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The Legendary Street Machinery

Its difficult to be a leader in any industry let alone a leader in an industry for 30+ years. For Boris Maryanovsky his humble start in a repair garage has turned into an empire that leads the way for how to properly buy, sell and customize cars. If you’ve been in the hobby in the past 30 years you’ve either seen or been influenced by the projects that have come out of his Street Machinery shop in Euclid, OH. Boris’ humble status as a legend in the industry has been a study in how honesty and integrity mixed with high quality parts and relationships produces high end vehicles that are meant to be driven.

At a young age Boris was attracted to the muscle cars of the late 60’s and early 70’s. His friends older brothers always had muscle cars and the classic lines of Chevelles, GTOs and Skylarks mixed with the rumble of the motors was enough for Boris to fall in love. Boris worked at a gas station as he grew up and right our of college decided he wanted to be a mechanic. He opened his shop as just a basic mechanical shop doing tune ups and repairs. He thought, if I had my owns shop I would have a place to work on not only customer cars but his own car. This was quite the contrary and after about 7 years he got burned out and decided if he was going to stay in the automotive industry he needed to switch gears and, “get away from the water pumps, timing belts, and tune ups.” He started working more on hot rods and classics doing things like lowering kits and in the mid 90’s did his first air ride suspension after meeting a small outfit at the time called Ridetech.

Throughout the late 90’s he would be the guy to go to for air ride suspensions which snowballed into things like adding air conditioning, steering columns, LS swaps and full blown builds. The business has now evolved into not just mechanical repairs but body and paint, selling parts, chassis assembly and dealers for all of the major aftermarket manufacturers. His parts business has grown so much over the past few years that he’s pulled one of his mechanics to answer phones with him all day. If you call Street Machinery for parts or service there’s a good chance you will actually be talking with Boris. The nine man crew at Street Machinery is tiny compared to the work load which Boris reports could be, “double the size and we would still be behind.” Boris says that they have been busier from 2019 to current than he’s ever been in the lifespan of the company and credits COVID as the main driver in the uptick in business.

Another huge part of the business is buying and selling cars. After acquiring his dealers license Boris now moves about 100-150 cars a year. A majority of these cars are classics unless its a newer special interest type of car, ie the 700 mile PT Cruiser (you’ll have to listen to the podcast for this story…). Most of his cars are not found but brought to him by collectors that know that he is the guy that will pay them fairly.

The parts business right now is what is taking up most of Boris’ time. As mentioned earlier him and another gentleman man the phones all day taking orders from customer large and small. He gets deliveries every single day and we are talking large bulk deliveries. Pallets of air bags, compressors, spindles and wheels are delivered and need to be inventoried. It’s so busy that Boris just purchased 20 LSA engines that were sold within 30 days. To put into perspective how quickly inventory goes, LS3s are on back order, Boris had the opportunity to purchase 6 engines, all were spoken for in 45 min.

Not only was the business taking off in the late 90’s but Boris’ taste in cars changed to more of the late 50’s early 60’s full sized sedans. After seeing a 62’ Bubble top Bel Air at a Super Chevy Show and knew he had to have one. This became his true love with the big bodies and awesome styling of the day. He doesn’t discriminate when it comes to these vehicles, station wagons, 2 doors and 4 doors are all to his liking. Boris added during the podcast that, “4 doors can pull as much as 2 doors in certain models.” This is due to the survival rate being higher because older people would buy them and not customize these vehicles. The late 50s early 60s cars quickly became the builds that Street Machinery are known for. Boris credits this to a few builds that featured these patina sedans with big horsepower and amazing ride quality.

When asked what makes his shop so successful Boris had some of the best advice for up and coming hot rod shops. Boris has been in business for 30 years and has a track record of not hacking up cars, dealing with people honestly and, “didn’t get this far by screwing people over.” Boris says, “I try to do what’s right, almost to a fault,” by trusting people even after being burned more than a few times. Boris tries to see other peoples point of view and understands that stuff comes up in life that may not have the outcome both parties envisioned. Boris is very fair when pricing out a job and can’t pin point an exact dollar amount because not every job is exactly the same. He explains to customers a projected price but at the end of the day it comes down to a time and materials calculation.

Items on the back end that customers do not see are things like, insurance, taxes, tooling and utilities are why Boris will never be the bottom dollar guy however will give you the best product in the end. He is blessed to have an unlimited amount of work and will choose customers based on their willingness to work with the shop. Boris has turned away more than a few people based on attitudes towards budgets, as he doesn’t have the time to call a customer every 5 min if a new fitting outside of the scope needs one put on. He reports, “my customers are the biggest sweethearts,” and if Boris recommends something they do not have any problems with an increased budget. Most of the customers that have come through the doors have become friends and have even invited Boris to stay at their house if there is a car show he is visiting in their area. “The friends do not become customers, the customers become friends.”

Personally Boris is into the 62 bubble top cars and owns 10 of them. These cars are getting hard to find especially in good condition and will always bring some of the best money. He has always been into the C10 and OBS trucks and enjoys driving a few different versions to this day. The 59 El Camino is a personal favorite and has one of the nicest I’ve seen with a 502 crate motor sitting in his showroom. In high school Boris owned a 79 Trans-AM and unfortunately sold it in 1993. 27 years later he had the chance to buy it back in better shape than he originally sold it in, with only 1000 miles more on it. This also sits in his showroom in pristine condition with only 2 peoples owning it since 1988. He is also working on his comedic act which you can find on his instagram a few times a week during his shop interviews…

When I asked Boris if he wanted to grow the business to handle additional cars he said he would rather focus on the parts and assembly business. He now wants to find was that give the best value to his customers by offering fully modular chassis with options from brakes, to motors and trans, to wheels. The last 10% of the build is what takes 90% of the time and Boris would rather the at home guy finish his car than spend the extra money. This allows for the increased volume of people who want his signature style and performance without having a waiting list 5 years long.

I cannot thank Boris enough, from someone who has admired his operation and style for years it was a honor that he took the time to meet with me on a Sunday. If you’re in the Cleveland area I highly recommend stopping by the shop and checking out the showroom. You’ll more than likely run into Boris as he only lives a few min from the place and throughout enjoys when customers or curious travelers come by. If you want to find out more about Boris and Street Machinery you can find him on instagram @streetmachinery, Facebook under Street Machinery Sales and Service Sunday Swap-A-Rama or on his website www.streetmachinery.com. I really appreciate the time Boris took to walk through his incredible operation and share the knowledge and stories behind Street Machinery, even on a Sunday! I look forward to visiting him again once again when he opens the new section of the shop sometime later this year!