Stuart
Stuart started his apprenticeship in the motor trade in 1977 at a Ford dealership in Berkhamsted at the age of sixteen. After completing his four year apprenticeship, he spent the next twenty five years working for Ford. ‘turning the spanners’ and sharing his knowledge with a number of young apprentices, as they passed through the business.
One of the apprentices, Gary, was to become a very important part of their combined careers.
During his time at the dealership, Stuart became a qualified MOT tester, rising to Foreman and eventually, Service Manager.
When the dealership made all of their employees redundant in the year 2000, Stuart and Gary decided to set up on their own and the business that was known as “Motech” came into being in October 2000. The rest, as they say, is history.
The business has had three locations, most notably, Swing Gate Lane/High Street, where the parking facilities were legendary and required more than a little skill at times! Most recently, they moved to their current location at Woodview Farm Estate on Hog Lane, about halfway between Berkhamsted & Chesham.
Stuart enjoys spending his leisure time out on the open road on his Harley Davidson motorcycle. He also enjoys touring holidays on the bike, last year visiting nine European countries in twelve days, with his wife and two close friends, the highlight being Lake Como.
Over the years, Stuart has owned many different motorcycles, including a Yamaha R1, a Honda Fireblade and a Suzuki GSXR. So, whilst his working life is taken up with four wheeled vehicles, his passion certainly lies with the two wheeled variety.
During the time that their two children were growing up, Stuart and his wife owned several boats, which served, over the years to provide many memorable holidays. Also with a love of clay pigeon shooting and fishing, it’s fair to say that Stuart is an ‘out of doors’ kind of guy!
Gary
Gary started his apprenticeship at the same Ford dealership, in 1991, at the age of sixteen. Following completion of his apprenticeship, he, too, continued to work there until redundancy came along in the year 2000.
During his time at the dealership, Gary became a qualified MOT tester. At the point of redundancy, with their combined knowledge and wide range of specialist skills, it seemed sensible to build their own business. And Motech was born in October 2000.
The business has developed and grown, particularly as the two partners have unique skills to bring to the garage. Gary has specialist knowledge of classic cars, with a particular passion for RS Cosworths.
Over the years, he has done up many classic cars, enjoying restoring them to their former glory, often with tweaks and improvements, to bring them bang up to date for today’s roads and driving requirements. Gary’s current project is a Ford Escort Mark ll, in bright orange, which is gracing the workshop with its 1970’s charms. There are photographs of the progress of this project in our classic car gallery.
In his leisure time, Gary enjoys his Landrover and off-roading. On many a Monday morning, a virtually mud-camouflaged Landy can be seen in the yard awaiting the mother of all hosing downs!
Gary also has a passion for his form of camping, affectionately known as ‘glamping’ (as it is far from basic!). He often converts vans into luxury camper vans. Having spent so much time around the various workshops, as they were growing up, Gary’s two sons also have a keen interest in and own their own classic cars.
Kevin
Kev is our youngest team member. After leaving school and doing a variety of jobs fitting tyres and being around cars of all types, he came to join Stuart and Gary at Motech.
Initially as a an extra pair of hands, Kev quickly showed aptitude for his chosen career and he remained at Motech whilst the business supported him through his three year apprenticeship, which he successfully completed in 2005.
As a fully qualified motor engineer, Kev is a valued member of the team and has particular expertise in computer diagnostics. He also enjoys helping Gary with the restoration of his classic car projects and has worked on a number of vehicles he has bought, restored and sold on when complete.
Kev enjoys spending time with his fiancée at home, and walking their ten year old Staffordshire Terrier, German Shepherd cross breed.
Sue
Sue has been a loyal customer of Motech for many years, encouraged to use the garage by her father, who has known Stuart and Gary since their dealership days.
Her working life has been varied, but was mostly in banking for one of the major high street banks.
Sue has also run two small businesses of her own over the years. This background has given Sue a wide variety of office and customer service skills that are now coming in very handy.
In late 2013, Sue routinely visited Motech for her annual car service and noticed that the boys were very stretched and regularly interrupted by incoming calls that were necessary to the business, but stopped them from working on the cars. A chance remark about them “needing some help in the office” has turned into a nearly full time job!
Sue answers most of the incoming telephone calls, manages the business finances, liaises with suppliers and customers, and generally keeps a constant supply of tea, coffee and biscuits and the occasional homemade cake.
Motech now boasts a fully searchable database of customers, a redecorated office and a clean floor (most of the time!) and the business is able to concentrate on what they are good at, which is servicing and repairing vehicles.
In her spare time, Sue enjoys textile and mixed media art, is currently Vice-Chair at the Herts branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild and has recently become an approved speaker at the Herts Federation of Women’s Institutes.