While Americans have long had a love affair with cars, Jordan Lee says they don’t feel the same way about auto repair shops.

“People feel uncomfortable about bringing their car in for service unless they have a significant referral from someone they trust,” said Lee, proprietor of Jack’s Garage on Olympic Way.

It was Lee’s own dissatisfaction with the auto repair experience that prompted the Bainbridge native to start up his own shop.

“…The service I provide is based on the golden rule,” he said. “I do what I’d expect someone else to do for me.”

For Lee, getting into the auto repair business meant leaving behind the career in computers that he’d pursued since age 18.

Work as a systems integration consultant had taken Lee to San Diego, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and back and forth to Seattle.

But his heart was in the garage.

“I’ve had this passion since I was 13, starting with building models and driving a tractor,” Lee said. “I got my first car when I was 16 – a 1979 Fiat Spider.”

As a “thirty-something,” Lee was ready to shift gears. He left his job with a national telecom company and returned to the island.

The new sign on old Bainbridge Valet Auto Shop building went up in July, its red-lettered moniker a tribute to a family tradition.

“It’s a family nickname,” Lee said. “My grandfather was in the auto wrecking business, and he used to call all his customers ‘Jack.’

“I was looking for a name that was retro and personal, and ‘Jack’ fit the bill.”

Although Bainbridge has a half-dozen auto shops, Lee doesn’t see the field as crowded.

“From a retail and consumer perspective, there’s room for everyone,” he said.

“The island is growing and there really aren’t enough car repair facilities to meet the demands of our increasing population.”

The new business, Lee says, has the advantage of an established location that’s handy for ferry commuters.

“We want people to know we’re conveniently located – they can drop the car off in the morning, jump on the ferry and pick it up that night,” he said.

Originally a gas station, the spot was overhauled by a recent owner, who removed the filling station equipment and turned the facility into a full-time auto repair shop.

The building, he said, “has some history,” having stood since the early 1940s.

Bringing historical continuity to the service is Dan Hachemey – a master mechanic with over 50 years’ experience, and the former owner of Bainbridge Valet Auto shop – who stayed with at the shop.

Together, the two men are building a business based on what Lee calls “personal feel.”

“I want people to think of Jack’s Garage as the family business it is,” he said.

American Service Excellence (ASE) certified, the shop works on all kinds of vehicles, but specializes in vintage models, which Lee says he has been restoring since he was a kid.

So far, referral business is good.

“…Our level of service is high and… we’re going to try to give our customers the information they need to make the most informed decision that they can,” Lee said. “We want to be known as the shop people can trust.”

For Lee, the drive to provide quality service is rooted in a respect for an automobile’s liberating power.

“Once we’re in our cars we achieve a certain level of personal freedom,” he said. “Our island may have a blockage at the end of the ferry ramp but, once you’re on the road, you’re your own individual.”

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Jack’s Garage is located at 220 Olympic Drive SE. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday by appointment.

Information: 842-9165.