It's a lot easier now than when we first started the company,"  Dennis Erickson says, sitting in his office at Superior Transmission Parts.

The company in Tallahassee, FL, got its start when Erickson and his wife sold a family  auto-parts  business  and began remanufacturing automatic-transmission pumps.

"She, Roxanne, was extremely involved first day.  She used to build kits, do the books, and we together put all our money into  the company.  We worked  as a team.  For many years she didn't take a salary, but we worked together to get the company to  grow to  the point where it could prosper.  She hasn't worked here on a daily basis for the past three years, yet without her this just wouldn't have worked."

Erickson recalls growing up in Chicago, where his first job was as a butcher.  His family moved to Tallahassee and opened the auto-parts business, and he soon followed.  Dennis' brother Paul made the move to Florida, where he helped the company in his spare time until he full time in 1991. 
 "While working in the family   auto-parts store, I tied  up with a  gentleman  from Tennessee,"  Dennis recalls. "A friend in Tallahassee introduced me  to Vernon  Houser, who then was the technical director for the Mr. Transmission franchise group there.  At the time there was so much trouble with the 700-R4 pumps that guys were actually going out and opting to purchase a used pump rather than to take a chance on  a rebuilt one.  There wasn't a quality-rebuilt unit available as far a we could find.  Vernon and I modified the  pump about eight different ways to make sure we could offer a rebuilt pump  that was dead on the money.  We went  into  business  remanufacturing  the  700-R4 and 200-4R pumps.  That's the beginning of Superior.

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