‘We’ll work on anything’

Tom Milstead
Posted 1/24/20

Kerry Keller and his son, Lee, can fix anything you bring into their shop.

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‘We’ll work on anything’

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TORRINGTON – Kerry Keller and his son, Lee, can fix anything you bring into their shop. 

Pretty much. 

“We’ll work on anything,” Kerry said. “I can’t work on, like, Jaguars and stuff that you need specialty training for.”

“I haven’t seen too many Jaguars running around Torrington,” Lori, Kerry’s wife and Lee’s mother, pointed out. 

But everything else, from tractors, diesel engines, gasoline engines, you name it – the Kellers can handle it. Their new venture, Gremlin Garage and Blasting, LLC., opened earlier this month in the former Doug’s Towing building on U.S. Hwy. 26, and the family wasted no time putting their stamp on the building and putting together the pieces for a shop they’ve dreamed about for years. 

The dream became reality when Kerry and Lori visited Goshen County in May 2019. Kerry is a Goshen County native, but the family had made their home in South Carolina. But on that visit, which was just intended to be scouting visit, everything lined up. 

“Kerry and I came out in May and we saw there was a need for another garage, with the wait times,” Lori said. “I think his father went to get an oil change and was told it would take four weeks to get an oil change. That’s not how that works.”

“We came across this and it was up for sale,” Kerry said. Former owner Boyd Wagner “made us a deal that we couldn’t pass up, and we bought everything. Everything but his personal tools. It’s a bigger building than what we were looking for, but it gives us room to grow. It’s just him and me working on things.”

Not long after the Kellers bought the garage, they started the branding process. Kerry said they learned about the importance of branding from Richard Rawlings, one of the stars of Fast N’ Loud on the Discovery Channel. Using Rawling’s own Gas Monkey Garage as inspiration, the Kellers painted the walls lime green, printed up some shirts and were tasked with finding the perfect name. 

The winning idea came from Lee – who was, of course, watching Gremlins at the time. 

“He said ‘Gremlins Garage,’” Kerry said. “I said that would work because they mess up your car. There is a cartoon out there where they’re messing up a car. When I grew up, if you were driving down the road and there was something funny happening with your car, everybody said you had a gremlin in your car.”

Kerry, a Navy veteran, reached out to an old military friend for help with a logo. It’s inspired by classic hot rod art, in particular the Rat Fink character created by famed car culture artist Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. 

With an abundance of lime green and the perfect facility, all built on Kerry’s 30 years of professional experience, Gremlin Garage and Blasting is open for business. 

Near-tragedy to business owner

While Kerry’s wealth of experience will carry the business, it was Lee who had the idea of opening the shop. It was a goal that became clear after a near-tragedy.

“I got hit by a drunk driver,” Lee, a Marine veteran, said. 

“Once I got hit, I was out of work for a while. That was when I decided I wanted to own my own business. I’ve always been passionate about cars.”

He grew up around them, Lori said. Lee’s older brother, Eric, drove race cars at Summerville Speedway in South Carolina and according to Lori, Lee wasn’t far behind him at the racetrack. 

“We’ve had race cars. Circle track,” she said. “My oldest son, Eric, he did the circle track when he was in high school. The whole time Lee was growing up, he was at the racetrack.”

And after the accident, which required back surgery and an extensive recovery, Lee struggled to find a sense of normalcy in the busier traffic of South Carolina. He battled post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the crash – which led him west, to his father’s hometown, and to make a career out of his passion. 

“I wanted to come out here because in South Carolina, that traffic was worse than Denver,” he said. “I wanted to get away from some of the people and all of the traffic.”

Lee’s forte is the blasting side of the business. The family traveled to Texas to purchase a specialized, heavy duty commercial dustless blaster that uses water and crushed glass to strip a vehicle of its paint. Or it can be throttled down enough to simply give a horse trailer a good, thorough cleaning. 

“What I use is crushed glass, and it uses water,” Lee said. “When you’re just sandblasting, it gets really hot and it starts warping metal. This keeps it cooler. 

“It changes depending on what the needs are.”

It’s a versatile piece of equipment, and the possibilities are nearly limitless. 

“You can use it for anything,” Kerry said. “Farm equipment, trailers, and I know we had one person come in who wanted it done for a horse trailer. It will work on metal chairs – anything metal that has rust on it, we can blast it.”

Lee is also hoping to establish Gremlin as a premier spot for truck customization. He’s building a stock of aftermarket bumpers, hitches, lights – anything someone could need for their vehicle.

After the accident, battling with PTSD, moving across the country and the hustle of setting up shop, Lee said he’s just happy to be able to focus on his passion. 

“My favorite thing is actually being able to work on vehicles and customizing them,” he said.

Coming home

Gremlin Garage and Blasting is a dream situation for Kerry, too. 

“I wanted to come home,” he said. 

Kerry said he’s realistic about how long it will take to build the business. But even before its official grand opening, Gremlin has already done a few services and has its first customers lined up. It won’t be the fastest garage in the world, Kerry said, but he’d rather be known for the quality of his work than the speed of it. 

“We’ve done a couple of services here and there,” Kerry said. “We’ve had people come in and tell me they’re going to bring me stuff, and over the weekend I finally got two of them in. It will take time. 

“We aren’t going to be the fastest shop. He’s learning. I’ve been doing this for years, but we’re going to do quality work.”

But even though Gremlin is still in its relative infancy, Kerry said he’s already enjoying being able to call the shots and take the time to do a quality job. 

“I don’t have anyone standing over the top of me telling me it’s got to be done,” he said. “I’ve had, for the past 30 years, somebody always telling me how long I’ve got to do something and pushing me. That’s when you make mistakes. If you just take the time and do it right, you don’t have to worry about it. I have worked for several companies and it’s just easier when you’re working for yourself.”

But in that time working for other people, he picked up the skills and gained the experience to, as he said, work on – and fix – everything that needs it. 

“We’ll work on anything – tractors, trucks, diesels,” he said. “Whatever you bring me, I’ll work on it.”