Meet Dr. Darby Milnor of Midwest Autosavers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr Darby Milnor.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
There has been Air Cooled Volkswagens in my family for over 50 years. Beside myself, my Grandfather, Father, both siblings as well as countless Aunts, Uncles and Cousins have had them. The start of my lifelong association or affliction as some may say began with me working with my Dad, keeping our Bugs running and looking good. As time went on I would do more of the work that Dad wasn’t comfortable doing such as a clutch replacement or valve job instead of him sending it out for repair.

I grew up in Mt. Prospect at the time where your local gasoline station was also a service center that could fix or maintain your car, pump your gas and even wash the windows while doing so. We had an older fellow in town named Norb Huecker that owned the service station that his father had started in the Nineteen-teens. ‘Ol Norb was a little cantankerous but had a heart of gold and a fantastic sense of humor and I’d known him since about 5 years of age.

When I was 12 he sent me a Beetle badly in need of an engine overhaul and I rebuilt it in my Dad’s garage and Norb picked it up when I was done. Not happy working on anything more foreign than a U.S.Mail Jeep, Norb began sending me all of his VW work and as time went by I began to see more and more people sending me their VWs. This put Dad’s wheels in motion and soon he had the old garage torn down and a new larger one constructed so I’d have more room to work.

My early career found me as the Service Advisor at the local VW Dealer where I soon went up the ranks first to Shop Foreman then to become Director of Parts and Service. As a very hands on Manager I would often join my Technicians for Factory training so that I could keep up with the latest repair techniques and product updates. At the same time I married a wonderful (and understanding) girl and as my home based repair business kept expanding we found ourselves in the same position as Dad had been years earlier. We were out of room in the garage and subsequently moved farther West to a home better suited to the family and as important to our VW customers.

Later I took a job as a Sr Buyer for a major electronics company but after many years, corporate downsizing and large number of layoffs caught up with me about 10 years ago. This left a unique situation for us as our VW customer base had grown so much we had cars stashed around the neighborhood in some very understanding neighbor’s garages and driveways.

Instead of moping about and complaining about losing a job, we set out to find a building to house our VW business and found the perfect place nearby in Cary, IL. Starting out small, we soon expanded the shop and as our customer base continued to grow we more recently expanded 6000sf and were able to separate Body and Mechanical shops to keep the dust out of the grease so to speak.

We currently have a nationwide customer base and work with our customers to pick up cars from most every state and have even sent some off to places as far away as Puerto Rico, Belize, Scotland, Poland and Germany.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
A wise man once said “The road of life is full of potholes”

Obstacles and Challenges are something that every business owner faces. For us one of the biggest challenges is one that any restoration shop or someone that deals with old vehicles often faces all the time.

That challenge is time itself, or the ability to accurately estimate the amount of time a specific job may take. While we’ve got over 40 years of experience specializing in Vintage Volkswagens and can judge very well the amount of time most jobs will take there are always unexpected surprises that pop up. You may estimate 100 hours of work for a routine restoration but then find when disassembling the car that someone shall we say a little less qualified has been there before you and suddenly you are faced with yards of galvanized sheet metal brazed into the car, warped panels or substantial rust hidden by foam sealant.

Our philosophy is that the vehicle should be structurally like it was when it left the factory and any poor previous repairs need to be addressed correctly. This leads to more time needed for the current job and the next job getting pushed back by that amount. Times that by 25 cars and you can see the challenge in keeping your promise times accurate.

Many specialty shops are also adversely affected by seasonal or market changes. Winter month’s present challenges for a lot of shops as their day to or what we call in and out jobs dry up. In our climate most people have their specialty cars stored off of the road during the months of road salt and snow. Fortunately our stock of restorations keeps us pretty much on our toes all the time.

Market fluctuations present challenges to most all businesses as people concentrate more on day to day spending and tend to hold off of big purchases or non-essentials.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Midwest Autosavers – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Midwest Autosavers, Inc. is one of the Midwest’s largest and oldest shops specializing in Vintage Volkswagens. Matter of fact we’ve been working on them since before they were “Vintage”.

We are a one stop shop for all of your needs and do everything right here in Cary, IL under one roof. Mechanical maintenance, repairs, electrical and wiring harness replacements, engine and transaxle overhauls, interior upholstery, convertible tops, rust and collision repair as well as general body and paint work. We have metal fabrication equipment and specialists on site, a state of the art paint booth and all of the parts and equipment to keep your car on the road or at the car shows.

We’ve had great success with our Adopt-A-Bug program. This makes our customer’s vision a reality as we can build them the perfect car just the way they want it. We take the time to sit with our customer and brainstorm about the year or model they want, engine size, transmission ratios, color, body modifications, interior, trim etc.

We just finished several “Adoptions” a 1959 Beetle restored 100% as original inside and out and using its original numbers matching engine built a period correct “Okrasa” performance engine. A 1974 Super Beetle with two tone paint, matching interior, custom wheels, nice sound system, full air conditioning, power windows and a mild performance engine but the possibilities are endless. Want a Karmann Ghia, Vintage Camper or how about an original Meyer’s Manx dune buggy? We can have you cruising in style.

While we have built our reputation on Vintage VW’s, we are equally at home restoring any car or truck or simply maintaining your late model daily driver.

What sets us apart from others? Several things. We are Factory, Tech School and Industrial Trained and have been working elusively on our specialized brand for over 40 years, we all Love what we do, Love coming to work every day and Love Vintage Volkswagens.

All of us pride ourselves on quality of workmanship from my Wife and Myself right down to the fellow who sweeps the floors and may be seen wiping finger prints off of your freshly chromed bumpers and the fact that we treat each of our customers as one of the family not a just another number.

I’m proud of the fact that I started this business in 1976 as a kid by working on cars sublet to me by other businesses and the fact that today some 41 years later we still have a number of other auto shops sending us their VWs. We have two Vanagons in here today that are getting repaired correctly because their respective shops could not. Likewise I’m proud to see one of “our cars” on the road, at a car show or coming in for an oil change on an engine we built 30 years ago.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are planning to offer our services to the Antique and Classic vehicle owner as well as the water cooled VW folks. While never straying from our “niche” which has always been Vintage Volkswagens we have so much experience working with Water Cooled VWs (As well as having years of factory training) and our experience with the restoration of Vintage American cars we thought “Why not” add them to the resume.

Contact Info:

• Address: Midwest Autosavers, Inc
  155 Chicago Street, Suite F
  Cary, IL 60013
• Website: www.midwestautosavers.com
• Phone: 224-357-8021
• Email: oldbugs@comcast.net
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/MidwestAutosaversINC/

Image Credit:
Photos courtesy of Midwest Autosavers, Inc

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