While Libson has been a fixture for over 65 years in Minneapolis, the familial roots run much deeper than that.
In 1919, the four Wilensky brothers – Phil, Ben, Abe, and Joe – started Wilensky Military Parts on the North side of Minneapolis. The budding entrepreneurs started their business, selling surplus and decommissioned Liberty Trucks.
Over the next few years, their business continued to expand exponentially. With the ending of World War II, the brothers sold Army Surplus JEEP vehicles, Deuce & Halfs (M35’s), DUK W’s, alongside civilian cars and trucks from their sprawling North Minneapolis location on Plymouth Avenue, later expanding all the way to Washington Avenue.
In 1949, Joe Libson started Libson Truck Sales in Minneapolis – right down the block from Wilensky Truck Parts.
In 1950, Abe Wilensky’s son, Shale, joins the family business. Guiding the business through the 1960’s riots in Minneapolis, Shale was appointed President in 1974.
In 1979, the third generation - Shale’s son-in-law, Jeff Eisenberg - is brought into the fold of Wilensky Auto Parts.
In 1982, sensing a big opportunity, Jeff and Shale took a calculated leap and purchased a salvage yard on the East Side of St. Paul; Twin City Auto & Military Parts was formed from this. Jeff brought a new vision to Auto Parts – not a junkyard, but an actual parts recycling facility. A racking system was employed to keep the vehicles off the ground, and in 1987, a computerized Hollander Yard Management system was installed – keeping all of the parts on an easily accessible system, and providing a LOCATE service throughout North America!
In 2002, after Twin City Auto & Military Parts was redeveloped into an office park, Jeff set off looking for a new adventure. He purchased Libson Truck Parts, and renamed it into Libson Twin City Auto & Truck Parts.
2006 was a monumental year for Libson – a new main office location at 1218 Central Avenue NE was purchased 2005, and an April 1st move was planned from the old location at 2014 Washington Avenue North. On March 6, a sudden storm knocked out all of the power and communications lines to the old building and an immediate move to the new location was made.
In 2010, Jeff’s son, Shale’s grandson, and Abe’s great-grandson, Trent Eisenberg, joined the business, modernizing and expanding the operations. New partnerships with companies near and far were formed. The business – already bustling in the continental USA – would soon find itself in a new global front, shipping to places like Finland, Brazil, South Korea, - even Ulan Baatar, Outer Mongolia – on a regular basis.
Bringing us to today, in 2017, Libson is proud to relaunch LibsonTruck.com as our e-commerce portal, bringing our extensive catalogue of in-house rebuilt products, along with our carefully selected partner items from companies such as American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM), Dana, NTN Bearing, and Magna Powertrain.
