Yes, we started life as "The Volks Shop". Len Mattson and I began our careers in auto repair as partners in 1968. After we dissolved the partnership we both opened our own independent auto repair shops. He, Len's Automotive and we, the Volks Shop. Our first location was across the parking lot from Eastside Rental, sandwiched in between Lafayette Radio Electronics and Bellevue Auto Electric. We took in our first dollar on August 6, 1973 doing a repair on a Beetle owned by Susan Zaffiro.

Shortly after opening, Daryl Christensen joined me and a few months after that Johnny Rodgers became part of the crew. Art Elferts began working part time in the months that followed. It wasn't long before Volkswagen of America took notice of our shop name and informed me, via their legal department, that they owned the word "Volks" and any "colorful derivation thereof" and I was to cease using it. So, not to cause hate and discontent, I changed the name to The Wagon Shop. I spelled "Wagon" with an "o" and not with an "e" as in Wagen to avoid any further confrontation just in case they owned that also. A shop in Issaquah, Volkscar, owned by Jim Burnett ran into the same problem about the same time so he changed his company name to Folkscar. VW wouldn't accept that "colorful derivation" of the name so Jim just dropped the first letter and named it "Olkscar". It operated under that unusual name until it was destroyed by a shop fire and Jim decided not to continue.

As business began to expand for both us and Mike Lenci at Bellevue Auto Electric, Eastside Rental began having a difficult time trying to navigate around all the cars parked in the lot and asked us both to find locations with more parking. About that time, Bob Siceloff, the owner of Carlton's Maple Shop, decided to retire and rented us the building that we now occupy.

George Moore, owner of Moore Motors, the Volkswagen dealer, was a bit perturbed when I moved the shop next door to his facility until I explained to him that we were not in competition with each other but were a complement to each other. There are some who, for whatever reasons, will not take their vehicles to a dealer for service. If those people cannot receive the quality care that is needed to keep them loyal VW customers, the next time they buy a vehicle, it won't be a Volkswagen and then both of us will suffer. From that time on George did treat us like a business partner and we even had him bring a new 1975 Rabbit and put it on our showroom floor. In later years when one of George's sons was in the repair business, he would bring problem cars to us for help.

Mike Olson, a partsman at Freeway Volkswagen at the time, and I had been formulating a plan to open an import auto parts store in conjunction with the shop. The new location gave us enough room to manage that so in 1975 we opened "Wagon Parts" with Steve Collins helping Mike run the parts counter.

It became evident after a couple of years that the large warehouse operations out of California and South Africa marketing in our area directly to the wholesale customers we were targeting, plus the fact that we could not land a Bosch warehouse distributorship, would make it very difficult for us to compete. The decision was made to shrink the parts department and to enlarge the shop which we did. So for the last twenty plus years we have concentrated on making our shop the focal point of the operation with the parts department a support for the shop. We try to stock the fast moving parts that are often needed in the shop so that we minimize the wait time for parts. The need to stock parts for "Do it yourselfers" has declined steadily with the increase in complexity of the machines. It is almost impossible for the average person to work on his own car any more. Very few who own cars in the years affected by the emissions testing do their own maintenance. With the growth of Bellevue from a small town on the east side of the lake, to a major Washington city with high-tech connections, came the lack of enthusiasm for working on your own car. The repair business has also noticed a decline in the need for regularly scheduled maintenance and repair with the advent of higher quality vehicles with longer service intervals. The robust economy of the past ten years has prompted many to buy new cars with the first tune-up due at 100,000 miles. In the "old days" we used to see your Beetles and Buses every 3,000 miles for an oil change and every 6,000 miles for a tune-up. Some of the new car purchasers do not realize that the quality, personal service of a shop like ours will provide the necessary maintenance to keep their warranties in effect. Every new car has a scheduled maintenance service due every 7500 miles and these must be done and documented to make sure the warranty is kept in effect if needed. When we do find a problem that is covered on the manufacturer's warranty, we can then refer them to the dealer to have the problem corrected. It sometimes is good to have an "outsider's" opinion on warranty issues. There are times that we encounter a problem that we either lack the equipment or the expertise to handle and have no problems in referring you to those that we know can help.

Here is a bit of info about some of those who helped put the Wagon Shop together and did their best to provide the kind of personal service that you came to rely on.

Daryl decided that a "Coast Guard" experience was needful and so he enlisted in 1976. During his stint in the service he found a bride and a ready-made family with two sons to bring back to Bellevue with him upon his discharge. He also returned to the Wagon Shop in 1980 and as many of you know, was a vital part of making the shop a friendly place for you to do business. The opportunity presented itself in 1998 for Daryl to purchase the company that supplied us with rebuilt transmissions. He now works for "himself" as the proprietor of AA Transaxle and continues to supply us with quality rebuilt units. He and his wife added another son to the family while in the Coast Guard and are now enjoying the fun of being grandparents. They reside in the "greater metropolitan" area of Duvall.

Johnny Rodgers worked for the Wagon Shop for about 10 years before deciding that he no longer wanted to work on cars and went to work for Boeing. Volkswagens were too small, so he stepped up to 747's at the Everett plant.

Mike Olson, whose dream to own an import auto parts warehouse couldn't be fulfilled at Wagon Parts, went on to start his own, IPW in Kent. IPW, Import Parts Warehouse, operated successfully for several years and Mike sold his interest to a Canadian company and has since worked as a consultant and representative for other parts suppliers.

More to come in the future about others when time permits.

715 8th Street, Kirkland,
Washington 98033
(425) 827-4383 service@thewagonshopinc.com

HOME • SERVICES • SPECIALS • TESTIMONIALS • DIRECTIONS • HISTORY • LINKS
715 8TH ST., KIRKLAND, WA 98033 • 425.827.4383 • service@thewagonshopinc.com