Working under a steel umbrella
To shake your hand, Shawn Anderson takes his gloves off. They are stained black - the color of the tattoo on his forearm, the color that has smeared most of his work clothing.
Liz Essley
Issue date: 2/5/09 Section: News
| |
| |
|
"See that? The gasket is bad right there," he says as he points out a part in the underbelly.
Anderson, of Hillsdale's Apex Automotive, has been fixing cars for 24 years. He started when he was 16. He has no specialty - he works on everything. And he's good at what he does. He can remove and replace a V6 engine in five hours. It takes other mechanics around 10 to 15.
His task today is to replace the gasket and do some exhaust work on the vehicle above him.
To help him, he has a giant red toolbox, over six feet high and three feet wide. It's not for child's play.
"I keep my tools at work so [my son] can't tinker with stuff," he says.
Anderson has helped to raise eight children from two different relationships, but only his youngest son, Kenneth Taylor, 10, is at home now. "The little one" dreams big, Anderson says, and wants to be either a country singer or a mechanic when he grows up.
"He's got a wild imagination," Anderson says, smiling slightly.
Both Anderson and his wife work to support Kenneth.
"It's tight, but money's not everything. We're poor but we're happy," Anderson says.
Anderson started working as a mechanic after he dropped out of school in eighth grade and started hanging around the Midas shop near his home in Ann Arbor, Mich. It was there he made the friends who taught him the basics of the trade.
"I used to hang out with the guys, started sweeping floors, and worked my way up from there," he says.
He is self-employed at Apex, and can come and go when he chooses, but he usually ends up working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Three other mechanics work at the shop; each has his projects lined up against different corners of the large garage.
Tim Bills, the owner of Apex, says Anderson has a huge amount of knowledge about his work and takes pride in it.
"The thing about Shawn is, he doesn't really make it look hard. He's quick," Bills says.
Anderson took a big pay cut when he moved to Hillsdale two years ago, he says, but it was worth it for the "quiet community."
"I love it here," Anderson says. "I wanted to move to a place where you can leave your keys in the car when you go to the grocery store."
Anderson lived in Hillsdale for a few years as a small child and remembered it as a peaceful place. Now he likes spending time at Lake Bawbeese in his spare hours, fishing and grilling out.
But he likes fixing cars, and doesn't plan to leave it anytime soon. When will he quit?
"Once I hit the lottery."
Be the first to comment on this story