The Buck Stops Here: A Day in The Life of a Mechanic

 Image by El Biffster via Flickr

TUCSON — When Frank Buckner was 14 years old, his father made him a proposal.

“If you can get this car running, it’s yours when you turn 16,” the future mechanic’s dad said.

The car was a broken down 1954 Chevy, and Buckner was determined to make it his. So after a full year of grinding away in the garage, he single-handedly revived the vehicle.

Was his father surprised that his son, who had no training or experience fixing cars at that point, finally got the car to start?

“Not at all,” Buckner said. “It was his intention from the beginning to give me the car. He had me do the project, because he wanted me to earn it.”

That was 49 years ago. But Buckner never lost his love for working with his hands or building something from the ground up. Now, the man with decades of mechanical experience in fixing and customizing cars – who is better known as Buck by everyone – is the owner of Buck’s Automotive and Buck’s Fuel and Service, both located in Tucson.

Although Buck made the transition from being an exclusive grit-and-oil mechanic to an office overseer in 2003, he hasn’t lost the values of his upbringing in labor and considers himself a hands-on manager. “I still work on cars and like to get dirty,” he said.

Buck especially likes working on problem children, the vehicles with a lot of problems, and taking on foreign cars which require difficult labor. This comes as no surprise, as Buck is not the kind of man who backs away from challenges but rather embraces them, much like the 1954 Chevy undertaking.

In a one-on-one interview, the guy who spent 26 years building and owning race cars talks about the joys and challenges of a mechanic, what it takes to be one and what differentiates Buck’s from other car shops.

How’d you get your start in the auto industry?