FORT PIERCE — Walk the massive lot of Uncle Tony’s U-Pull-It and you might find yourself wandering a row of Corvettes, stumbling past a salvaged Mustang or eyeing a barely-dented Cadillac Escalade that had one very bad day.

For Jared Phillips, owner of the self-service auto parts yard, that kind of inventory is all in a day’s work, and a big part of what keeps customers coming back.

“We’ve had all types of vehicles arrive here, from old muscle cars like ’70s Challengers to 2016 Corvettes,” Phillips said. “We once even had a Ferrari come into the yard.”

Phillips has spent about 20 years in the auto recycling industry, learning the trade under the business’s namesake: his uncle. Yes, there is an actual Uncle Tony. The two ran a traditional used auto parts store where staff pulled parts for customers. But in 2019, Phillips and his uncle decided to make the switch to a self-service model.

“I first went to work with Uncle Tony many years ago when I was a young kid, and over the years I just fell in love with the auto recycling business,” Phillips said. “And here we are today.”

Under the self-service format, customers pay a small admission fee, grab their tools and head into the yard to pull whatever parts they need themselves. All vehicle parts on the lot are available for purchase. The full inventory & price list is updated daily on the business’s website: uncletonysupullit.com

The location draws a wide mix of regulars: do-it-yourself mechanics trying to keep aging cars on the road, body shops hunting for panels and trim, and professional mechanics looking to stretch their parts budget.

“It’s basically set up for anybody who’s looking to fix a vehicle,” Phillips said.

Keeping that giant yard stocked with fresh vehicles is the core challenge of the business. Phillips said cars typically stay on the lot about 60 days before they have been picked clean enough to rotate out. When a row reaches that point, the vehicles are pulled for crushing and replaced with new inventory.

“As long as we have fresh cars out there, people enjoy coming here to find what they’re looking for,” he said.

The most valuable vehicle to come through the yard recently was a 2023 Cadillac Escalade that arrived with front-end collision damage — otherwise nearly pristine.

On the lot, the operation is more organized than a first-time visitor might expect. All rows are numbered, and the staff can tell customers exactly which row holds the vehicle they need before they ever set foot in the yard.

Uncle Tony’s offers what Phillips calls an interchange system — a lookup tool that identifies whether parts from a different make or model will fit a customer’s vehicle when an exact match isn’t available on the lot.

For Phillips, the most satisfying moments come when someone walks out having found what they needed.

“Seeing people come in and find the parts they’re looking for, especially when they’re trying to keep their own vehicles on the road to get to work every day, it really helps them out,” he said.

Pull your own parts at Tony’s U-Pull-It, 3685 North US Highway 1 in Fort Pierce. Call them at 772-595-0601 or visit online at uncletonysupullit.com