"Gearhead" student fixes cars
Freshman repairs friends' cars; learned on boat motors
Katie Rose McEneely
Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: News
When keys get locked inside of cars, some students don't head for a locksmith. They look to Mike Marsh.
Marsh, a freshman and a self-described "gearhead," says he has helped about a dozen Hillsdale College students, most of them friends, with their cars. That assistance includes retrieving keys, repairing brakes and performing tune-ups.
He developed these skills by working on the weekends at the family business, Marsh Brothers Pontoon Specialists, in Quincy, Mich.
"I've been working there since I was old enough to push a broom," Marsh said. He works part-time while classes are in session and longer hours over breaks.
He received certification as a boat mechanic last summer at the Suzuki Motors Marine Engine School in Atlanta, Ga., though he called the certification a technicality.
"I knew most of that stuff already just from working on it at home," he said.
At the marina, he performs a wide range of tasks on boats: sales, mechanical work, re-decking or refurbishing pontoon boats and detail work. He picked up what he knows about cars on his own time.
"I'm not a professional, but I'm mediocre," he says.
He can do his own repair work, but he has had a car break down on him.
Travis Wright, a boat builder at the marina, says he'd trust Marsh to work on his car "until it breaks." Marsh has helped him with mechanical repairs since 2007, Wright said.
"He's helped me change my breaks, he's helped me change the oil, spark plugs, spark plug wires and he wired my speakers," Wright said. "He's helped about 5 or 6 other friends with pulling the engine out, changing the lifters, putting an alternator in. Just small stuff like that."
As a rule, Marsh doesn't advertise his abilities, and mainly helps friends. As long as they pay for parts, he says, he doesn't charge for his services, "unless it's a really big job."
He did his first major project at the age of 12 or 13, he said: He took apart a 1956 Johnson 5-horsepower outward motor to see how it worked. His mother, Debra, says he's always been interested in mechanics and continues to learn through programs at the marina.
"He reads up on it, everything new that comes in," she says. "He's an excellent mechanic."
Marsh is preparing for Officer Candidate School for the Marine Corps this summer. He says he'd like to keep working at the marina after college and four years in the Marines.
"Who knows how it'll end up," Debra says. "We look forward to him owning the business some day."
Marsh, a freshman and a self-described "gearhead," says he has helped about a dozen Hillsdale College students, most of them friends, with their cars. That assistance includes retrieving keys, repairing brakes and performing tune-ups.
He developed these skills by working on the weekends at the family business, Marsh Brothers Pontoon Specialists, in Quincy, Mich.
"I've been working there since I was old enough to push a broom," Marsh said. He works part-time while classes are in session and longer hours over breaks.
He received certification as a boat mechanic last summer at the Suzuki Motors Marine Engine School in Atlanta, Ga., though he called the certification a technicality.
"I knew most of that stuff already just from working on it at home," he said.
At the marina, he performs a wide range of tasks on boats: sales, mechanical work, re-decking or refurbishing pontoon boats and detail work. He picked up what he knows about cars on his own time.
"I'm not a professional, but I'm mediocre," he says.
He can do his own repair work, but he has had a car break down on him.
Travis Wright, a boat builder at the marina, says he'd trust Marsh to work on his car "until it breaks." Marsh has helped him with mechanical repairs since 2007, Wright said.
"He's helped me change my breaks, he's helped me change the oil, spark plugs, spark plug wires and he wired my speakers," Wright said. "He's helped about 5 or 6 other friends with pulling the engine out, changing the lifters, putting an alternator in. Just small stuff like that."
As a rule, Marsh doesn't advertise his abilities, and mainly helps friends. As long as they pay for parts, he says, he doesn't charge for his services, "unless it's a really big job."
He did his first major project at the age of 12 or 13, he said: He took apart a 1956 Johnson 5-horsepower outward motor to see how it worked. His mother, Debra, says he's always been interested in mechanics and continues to learn through programs at the marina.
"He reads up on it, everything new that comes in," she says. "He's an excellent mechanic."
Marsh is preparing for Officer Candidate School for the Marine Corps this summer. He says he'd like to keep working at the marina after college and four years in the Marines.
"Who knows how it'll end up," Debra says. "We look forward to him owning the business some day."
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