Photo Gallery: Michigan's Auto Repair Garages, 1900-1950

When was your last major vehicle repair? Forget the tune-ups and lube jobs...what about the major stuff like transmission, fuel pump, brakes, etc.? We all know these things ain't cheap to fix and replacing that money we just siphoned out of our savings accounts to get this stuff repaired isn't as simple as it sounds.

Yesterday's vehicles – let's face it – were pains-in-the-butt because it didn't take much for them to break down.

Today's vehicles are pains too...even though they're modernized and have progressed significantly in the last 100 years, all these little nuances and fancy-schmancy stuff that makes these cars run takes a different kind of mechanic. It's not as easy as fixing a flat, or as inexpensive as it used to be to replace an engine.

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Even though yesterday's mechanics worked wonders and had the know-how, today's mechanics have to know more...LOTS more. An unenviable position to be in, unless you have that deep love to work on cars.

After paying over $1,000 recently to have my vehicle repaired, it got me thinking about how less complicated auto repair seemed to be 60-to-100 years ago. Well, it seemed like it to me. You could take your auto in and wait while it was repaired...read a magazine, have a bottle of pop...and before you knew it, the job was done. Now you drop off your vehicle, bum a ride home, and wait for a few days. Or in some cases, over a whole month.

So realizing this, I thought I'd scan around for some photos of old Michigan auto garages, repair shops, and service stations and remember those terrific mechanics of yesteryear.

See for yourself...