Import auto care in the country

FLORA, Ind. (WLFI) - In Flora you'll find a garage that specializes in race cars. Griffin's Service Center is the culmination of a life long love of cars for Tony Griffin.

"When I built mode cars I was big into serious detailing them. Where as other kids would build them, stick a match to them, light them on fire and push them around, I built them and made them right," said Griffin.

Griffin left high school and his home in rural Western Pennsylvania to become a mechanic.

"I quit high school at the age of 18 and my parents totally disagreed with it, but I promised them I'd get my GED and I followed through with that promise at 27-year-old," he said.

Griffin got his training on specialty cars at a Porsche dealership in Washington D.C.

"When I started in this business," he explained. "I basically had a little yellow tool box that big and that tall and that's all the tools I had."

The tool box grew over the years. Tools now occupy several large drawers in the shop. Griffin spent some time behind the wheel racing Porsches for the Sports Car Club of America. He no longer occupies the driver's seat, but that hasn't put the brakes on his passion for cars. Griffin admitted Flora is an unlikely place for an import auto garage, but specialty car drivers are making the trip to find him. Still, the shop mainly services the usual rides.

"I enjoy what I do whether it be Porsche, Toyota, Subaru," he said. "I appreciate a good car. They are all basically the same."

Flora fits Griffin. He enjoys the close connections of a rural town.

"Normally, every morning we have a lot of locals come by and have coffee," he explained.

Griffin said after 34 years he still enjoys his job. Owning a garage allows him to help owners know their vehicles better.

"I try to explain every thing to them whether it be drawing diaphragms. I explain how the computer works and why the service light comes on. Most people don't have a clue, so I'm trying to educate them," said Griffin.

Expanding his role from mechanic to teacher is what drove him to open an independent garage.