As in the title. My greatuncle has been running an auto shop since the early 70s. He started out building brand new cars out of parts, which, in the shortage-riddden socialist economy, was very viable - he even used to drive Volgas. Then, after socialism fell, his shop circumvented import taxes by importing used car bodies and drivetrains and then putting them together. In the EU times of no such taxation, it's just a village import car dealership/body shop. My dad used to work in that shop in the 90s. Then, he worked for Daewoo-FSO in the late 90s and early 2000s in the body engineering department, though he also worked on Daewoo's appliance metalworking. And then, he got hired by a company to which Porsche outsourced the same thing - for example, thanks to his job, I saw the Panamera or 2nd gen Cayenne 3 years before their debut. Now, he's a middle manager in a nitrogen works. And in your family?
My great uncle currently drives a day cab semi truck and trailer, he does local loads. And my uncle works at Firestone.
Nearly all of my male family members work and have worked for automotive industry. My grandpa worked in department incharged for services and maintenance of cars in Zastava. He worked there from 70s until late 2000s, when he retired. Dad worked in Zastava Institute, Zastava's department incharged for development of cars. He even worked on construction of some elements on Yugo Florida in 80s. After that he left Institute, and found other job. Uncle works as sales manager in FCA Serbia. Before Fiat, he worked for Zastava on same spot along with my grandpa. When Zastava was transformed into Fiat Automobiles Serbia, uncle was one of few who had moved to Fiat on the same position. Many people lost their jobs after the Zastava had stopped with production of cars.
My father worked as a freight forwarder at a port during the nineties and he often had to deal with shipments of Ladas. Most of them were shipped to Panama for Motores Internacionales. He also arranged protection for these cars to prevent port workers from stealing parts. Once a shipment of Ladas was exchanged for a shipment of Subarus, which consisted mostly of Legacys and Imprezas, but there were also a couple of SVXs and one Vivio that the Lada exporter purchased specially for one of his relatives. These SADM Subarus were shipped from Panama to Estonia, then sold to Russian buyers who came to pick up the cars and drive them to their new homes. Almost everyone made it, except for one guy who collided head-on with a Kamaz (he survived, unlike the car). This deal had a specific trait and my father had to collect information about cars (like VIN numbers) and send them to a certain Russian bank. About every car. In the 1700 piece shipment. It was terrible. He had to stay at work until 3AM. My great-grandfather worked as a taxi driver illegally for a short time after retiring.
I have an uncle who works at an engine shop. He also owns a garage full of like 7-or-so cars (1976 Lincoln Continental Town Car, 1985 Chevy Monte Carlo SS, Nissan 300ZX, etc).
Although my grandfather wasn't a mechanic, he raced cars during his 20s and 30s here in Australia. The cars he mainly raced were Holden Toranas and Monaros.
