Ohlinger celebrates, looks back on 32 years at The Auto Shop

SALISBURY — At the age of 24, Steve Ohlinger began playing the piano. He studied the instrument thoroughly—jazz, theory, composition, the whole bit. When his hard work paid off and he actually started becoming proficient at the instrument, he said he realized, “I can probably do anything!”

“But, some things are harder than others,” he added. Learning the piano was what gave him the confidence to commit himself to his favorite skill-set: mechanics. 

“I did it for so long that I thought, yeah, eventually, if you’re really interested in it, you can get good at it!”

Celebrating 32 years at The Auto Shop on East Railroad Street, Ohlinger’s commitment to mechanics has withstood the test of time.

In 1984, Ohlinger, who at the time was working at a different auto shop in Westchester County, saw a brief add for Salisbury’s The Auto Shop. He hopped on the opportunity to buy the place and, later that year, continued the reputable business previously owned by Carl Franson and Doug Reid.

In an interview with The Lakeville Journal on Aug. 18,  Ohlinger looked back on his early days in Salisbury. He leaned  against a wall and propped a foot up over a counter covered with a combination of tools and Auto Shop memorabilia.

“My advice to entrepreneurs or guys who want to do this would be, you know, to buy a place that’s going. You don’t try to start cold. 

“And do your best.”

He spoke about the early challenges he faced in trying to be both a mechanic and a business manager.

He spoke with gratitude about the mechanical assistance he got from Ken Hagley, who joined the shop in the early 1990s. 

“You present a problem to him and he sees it. It’s like magic.” Today, Ohlinger has assistance from both Hagley and Kyle Ellis.

With a college degree in business and an academic minor in philosophy, Ohlinger has maintained a critical view of the overall auto industry, favoring certain companies and makes above others.

His favorite, as many will already know, is Volvo—but not just any Volvos. The company’s best cars, he said, come from 1978 to 1998. The best are rear-wheel drive. The 1999 Volvos and up? 

“Don’t bother,” Ohlinger said. “They moved the engineering into the accounting department, and that ended it.

“As soon as the bean counters took over the engineering of a car, I mean come on, it’s pretty evident what happens, and it’s what happened to all of them—Volvo, Volkswagen, Audi, the whole bunch. As soon as the engineering’s in the accounting department, game’s over.”

After 32 years in Salisbury and even longer as a mechanic, Ohlinger’s had the time to form some opinions which, he admitted, he “wears on the front door.” He said he feels fortunate that he’s able to maintain the business while being open about his views on the industry and politics.

Ohlinger shared a prized possession that hung on the wall. It was a picture taken by Salisbury photographer Anne Day of a line of Volvo cars parked in front of Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Most, if not all, of the cars were sold by Ohlinger himself.

“You know, if a legacy has to be left in any sense …” he paused to reconsider the question he had put before himself. “Yeah. This. This is it.”

The photograph was featured on the back of a spring 2016 issue of Rolling magazine, an official publication of the Volvo Club of America.

As for the near future, Ohlinger couldn’t place a finger on specific changes at The Auto Shop. Looming in the bigger picture, however, was the mention of a significant shift—not just for The Auto Shop, but for Salisbury as a whole.  

“I’m 66 years old,” he said. “I could see passing it [the shop] on to somebody.”

But until then, Ohlinger and his guys will continue to provide auto services and treat you to a car (a Volvo, probably), with a healthy dose of car talk.