Tom's McLean Service

Tom's McLean Service
Summer, 1988

The photos on this page were taken roughly between June and August of 1988. I had returned to Tom's in 1987 to work as a mechanic during this time. At first, I worked push mowers in the main shop (at left) with Jim Palmisani. Tom Corner and Tom Hazam were at the parts counter. Rodney Corner worked in the basement of the white house (center) on riding mowers, along with Bruce Taylor who did chainsaws (Bruce's mother Bertha was married to Tom). John Saunders and Frank Kulesa Jr. also worked the push mower lineup. Frank's father used to come by evenings when we needed welding done. John was in high school, and worked during the summer. Both John and Frank eventually set up a repair shop on the ground floor of the white house. Bruce lived in the apartment on the top floor of the house.

The house at the far right was then being leased by Animal General Hospital, which shared the parking lot with us. This was formerly the home of Theodore and Charlotte Corner, built in 1934. It replaced their original house which had burned down due to a chimney fire. As of this writing, it still stands at 6830 Elm Street.

The main building, which housed the parts rooms and counter, repair benches and the push mowers in for repair. Note a facade with a screen door and windows has been built in front of the garage door. This was to allow the use of the front entrance year-round, as the side entrance was now deemed too dangerous for the public. The garage door was closed at night for security. Before the facade, the entire width of the garage door was the entrance, when weather permitted.

Tom Corner, as he looked in his battle gear. He was a dyed-in-the-wool Lawn-Boy man from way back. Despite the appearance of the place, his shop was one of the busiest in the area, moving a hundred or more Lawn-Boys every year, as well many other brands.

This is me with a 1956 Lawn-Boy Ironhorse that someone had recently traded in. The garage door is up, and the parts counter is visible just inside the open screen door. Push mowers coming in for repair went into the door at the far left of the picture, leading to an enclosed area which wrapped around the building. It was known as "the hole", since it was partially dug out to allow a mezzanine to be built (circa 1985), atop which the finished repairs were stored. The walking clearance was only about 5 feet on the upper level, and the dirt-floor lower level flooded frequently during heavy rains.

The late Tom Hazam, who worked the parts counter and helped with repair jobs in the shop. Her also worked for S.A.B. Landscaping in Great Falls for many years, and even came back to Tom's again around 1991-92. He was friend of Vinnie D'Agostino, and gave a very nice eulogy at Vinnie's funeral in 2000. Like Vinnie, he died much too young (at age 54) in 2007.

Tom Hazam as he typically looked while manning the parts counter.
(And yes, he really did wear sunglasses and hearing protection at the parts counter!)

View from the end of the parts counter, looking towards parking lot. Tom Hazam is pushing an incoming repair job into The Hole.

The yard, from inside the fence: junk mowers are leaning against the fence. Riding mowers, tillers and larger machines were stored here. The fence had been erected with used sections by myself and Jack Wright around 1982, and was falling down at this point. We even had an enormous tarp covering the yard from building-to-building and supported by poles, but it could not survive high winds and lasted less than a year.

Back of the property showing the 2,000 gallon oil tank, which held fuel oil for the furnace. In the background, note the unfinished roof section which was built by Tom Corner to replace the one which collapsed in the early 1980s. Tom used old phone poles for supports, and the cinder block wall was incomplete. I was open to the elements, and a section of flimsy, dilapidated fence was all that separated the inside of the building from the adjacent parking lot!

It is from beneath this unfinished roof where mowers from "the hole" would emerge for repair. Mechanics would take mowers from the front of the line, either directly into the shop through an interior door, or out through the yard. The entire lineup would have to be moved up about once per week, a laborious task that involved moving at least several dozen mowers.

(August 1988) Longer shot of the yard, as viewed from the white house, showing the unfinished roof section over the back. The door on the side of the building was for employees at this time, but in past years had been the "winter entrance" for customers, since it was too cold to open the garage door during those months. The attic, or loft, above the shop held over-stock parts, grass catchers, and lots of used parts. For many years, the attic was accessed by an interior ladder within the Lawn-Boy parts aisle. Jack Wright and myself eventually built a narrow staircase around 1982, which made my life considerably easier.

(August 1988) View from the office building behind the shop. You can see the jagged edge of the unfinished roof behind the tree, beneath which the Porsche 911 is parked. The cinder block wall and roof envelopes "the hole" as it winds around the main building.

(August 1988) The white house, which eventually became the shop for all of the mechanics, due to the constraints of space in the main building. Also, the noise and dust generated was difficult for the countermen trying to wait on customers. In addition to housing repair shops (basement, and ground floor) and an apartment with a bathroom (upper floor), we also stored new mowers on the enclosed back porch of the ground floor. In the early 1980s, the ground floor room facing the Poplar Drive side of the building was used as a showroom for reconditioned mowers that we sold.

(August 1988) Open for business, with new mowers for sale lined up in front of the remains of the fence. At right, is the "gate", which was a long piece of plywood at this point. The original double gate had failed long ago. Rodney Corner's Toyota is parked at left, and my 1982 Chevy is to the right.

My toolbox and workbench in the main building, looking at an angle towards the parts counter, which was just behind the partition. The back of the blade rack can be seen to the right. Note the bottle opener attached to the left side of the bench; there were many nights when the "late shift" mechanics worked through the evening, and adult beverages were part of the atmosphere.

View angling towards the back of the shop, and some parts shelves for Snapper and Jacobsen. Behind that wall of parts boxes was the Ariens and Toro parts aisle, which was one of the largest. At one time, up to three mechanics would have worked in this building, but it was cramped even with just myself working there in 1988. You can see why we moved repair operations to the white house.

Fairly typical tune-up on a 1969 Toro Whirlwind included replacing the points and condenser. We also rebuilt the carburetor, cleaned the carbon and replaced the head gasket, sharpened and balanced the blade and changed the oil. A valve job was extra. Like anyone who worked at Tom's, I repaired a lot of Tecumseh engines. The LAV35 shown here was a favorite, and a well-built engine.

This is a Lawn-Boy C-18AAR engine and gearbox out of my antique snowblower. Of the few hand tools visible in these pictures, I still own all of them, and still use many of them to this day.

ChryslerFest, old and new: A regular customer (whose name I can't recall) was the one-owner of this 1962 Imperial. He would not part with his pride-and-joy, despite my many offers to buy the car. Among other features, it had a large trunk which would easily fit a lawnmower. Behind it (in the parking space) is John Saunders' 1982 Dodge Mirada.

The two Toms (Hazam in the foreground, and Corner behind) walking back from the white house. You can see just how bad the fence was in this image. I think the mowers were holding up the fence.

Closing time, as viewed from the Post Office parking lot. The 1974 GMC Vandura (far left) was our longtime delivery truck, but it was out of service by the time this was taken. The plywood "gate" has been placed over the gap in the fence. The gravel parking lot had been paved over for the first time during the mid-1980s. I believe this done because VDOT had mandated that curbs and gutters be constructed on this corner, and the gravel lot had been difficult to maintain.

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7/18/2021 (revised 05/31/26)