When I was very young, three-years-old, I started dismantling doorknobs, taking apart my electric toys, and disassembling old phones my father brought home form the phone company where he worked. I would organize all my screws and parts by size and type, using butter tubs my mother saved for me. Around the age of eight, I started working on cars with my father, and when my parents asked me what I wanted to do when I was older, I said I wanted to fix cars in a gas station. As I got older, I refined my answer to “I want to have my own auto repair shop to fix cars.”
Before I achieved my dream, I started in the automotive industry working as a helper at a Porsche and Ferrari dealership—that was 1977, and I stayed there for the next three years. I went on to train in the areas of foreign, domestic, and European auto repair, as well as business management and finance, earning my ASE certification along the way. To this day, I love the challenge of figuring out tough car problems. Nothing beats the feeling of fixing an issue everyone said could not be repaired.
During my years working at dealerships, I was always reminded of that line from The Wizard of Oz: “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” At dealerships, you often wonder what’s going on back there, and why can’t you look? What are they hiding? With my own auto repair shop, I aim for the opposite type of atmosphere. Unlike a large dealership with the “Iron Curtain” syndrome, you’re welcome into our shop during any service to watch the repair process, or to see exactly needs to be fixed on your vehicle before we start work. At ADVANCED AUTOMOTIVE, we appreciate our customers—working on your car is our pleasure, not our burden.