you will become very successful.

NARSA was key to success in the cooling industry, and it can be yours, too.

This article was originally published in the November/December 2019 issue of The Cooling Journal.