About the author
As a young boy, Marvin spent countless hours taking things apart to see what made them tick. It was always a challenge to fix something broken and a great reward when the object in question returned to its original working status.
About the time Marvin reached high school he found the first love of his life, a 1963 Chevy Impala. At the age of 15 and with $50 gifted from his parents, he set out to build his new dream. After spending countless hours and $3500, his dream was accomplished by the time he received his driver’s license. Marvin was proud of his shiny charcoal paint, tuck and roll interior, vinyl top, mag wheels, and a back end jacked up so high you could drive a foreign car under it! Whenever the high school administration wanted to find Marvin all they had to do was go to the auto shop.
After high school, Marvin spent the next two years at Utah Trade Technical College. During this time he had found a new love, one that was faster, stronger, and meaner: a 1966 GTO. A real tire smoker! The Dean of the automotive department reprimanded Marvin by saying "That car is a lethal weapon!" Marvin was proud. He had obtained his goal!
Two years later with degree in hand, off he went to Utah State University to continue his study of Automotive Technology, or was it girls, (at 19 years of age who could keep those two straight?) During the course of school and girls, the Automotive Technology program was canceled.
Marvin decided it was time to look for employment. He acquired a part"time job as a mechanic at a local garage, Tune Tech. After the first week of working 70 hours Marvin was afraid to ask what full time employment would be like. The next three years were spent working countlessly long hours and dreaming of opening his own business.
While working those long hour days a new love came into his life, one bad 1970 4x4 short bed pickup truck that would do almost everything Marvin promised .
About this time Marvin was offered more money from a local VW dealership, Valley Volkswagen. With the focus of wanting to own his own shop one day, he accepted the job.
Within one year, Marvin saved enough money to obtain his lifelong dream, his very own auto repair shop. With the tools all purchased and a loan co•signed by a close friend, Buzz Jones, Marvin's new business was off and running. A second shop was later opened, complete with a full staff of auto mechanics, and a King Kong size headache from owing his body and soul to the local bank.
After 12 years of working 16 to 18 hour days, Marvin sold his shops and moved on to teach part time at Bridgerland Applied Technology Center. Six months later Marvin was Department Head of the automotive program, in a full time capacity. After three years of teaching high school/post high school students and night classes to auto shop technicians, Marvin bought a tool franchise and became involved with selling tools to repair shops in Salt Lake City. A year later he was in Montana working as a Technical Representative for Snap"on Tools, covering most of Montana and Wyoming. Following his three year stay in Montana, he moved to St George, Utah to open his first Diagnostic Repair Center. A year later he was approached by a Utah State representative to train auto repair shops in the state of Utah diagnostics and business management for 13 years. With the down turn of the economy, Marvin jumped ship to be a regional trainer for Big O Tires, less than a year later becoming their National Training Manager. Twenty years of travel had taken its toll on Marvin so after 4 years with Big O Tires he is now back at home running AutoRepairMatch.com a company that makes sure you don’t get ripped off with your automotive repairs.