Some of the best success stories in business are the business owners who take a risk. One Bakersfield man did that in the 1950’s, working on cars that few people knew a lot about.
It's what brought us to All Automatic Transmission, a car shop that’s working on a specific type of car and it’s paid off big in their business today.
It was the 1950’s...families in America were growing, and so were the need for new cars. New car filling driveways all across the county. During that time, the latest in automotive technology would no longer have a driver using a clutch.
The revolutionary automatic transmission was born, and so too was a Bakersfield business that became dedicated to servicing them.
In 1956 Erv Araujo traded his post at Kern County’s first Ford dealership, to open the areas first all automatic transmission shop to work on these new cars.
Now in it’s third generation of owners, Danny Araujo is taking the lead on all things transmissions. "To start a business that is so specialized and it was an industry that was foreign to everybody," Araujo said was difficult for his grandfather. "You didn’t have a tremendous amount of colleagues to bounce ideas off of and fix these things," he said.
From that start. Danny’s grandfather built a business now going strong for 60-years. Fixing the first type of car that we now all drive. ”It's an industry that has been evolving, it's becoming more and more complicated," said Araujo. "They really didn’t know how they were going to make them work.”
But over the years, the family at All Automatic has been working to fix those broken transmissions choosing to only focus on that type or service, rather then officer a myriad of serving like most auto body shops.
One of just a few truly all automatic transmission serving businesses in the area, Araujo says they do as many "transmission jobs" as they do simple diagnosis. Because he says, so many people truly don't know when they have an issue with their transmission. ”The automatic transmission is still foreign to most mechanists and especially the customers," Araujo said.
The staff at All Automatic Transmission says they won't charge you to look at your car and run a diagnosis. But if your transmission does go out the family here has the parts and experience to get the job done right. Not only at their first Brundage Lane location, but two other locations: One on Rosedale Highway the other in Tehachapi.
Araujo says they've been keeping busy--servicing more than 1,800 vehicles a year.
Taking pride in their work and the relationships with customers that have been fostered for generations. "Business is challenging but when you get gratitude back from not only your employees but your customers it can be really fulfilling," said Araujo.
Transmissions built and re-built, and it’s all made here in Kern County.
All Automatic Transmission has three locations to serve Kern County:
4040 E. Brundage Lane, Bakersfield, CA 93307
2844 Mosasco Street, Bakersfiedl, CA 93312
151 N. Mill Street, Tehachapi, CA 93561
