Business Profile
Auto Service
Broomall’s Original Auto Repair Masters
The longest family owned and operated business. Serving Marple Township residents since 1950. Proudly offering exceptional service at a fair price, plus: • Tire installation, Repair and Wheel alignment • Brake repair and rotors • Oil changes Written by Liz Burnett • Shocks, struts and suspension Photos courtesy of Bill Fritsch • PA State Inspection and PA Emission Testing • Towing service provided with our own tow truck • Propane sales and exchange • A/C repair and recharge
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hen an automotive problem arises, there’s many solution providers, almost too many. So many options but so little time to be sure your vehicle will always be in the hands of a well-trained expert who’s got your best interests in mind. Over the past 70 years, 4 generations of automotive experts’ hands at Broomall’s Fritsch’s Liberty Service Center have worked long and hard and continuously re-trained so they could reliably keep up with every decade of automotive Happy Holidays industry changes.
to All Our Customers. Make Your New Year’s Resolution to Come See Us in 2020! FritschsLibertyBroomall.com I 610-356-1845 2109 S. Sproul Road, Broomall, PA 19008
Joe and Jane Fritsch’s original service station, circa 1950
As the Baby Boomers were born, the auto industry and Fritsch’s Sunoco both grew rapidly. When Bill’s dad Herman and his uncle Carl took over running the business in the early 1960s, it had grown so much that they need to add a third service bay. For 65 years, Fritsch’s was a Sunoco station until Sunoco’s corporate growth and overpriced gas made Bill decide to switch and sell more competitively priced Liberty gas. When Bill Fritsch was in 7th grade, he started working at his dad’s business by pumping gas. From the auto mechanic masters he lived with, he quickly learned how to diagnose and fix engine problems. After high school, Bill completed a 13-month automotive training program, and then worked as a Mechanic for his dad and also helped grow the business. Since his dad retired in the mid-’90s, Bill has run the business, and is proud to have his son Vincent working with him there for eight years now after completing his formal automotive training program. Bill’s sister Mary Jane also works as his Bookkeeper, the important job their dad trained her to do and which she’s been performing ever since.
(left to right) Carl and Herman Fritsch at their 2-bay Sunoco station
In 1950, current Owner Bill Fritsch’s grandfather Joe and his wife Jane started the business at their house on S. Sproul Road. It had gas pumps but no auto repair garage; just a little storage shed and an outdoor pit where Joe and his crew worked on customers’ vehicles. Joe and Jane’s sons, Carl and Herman (Bill’s father), grew up in that house. When Carl had gone to work for another local gas station and Herman was considering leaving the family business to join the Marple Township Police Department, Bill’s grandmother wisely convinced Bill’s grandfather to talk with Sun Oil Company (Sunoco) about building a 2-bay Colonial-style service station and a house behind the station. (Bill lives in that same house today.) Sunoco’s agreement to partner convinced Bill’s dad Herman that there was indeed a future in this business, so he stayed. 16 Marple Friends & Neighbors / Bringing People Together
Herman Fritsch pumping gas circa 1950
(left to right) Bill Fritsch and his dad Herman in the early ’90s
