Posted on: Saturday, November 6, 2004
Pflueger's parts veteran knows his job well
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
The man in the wheelchair working at a corner desk in a cramped back room at Pflueger Honda's Ala Moana building answers the telephone, "Parts Department." His six co-workers, however, are required to answer, "Pflueger Honda parts department, this is (their name)."
Pfleuger Honda photo Mukai, who celebrated his 75th birthday on July 27, was Pflueger Honda's parts manager from 1969 until he suffered a stroke in 1991 that left him partially paralyzed. He returned to work three months later and has been on a half-day schedule since, specializing in taking orders only from wholesalers.
When 30 companies were awarded the first American Honda dealerships in 1969, Pflueger Honda was given the No. 1. Since he has been there since Day 1, Mukai may be the only employee among the 30 original American Honda dealers still working for the same company, said his boss Eddie Murai.
"Everyone around here knows Bobby is The Man," said Pflueger Honda parts manager Eddie Murai, which is why he allows Mukai to greet his customers differently on the phone. "He's a mentor to all of us.
Mukai, a Kahala native and 1948 graduate of Kaimuki High School, has worked for Pflueger auto dealerships since Jimmy Pflueger bought Royal State Motors, formerly King Kalakaua Motors, from the late Thomas Kamada in 1963. In 40-plus years, Mukai has never taken time off from his job — not even for vacations — except to recover from three different surgeries.
"What I going do? Stay home, watch TV and drive my sisters crazy?" Mukai said. "I rather come work, enjoy and make money."
Mukai has never been married. His passions are working and fishing.
Mukai has outlasted the need for Edsel, Comet Caliente and Honda 600 parts. He smiles when recalling how he left his first job of making "false teeth" for a dental lab company to become a parts delivery man in 1950 at the urging of a friend, the late Dennis Imamoto, who was then the parts manager for King Kalakaua Motors.
"I used to go in half days Saturday and Sunday on my own time to learn about parts," Mukai said. "I was in the right place at the right time because when Dennis became service manager, I became the parts manager in 1958."
Mukai worked for both the Lincoln Mercury and Honda dealerships when Pflueger expanded into the Honda line.
"It was confusing and different," Mukai said of the Honda line. "The first time I saw a Honda 600, I opened the hood to look at the engine. I didn't know the engine was in back."
Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.
"When I used to do that," Robert "Bobby" Mukai said of the formal greeting, "the callers would tell me, 'Hey, what you doing? I know it's you, don't waste time.' "
Robert "Bobby" Mukai, veteran parts worker at Pflueger Honda, has outlasted such models as the Edsel, Comet and Caliente.
