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By Tom Stevens

GOOD TIMES, May 19,1994

If cars eventually resemble their mechanics, the ones that roll out of DMV Clinic Auto Repair should run for a long time, rebound from misfortune, and move from small garages into bigger ones.

That's been the case for veteran mechanic Jack Sparks, who started out working beneath an A-frame outdoors, later moved his shop into a shed, and a West Side barn, and recently supervised its move into a new six-bay facility at 2335 Soquel Drive in Santa Cruz.

"I'm one of those Santa Cruz hippies that everything's turned out right for," laughs Sparks, who came to the county in 1958 and learned his trade the old-fashioned way, working alongside his father Larry Sparks at the latter's "MadeWell" Suzuki dealership.

"I removed my first engine in Santa Cruz in 1960, working from an A-frame in Paradise Park," the younger Sparks recalls. "It was a Chevy. I was just a kid then…"

Ten years later, after serving as a jet aircraft mechanic in the airforce, Sparks had assembled enough tools and know-how to start a "co-op" garage where clients paid $19.50 an hour to work on their cars under his supervision. "I'd just go from one to another, helping out and I'd hustle the parts," he says. "Then, after two or three years, somebody came in one night and took everything. I was basically robbed blind."

That and a back injury sustained in the airforce put Sparks out of business and into a succession of guerrilla mechanic spaces, including a West Side barn, and a rental storage unit on the San Lorenzo River and an old school bus…

That was the last time Sparks kept a low profile. Getting a break from Redwood Auto Care and emotional support from his wife, Chrys, he opened the DMV Clinic in 1976 and never looked back. The shop won the first of several "Best of Santa Cruz" awards in 1986, but after 17 years in the same cramped space, Sparks was delighted to move into his new six-bay setup at Redwood May 1st.

"That's been a 25-year wish of mine," he says. "The (old) shop was never up to the quality of the work we were putting out."

Most of that work went into the three car makes that originally inspired DMV's name: Datsun, Mercedes and Volvo. But after getting flack from the manufacturers' attorneys, Sparks struck those references and substituted "Dependable Motor Vehicles." Though specializing in foreign autos, the firm works on all makes of cars.

DMV also charges on a matrix, rather than "flat rating" each job as many big nationwide chains do. While the matrix system is more up front about costs…, he says the "flat rate" system is often abused as shops charge for four hours work on a job that may only take the mechanic one or two.

"I hate seeing people, especially single women or people from other cultures, taken advantage of when they have car trouble," Sparks says, "I've got a real community spirit, and I want everyone in Santa Cruz to be treated nicely."

DMV Clinic is at 2335 Soquel Drive. Telephone 462-4436.

For a Dependable Motor Vehicle
visit us in the Redwood Auto Care Center
Across the street from the Skyview Drive-In

2335 Soquel Drive
Santa Cruz CA 95065
831-462-4436
Monday-Friday/8:00 am-5:00 pm