David Yaari - Owner.

I grew up right here in Detroit off 7 mile by Lahser. In 5th grade during library hour ( where you went before the internet ) a kids book caught my eye showing how a basic gasoline engine worked. I was facinated. I started fixing up and selling broken down lawnmowers. Business really took off, then i moved on to minibikes, motorcycles, trucks and heavy equipment.

Instead of a traditional high school, I went to vocational school and learned welding, fabricating, machining and of course, mechanics. At age 17 in 11th grade I dropped out of school, left home and made it all the way to California in a broken down truck and returned penniless on a Grayhound bus, then went to work at a junkyard for $4.00/ hour. In my spare time i customized and raced motorcycles, and also designed, built, and raced a series of prototype sandrails, a type of dragster designed to race up sand dunes. If youve ever tried walking up a sand dune, imagine trying to drive up one at breakneck speed.

In 1981, at the tender age of 21, I sold all my toys, packed a suitcase and left the country and went to work as a mechanic on a big farm. No more motorcycles, just chickens, sheep, avocados and endless acres of cotton. Worked there almost 2 years learning the language while repairing tractors, combines, and farm equipment, hauling 10 ton loads of avocados to market, and my favorite, getting the big International Harvester cotton pickers ready for picking season, then climbing up in there at 4:00am every morning and running it until late every night. I picked a lot of cotton! At age 23, I left the farm with Nira, my beautiful new bride, and got a job running heavy equipment for a construction company. After that, a stint in the Army. Then with a growing family to feed i gambled everything and returned to Detroit and started AutoRex from scratch in 1988, figuring what worked with lawnmowers might be a good idea for repairing low mileage cars. After 42 years together, 4 grown children, 4 beautiful grandchildren so far, and thousands of damaged cars repaired and sold, Nira and i continue to thank God for our blessings everyday.