Hollywood, MD – Jay Gatton of Gatton’s Auto Service in Hollywood didn’t necessarily attend classes on auto repair at the St. Mary’s County Technical Center while he was going to school in the early 1980s. “I didn’t have to,” he said. “I had my teacher right here.”
That teacher was Gatton’s father, Jesse Gatton, who started Gatton’s Auto Service in 1962. “He’d been a mechanic since World War II,” Jay recalled. “I think he got his training in the Army, but I’m not sure about that. I know that one time we were going up Route 301 through Brandywine where the road splits and they had these half-tracks from World War II sitting on the side of the road. He told me he worked on many a one of those during the war. I’m pretty sure he got his training in the service. Before that he was a farmer and a waterman.”
Jay has seen a lot of changes himself since getting out of high school in 1984. “I’ve seen cars go from carburators to fuel injection to really sophisticated fuel injection,” he said. “That to me, has been one of the biggest changes. I have a customer who comes in here, he’s got a 1993 Chevrolet station wagon that has more than 500,000 miles on it,” Gatton added. “He’s in his mid-to-late 70s. He goes surfing. People ask him why doesn’t he get rid of that old Chevy, and he tells them, ‘It’s the only thing I can fit my long board in.’ He goes to Mexico. He sent me a picture of that car sitting at the Arctic Circle. He goes to Daytona every year and goes surfing. He’s always going somewhere.”
Gatton has a beautiful 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle under cloth at his shop he has owned since he was 16, and a 1966 Pontiac GTO which he is having to rebuild pretty much piece by piece. “I didn’t realize it was as rusted out as it was,” he admitted.
As far as his favorite car to work on, he has a quick answer. “Whatever comes in the door,” he said.
“You will get personal service,” Gatton added. “I do it all. I sweep the floor and repair the vehicles. I do everything but alignments and state inspections.”
Along with servicing the vehicles of his customers, he said commercial contracts helps keep him busy. “I guess we have between 10 and 25 vehicles a month,” he said.
His maxim about being able to fix anything is just about right.
“My father told me when I was a kid somebody brought a wheelbarrow by and wanted to know if he could fix it,” he laughed.
Gatton’s Auto Service is located at 25215 Vista Road in Hollywood. Call 301-373-2237.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com