I was one of those lucky 18-year-olds who knew exactly what I wanted to do for a job before I finished school. I wanted to be a mechanic!
When one of my dad’s vehicles’ bonnet was open, I was more in the way than helping, but I didn’t want to be anywhere else. But as life does, I could not immediately fulfill my dream. After school I went to work as a cashier. Here I really didn’t want to be, but my dream needed financing. The days passed slowly, and the first opportunity that arose to do something else, I jumped at.
The steel industry was the next step on the ladder to my dream. Steel gates and fences were not exactly the dream world, but when the owner of the business agreed that I could help rebuild the work bakkie’s engine, my dream got wings. I enjoyed this job so much that I would have done it for free. This realization confirmed that my passion lies with vehicles.
I’m fascinated – how does it work? What does it need to work again? And why did it stop working in the first place? Here’s where I want to be! This is what I want to do!
My ladder’s next step came shortly afterwards through a job opportunity at a small workshop in Monte Vista. I was ecstatic. The first day I went to work with a jean, third team rugby jersey and sneakers. But what I looked like didn’t matter. The smell of the workshop and vehicles – I remember it ‘till this day.
My working hands were shaped by hard work. The workshop owner who taught me all the tricks of the trade for the first 9 years in the industry did so with an iron hand. “There is always work in the workshop, whether there are cars or not,” he liked to say. Thank God for this teacher.
The automotive industry is not a shiny world, and you need hair on your teeth for the hard work it takes to do it right and well. It’s not a fairy tale as portrayed by Speed & Sound or Hollywood.
If it was easy, everyone would have done it themselves. It takes effort and sweat to repair vehicles that seem to want to remain broken. Vehicle owners are also a strange species to work with – because who wants to pay installment payment to the bank every month, as well as insurance premiums, and now while you cannot even drive your vehicle, you have to pay yet another person to fix whatever is broken.
But I will not exchange this work for anything else. I love my job. And it made every difficult day, every difficult job, every difficult client worthwhile. Here I want to be. Every day’s new challenge, every vehicle with its problems makes it different. Services and engines rebuild, gearboxes in or out, and brakes replaced – I do so gladly. The dirtier my hands, the better.
In the 9 years at Monte Vista, I progressed to a qualified car mechanic. But I wanted to do more and go higher on the ladder of success.
From agents to back street workshops, from vehicles that have been standing for so long the rats have been nesting, to rental cars rattling and growling. But my standards are too high, and my need to help people was crushed to death. At these shops I could not work one more day.
Today, as I look back on my route to here, all these experiences have shaped my dream. It added to the ideal image and service that is unique to me. Here I learned that good service and honesty are worth so much more than a big bank balance. People should be able to come back, want to come back knowing that their car is safe in my hands.
After helping other start their own workshops more than once, helping to build other’s businesses into thriving workshops, I was given the opportunity to do this for myself as well. After 16 years of dream, EL MOTOR WORKSHOP opened its doors on August 1, 2019. All thanks to God.
Here I can work my way, with my methods, values and principles.
I maintain a high standard of work at an affordable rate.
Good quality repairs to all vehicles.
The customer remains in control of the repair bill.
Good relevant technical advice is provided.
I like to do for every client as I would do for myself.
That is why we say: “Here we treat your vehicle like our own”.