Mechanic closes shop with auction

Herman Lackyard auctioned off his life Saturday – piece by piece.

The 67-year-old has been working in the automotive field since 1955. But after about 20 years as a Coeur d’Alene car repair shop owner, his business ceased being profitable.

“It’s too bad you can’t make money in this business anymore,” Lackyard said. “I had to keep borrowing money and borrowing money, and when you owe the government, you can’t get a loan, so you have to go to the loan sharks.”

The sophisticated electronics in newer automobiles made some of Lackyard’s original tools obsolete. He had to upgrade continually to stay competitive, which cost him a lot of money. Lackyard said he couldn’t pass on the increased costs to his customers by charging what he considered unreasonable labor fees.

On Saturday, he watched from an upstairs portion of his garage at 107 E. Spruce as people bid on everything in his shop – including hand tools that still hung on the wall and a hoist hardy enough to handle a bus. Even hubcaps from various automobiles were on the auction block.

More than 100 people showed up. Lackyard hoped to make about $30,000.

The mounted front end of a 1965 Chrysler Imperial, which hung on the outside of the shop and distinguished Herman’s Automotive from other car repair locations, sold for $250.

The story behind the Chrysler was worth more than any dollar value, said Lackyard’s wife, Irene. He acquired it when a friend’s dog knocked the car’s gear shift into reverse, which smashed the back end of the vehicle and set it on fire.

“The dog got out all right,” Herman Lackyard said. “I went over and cut the front end off, and he let me have it.”

Other auction items sold for anywhere from $30 into the thousands.

“I’m sorry I have to give it up. I’m going to miss dealing with the public and the great clientele,” Lackyard said. “But we all have a time when we need to retire.”

For many who came to the auction, it was as much a reunion as an opportunity to buy. Many hugs were exchanged, and people visited as the auctioneer chanted bids.

“I think a lot of them are here just to get a piece of Herman’s,” said Lackyard’s daughter, Dina McBride.

Lackyard described 90 percent of the group as being friends or longtime customers. Among them was Rocky Watson, Kootenai County sheriff, who has been taking his wife’s 1969 Camaro to Lackyard for 20 years.

Lackyard joked with Watson that he was going to work for the Sheriff’s Office next.

“I told him I wanted a new SWAT car, with a good heater, so I could go do stakeouts and take a nap,” Lackyard said.

The mechanic had a reputation for his fairness and honesty.

“He backed up his work,” said Al Dickey, one of Lackyard’s customers. “It’s hard to find someone you can trust in the automotive business.”

When people saw the ad for the auction, “they came in here crying,” McBride said. She said the past few days have been tough on her father. “My dad’s been feeling kind of lost.”

Lackyard has been telling his customers to take their business to Elder Automotive, a shop owned by his son-in-law, Jeff Elder.

“His customers coming in are floored,” Elder said. “They’re just shocked he’s retiring.”

“I think he’ll miss the camaraderie most,” McBride said. “He’d put the coffee on every morning, and customers would come in to have coffee with him. Sometimes I think more socializing than business went on here.”

Other than doing some traveling in a motor home, Lackyard isn’t sure what he’ll do in retirement.

“I’ll find a lot of things for him to do,” Irene Lackyard said. “He can start with my attic.”