After spending more than 60 years in the automotive industry, Tony Motson, owner of Motson’s Automotive in Brisbane, is calling it a day.

The 80-year-old industry legend who has, over his career, worked on everything from agricultural machinery to 4WDs to performance machines to racing cars, and who has also been an influential part of MTA Queensland as a member of the Automotive Engineers Division committee, is retiring and closing the doors on his iconic business.

“The time is right,” says Tony. “It’s going to be a sad day for me when we do close the doors – 65 years in the industry is a long time and it is all I have ever done – but it is the right time.”

It has been a long, memorable and, on the whole, rewarding journey – one that has seen thousands of satisfied customers bring their vehicles to the Motsons’ workshops – and one that has provided a living not only for Tony and his family, but for dozens of apprentices and mechanics too, many of whom have gone on to launch successful business careers of their own.

So, while the business and the name will now become a part of Brisbane’s rich automotive history, there’s a legacy to be proud of and one that will live on.

For Tony, the foundation of that legacy began in 1954 when, as a teenager, he got an after-school job serving petrol at a Sydney service station. As many a service station had in those days – and as some still do – the service station had a small mechanical workshop attached to it. That workshop was a magnet for the young, car-mad Tony.

“That little business was called Shield Motor Service,” he says. “It was run by a lovely fellow called John Shield, and I used to meander in there all the time because I was so keen on motor cars and motorcycles. John very quickly realised I was good apprenticeship material and told me that when I finished school I had a job there if I wanted one.

“He was an ex Sergeant-Major and a tough character but a lovely man, a great automotive engineer and he taught me very well.”

Five years later and Tony, now married to wife Sylvia, decided that a move to Queensland was in order and the couple started their new life in Brisbane in 1959. After a year spent working with his parents in their camping goods business, Tony started his own workshop business in Sunnybank with pal Bill Kane.

“That business was called Motson and Kane Motors and we were based at the old BP at Sunnybank,” says Tony. “We did a lot of farm machinery and old agricultural stuff back then because, at the time, it was very much a farming area.

“To be honest though, that work didn’t particularly interest me, so I ended up selling my share to Bill and had a bit of a break from the industry – I even did a milk run for a while! – before starting up again on my own at my home in Kuraby.

“The business grew quickly, so we moved to a shop at Logan Road in Woolloongabba where we stayed for for 37 years and in 1982 we expanded and opened our Springwood branch which we ran for 28 years. Ultimately, we bought the shop here in Coopers Plains and have been here since 2002.”

During those years, Tony and his family squeezed in a lot of quality work, with the business gaining a stellar reputation not only for the regular servicing that is the lifeblood of any mechanical workshop, but for their expertise in performance tuning, turbo-charging, 4WD and diesel, modifications and for their involvement in the motor racing scene.

Tony himself was a keen participant in motorsport and Tony Motson’s Performance Tune fielded a Ford Escort Mark I in the early ‘70s that would see action, and score points, in the Australian Touring Car Championship with Lyndon Arnel at the wheel, and which included a stint at the famous Bathurst race, then known as the Hardie-Ferodo 500.

This passion for motorsport, and indeed for cars in general, was inherited by Tony’s sons, Greg and Mark, who would successfully follow their father onto the track as well as into the workshop, and who, along with Mark’s wife Wendy, made Motson’s a true family business.

“Greg and Mark couldn’t get to work quick enough!” Tony says with a smile. “They wanted to be mechanics all their life and they and Wendy, who started with us when she was just 15, have put in a terrific effort over the years. It was important to me to keep the family together and they have always been deeply involved.”

That sense of family spreads further than the actual Motson clan too. Generations of families have come to the Motsons to get their vehicles serviced and maintained and Tony shares a sense of concern that by closing the business, he’s letting them down.

“I am worried about hurting them,” he says. “But we have to draw a line in the sand somewhere.”

So why is Tony closing the doors on Motson’s Automotive? Well, there are plenty of reasons, not least that the work is hard yakka even for young folk, getting the right staff can be difficult, and wanting to do what’s right for the customers you serve can make running a business a stressful, 24-hour-a-day concern. Add to that some industry challenges that any independent workshop would recognise – namely the right to repair issue and dealerships offering capped price servicing – and now seemed right to call it a day.

So now, Tony will retire; Greg, Mark and Wendy will take some well-earned time off from the industry; and in the next few months the venerable Motson’s Automotive signing will come down to be replaced by that of a new tenant.

The always forward-thinking Tony won’t cut ties completely with the location – having purchased the building when Motson’s moved there in 2002, he will be that new tenant’s landlord.
“My accountant and my father told me that you don’t want to be paying rent all your life and to endeavour to own your own property,” he says. “That was good advice!”

While the independent workshop sector can be a tough gig with long hours for not always great financial reward, it has been, says Tony, a pleasure to have worked in an industry for which he has such great passion, and which has allowed him to work with some great people.

“Over the years we have probably had 60-70 people work with us,” he says. “And it does make me very proud that we have provided jobs and training for so many. We’ve had some lovely people come through here and some of them still rock in out of the blue.

“We’ve made some wonderful associations and friendships and I am very proud of the work we have done and the reputation we have attained. So many customers tell us that they have been advised to come to us to get work done and it astounds me from how far afield our business has come.

“It will be sad when we close the doors, for this has been not only job but also my passion, but the time is right.”

Motson’s Automotive has much of its workshop equipment currently for sale, including four hoists, a dyno, lathes, oxy gear, drill stands, a laser wheel aligner, hand tools and more.

An auction will be held on site on Wednesday August 22 at 10am.

If you’re in the market for some equipment and want to find out more, contact Motson’s on (07) 3216 6466 or email info@motsons.com.au

Source: Motor Trade Aug Edition

9 Aug 2018