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Don,
You wanted me to express in text why am I looking to make a change like this and to also put forth what I am looking for. The following is a rant that will hopefully explain me a little more to you.
This whole thing started when I was probably two years old. Every picture of me at that age has me holding a small car or playing in or on a family member’s car.
My parents lived in Germany right up to just before I was born, so I was raised with a great respect for the country from hearing stories from my parents about the wonderful clean landscapes and cities, the friendly people and all of these teachings and visions have shaped me into the person I am today.
Now, here you can make an equation that begins to make up, me.
(Love of cars) + (Love of Germany)= an open ended interest in anything relative to these topics... From the time I was around nine years old, my friends and I used to always ride our bicycles to the only Ferrari dealer in the state (which has since closed). There is probably a permanent distortion on the tip of my nose from it being planted on the glass of the showroom for so many afternoons. To me, at that time this place was a utopia of the unattainable. It represented a mystique and panache that I still have hunger for.
The first time the BMW bug bit me and injected the “blau mit weiss” venom into my veins that has now become my blood, took place in 1993. I had a neighbor who purchased a used 1991 BMW M3 from the local Ferrari dealer. The next month was complete purgatory for me because that is how long I had to wait to get a ride in it! I suffered through so many long Saturday afternoons sitting on the curb with friends watching the owner cleaning the M3’s seductive red paint. I don’t remember exactly how my maiden ride in this BMW developed, I just remember so strongly, sitting in the front passenger seat, barely being able to see over the wiper blades and feeling this perverse and obscene vibration and raw noise from the engine! I had never heard such a thing! The prior 10 years or so of riding in my mother’s Toyota had all been for nothing, because NOW I was experiencing what a car was meant to be! To be honest, it scared the sh** out of me. I remember feeling like I was going to lose control of my bladder from the acceleration and the noise! I got out of the car and I remember being very shaken... I HAD JUST SEEN THE LIGHT. It was at this moment where the BMW experience was branded on my soul. It was at this moment that “the BMW aliens” had kidnapped me, taken me onto their ship and planted something inside of me that I still to this day cannot really explain. Ever since then... and all through to the very second that I am typing this text, the E30 M3 is BMW to me. This is nothing more beautiful, nothing faster, nothing so perfect that it can consume me so much as this particular car has. To me, this is the only M3 there is. E36 M3s are an insulting attempt at a reincarnation and are nothing but a 330is.
When I was eighteen, I bought my first BMW, a Lapisblau 1984 (prod. 3/83) 318i. I soon after this joined the BMWCCA and met my great friend John (J.R.) Schneider. After this, everything gets blurry. That 318i is now a shell somewhere, I stripped the car down with a desire to turn it into an awesome Alpina replica.... but with the budget of a 19 year old... it had to go. My first mechanical link to BMW was with this 318i. The car needed the batteries replaced for the service interval indicator board so that the lights would work properly. Every person in the CCA, and all of the articles on the internet said to just run to Radio Shack, get two rechargeable AA batteries and solder them in! This was not good enough... I dug up an address and a name to Varta GmBH in Frankfurt, mailed them a letter describing (IN GERMAN) what I was wanting to do, and about one month later I received the pretty new green batteries, with the correct soldering tabs already fitted in the mail from Varta. I still have the envelope they came in, and all of this correspondence that got the batteries to me. This kind of explains some of the way I am now when it comes to mechanical work with Bimmers. In this case, only the original would work. There is no way I could ever have anything to do with doing it any other way!
Another symptom of this sickness is my tools! Eighty percent of my tools that I use everyday are Hazet! My pride and joy is my Hazet tool box. I view it as the correct way to work on BMWs, (with the equipment they would be worked on in Germany, and the tools they were assembled with). There is no singular reason why I want to work for you Don. I just do... there is a Ferris wheel spinning in my heart with lots of people that all have different ways to explain to you why I want to make this change. First, I love your work. Simply, I have seen what you do... it strikes a connection with me and I want to contribute. Secondly, in this work there are skills that I do not have. I don’t view these as things “I can’t do”, only things that “I have not done yet”.
I recently saw Robert DeNiro on television in an interview. He was asked that at his age (70 something) what he would like to do? His answer is a match to my philosophy; he simply said “everything”.) Some people view my optimism as arrogance. This is false. I just know that I can do anything that I am able to focus on. Dealership life is boring to me. There is no personal satisfaction anymore for me to do five brake flushes, two power steering lines, some window regulators and two tires. Every problem that a car comes into the dealer with, is something I can repair! Now, some people view this as a great way to make money. This is true, but there comes a point where there is no challenge. And this is why I am leaving the dealer.
Your operation is in my cross-hair because I want to be a part of what you do. I want to contribute to the beauty of your products. I want to be a part of something great for you. I want your hiring of me to be a time when you can look back upon and think “my products had more SOUL once Austin had his hands on them”.... I don’t know exactly how you would like to make me part of your shop. I know that there is no single task or skill that I may be able to exclusively offer at this time. But all that I ask is that you bring me on board, put me to work and watch closely. You will soon see what I am very keen on doing and where I can help you. Over time you will have me doing things that you will say “Austin is my guy for this”, or “this is Austin’s kind of thing”, or ”get Austin’s opinion on this”. I love it all, seriously. When I look at the pictures on your website, what comes to mind is that I love clean assembly. I would love to help out with assembling all of the restored bits to complete the final draft of a car. And then I see the tear down pictures and know that I’d love to strip down a car, nothing every little detail about how it was assembled so that I can put it together like no other.
Where I would say I am not my happiest is in A/C... it is sometimes a science that I get perplexed over... Next is electron flow... sometimes I am switched on, and other days I am off... I have no “old school” engine skills. I have never ground a valve nor done anything more than hold a Weber 45. I can assemble a Valvetronic N62 motor like a robot, and it is because of my regular familiarity of these newer complex motors that I can get scared of working on older engines. It is because I am used to working on the newer, way more advanced versions, I think that “hey, I am doing something wrong on these S38 cams”!!!, these “things seem to be going too easy and quickly”. Probably my favorite work, favorite in the sense that it gave me the most pleasure upon completion and was the most fun for me to complete was a service campaign that is currently in place for all Z8s, from start of production to the end of production in August of 2003. The problem originated in the factory where all Z8 are hand assembled. Individual assembler variations result in the single drain tube for the a/c & heating box being kinked on the transmission tunnel during assembly. What happens is that on long road trips, the water backs up and begins to soak the carpet of the driver and passenger’s footwells. The fix, and part I loved, was dismantling the entire dash (which is 100% FRP composite wrapped in an exotic leather), removing all of the CNC machined aluminum structuring for the dash (which looks like art work) to remove the housing. I like this work because it is exclusive. It is an expensive, rare car. If you break something during your work on it... the part will have to come from Germany, and may have to be specially manufactured because they don’t have the parts anymore! My slogan was “if I break it... they will have to make it!” I loved the weight that this placed on me to be perfect. This campaign takes just under 40 hours to complete and is a true exercise in patience, skill and determination.
I have many customers that come into the dealership that specifically ask for me, and they are willing to wait 2 weeks sometimes for me to be “un-busy” enough to get to their car. I have more jobs pre-assigned to me by the General Manager and Service Manager due to the fact they know that their car will truly leave the facility in better shape than when it arrived. And that this will take place in a small amount of time and done with great passion.
To attempt to sum things up, BMW had a commercial at the introduction of the E46. The commercial played the audio of a car running through some mountain roads... and would randomly flash a black screen with simple white text. The text would say: “engineering”, .....then show more sound and video... and then say “technology”, ....more sound and video “performance”. ....and then silence. The next frame said “Are all worthless”. ......another blank frame, and the final statement was “unless they make you feel something”. This is just so true to me, BMWs do not appeal to me for their looks, or their quality or status. They just make me feel something. It is something that I have hopefully explained somewhat in this letter. This level of passion that I have for BMW is exclusive to me. You will find it in no other individual. I am offering myself, to your organization to use as you see fit. Your reward in this is to someday say “I am glad we got Austin, he is a leg that supports our table”.
Some sources of redemption and great recognition of my passion have come in my past. Most recently a customer, who lives in London 10 months out of the year, has me visit his private and very exclusive estate to do the upkeep on his rare Porsche Turbos and 1989 M3. This individual works for ***** in Formula 1 and gets me great F1 tickets and FIA Paddock passes, because of the passionate work that I do for him. He and I are now great friends.
Once of my most sincere “pats on the back” that I received was in factory training in Florida. To put this in perspective, being in factory training is like being in little league baseball and having Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and all the greats teaching you. OR taking piano lessons from Ray Charles... I was so awe struck factory training is like going to “OZ”... I had one particular instructor, Rick Frisby. Mr. Frisby was Service Manager at Performance Plus in Dania Beach, Florida during the fabulous grey-market days. He always kept me drooling with stories of working with rare Hartge models and some truly rare BMWs. Mr. Frisby also worked for Braman Motorcars in the 80’s and absolutely put me on the floor with tales of doing delivery inspections on E30 M3s. Great satisfaction came as I was removing a window regulator from a Z3. Mr. Frisby, as he signed off on my form for working on the car completing this task, said “you’re the only one here I would let work on my car”. At our graduation he gave me some old business cards from Performance Plus, as well as his Hartge patch form his uniform and an original key chain from Hartge that I have framed and will treasure for eternity. Also, at graduation from BMW Factory Training, I was awarded the exclusive “Instructor’s Choice Award” from the BMW Factory Training administration and staff.
I want to work for you Don. You are a great guy to talk to in person, and are very welcoming on the phone. Simply my hourly earnings at the dealership are **** per hour. I average somewhere from 52 to sometimes 60 and even 70 flat rate hours in the dealer. This comes out to around ******* per year, before taxes. I am happy at this level of compensation. Oklahoma is a very cheap place to inhabit compared to your area of the country, so that is one item of consideration. Second is the whole flat rate system. I am not a fan of this too much because I think it places too much focus on turnover and financial outcome. I do not run through a job to hurry up and flag the time for it. I complete the job the way it should be done and in the amount of time it takes me to do so. I do not like flat rates, and would be more comfortable and confident for the future working on a salary. I have seriously lost my a** some weeks at the dealer due to flat rate. And I need the consistency of salary type pay. But all I can say to that is those cars have never run better, and the customers have never been happier with my work on their beloved cars. I have only called in sick one time in all of my jobs. This was on due to me having to have an emergency gall-bladder removal in January 2005, which put me down for one week.
Wherever you can place me is great. As long as I have the money to live, I’d be okay with cutting the grass at your facility. Obviously with my passion, landscaping is not the best way for me to work for you. In this letter, I have hopefully expressed to you some more of my passion for BMW, and given you some template to help draw out where you want me. I would like to start as soon as possible; this dealer life is getting to me!
Thanks for you time, and may God bless.
Austin Wiseman
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