The Caterpillar Starter Kit Story

1978

The story of a unique invention that got its start in Cuba

Written 2010* 602 Words

By Howard Yasgar

In 1978, my company Automotive Parts Industries (API) was in Miami, Florida.

Our company’s main business was assembling new starter motors and alternators for diesel engines.

Our starter motors and alternators were mostly sold to parts dealers, and truck and tractor dealers. We also sold parts to quite a few Miami parts exporters.

One day two Cuban fellows stopped by the company to talk to me.

They said they had left Cuba in 1958 when the dictator Fidel Castro had taken over the country and confiscated their company.

They said that they escaped to Miami and started a tractor parts business called “U S Tractor Co”.

I asked them what kind of business they did when they were in Cuba, and they said that they repaired Caterpillar tractors.

One of the fellows introduced himself as Willy Silva. Willy looked to be about 40 years old, about 5 foot 8 inches tall, and a little on the chubby side.

Willy had a very white complexion, he looked more European than Cuban, and he spoke both fluent English and Spanish.

His partner said his name was Geronimo Lazo, he looked Cuban and about the same age as Willy but Geronimo spoke only Spanish.

Willy said they were interested in buying diesel starters from me.

However, when I asked them what kind of diesel engine, they intended to put our starters on, they became evasive and they said it was a special application.

I could see they didn’t want to tell me too much about what they were doing, and I thought it was very strange the way they were being so secretive.

We discussed prices and I gave them our best price. That’s when Willy asked me for an additional discount.

When I asked why, Willy said it was because they didn’t need a complete starter from us. He said they wouldn’t need the front housing on starters they bought from us, they said they had their own housing.

Now I understood why they were being so evasive. They were going to if I knew what they adapt our starter to their own housing, and they didn’t want me to see what they were doing. They were afraid that I would possibly steal their invention.

I told them not to worry, I had better things to do, I wasn’t going to steal their invention.

Willy and Geronimo then became very good customers, and over the next several years they bought hundreds of starters from me.

One day, I came to work and I found Willy Silva was waiting for me in my office.

Willy said, “He and his partner Geronimo were ready to kill each other”.

It appears that Willy wanted to go into building Generator sets, partners with another company, but Geronimo didn’t want to do it.

Willy said “He felt bad because Geronimo Lazo was his best friend and a genius. He had invented electric starters to start large Caterpillar diesel engines”.

Willy said, “From 1939 to 1969 Caterpillar engines used a small gasoline engine to start their big diesel engines and Geronimo had invented a way to replace the gasoline engine by using one of my starters and a special adapter’s that he had invented”.

Willy said, “Over the years Geronimo had crawled under every model of Caterpillar tractor and he invented starters and special adapters for each one.

Willy was afraid that because Geronimo spoke only Spanish, he couldn’t run the starter business by himself, so would I please go in partners with Geronimo so he could stay in the Caterpillar starter business.

I agreed to do it and I became partners with Geronimo Lazo until his passing in 2005.