You learn something you didn't know about Bluffton every time you talk with Tom Doty.
The most recent confab took place in his repair shop while talking with Tom and his son, Mike. The topic under discussion was the last half century of the Bluffton auto repair business. It covers lots of miles.
Click here to read the announcement of Mike Doty taking over ownership of Doty's Auto Repair and Wheel Alignment.
For instance, remember when you’d drive past Doty’s and there sat a diesel vehicle for sale – except that it wasn’t a diesel?
Tom switched diesel motors and transmissions out of 50 vehicles, transferring them to gasoline engines, during his extensive auto repair career.
Once the conversation switched from diesels, we were off on a run around town with some of Bluffton’s most memorable auto repair characters.
These included, but were not limited to William “Kaiser” Gaiffe, Wilbur Renner, Jack Smith, Gerald Moyer, Larry Dudgeon, Roger Augsburger, Clarence Bigelow – Tom’s neighbor - and, Gary Kirtland.
Tom’s an Oldsmobile man. He has more Oldsmobile parts and repair tools that you’ll find at Five Acre in Lima.
He started working on cars while in high school under the tutelage of Gary Kirtland, when Gary had a shop selling Sohio gas out on the interstate exit.
Tom eventually worked for Wilbur Renner starting in 1977 when Wilbur ran the Union 76 station at the corner of Main and Jefferson. Today it’s part of Stratton Auto Group.
“Wilbur forgot more about auto repair than I’ll ever know about the subject,” said Tom, who himself is a graduate in auto repair when the University of Northwestern Ohio was still called Northwest Business College.
This is where Roger Augsburger entered the conversation. “Roger got me the job at Wilbur’s,” said Tom.
“Mike mowed lawns for “Kaiser,” who spent a lot of time here in the shop in those days,” recalled Tom, switching subjects. “This place was a sort of circus central at that time.”
The first car that Tom owned was a former Indiana police patrol car, which was a 1967 Pontiac. “I found it somewhere,” is all he would say about it.
About this time in the chat, I asked Mike when he first started to drive.
He admitted that it was sometime around age 14 when he was moving cars inside and outside of the repair bay.
“Then, once Dad and I drove home from Findlay,” said Mike. “Dad asked if I wanted to drive, which I did. Usually we’d switch and he’s drive from McDonald’s to our house. Once we forgot to switch. When I drove in the driveway Mom was sitting on the porch and…that was the end of that.”
Over the years, Tom has helped many stranded motorists. “A guy from Canada continues to send me a Christmas gift every year,” said Tom, pulling out a rare Canadian drink from the shop refrigerator.
“We’ve done some crazy things over the years,” he admitted, as I left for another interview.
It was then when he started talking more about Kaiser Gaiffe, which I was very sorry to have missed due to my next interview.
Maybe next time.
