Tacoma auto shop has been around for 80 years, passed down through generations
Though Ball Auto has been a fixture in the Stadium District for the past 80 years, owner Drew Barnett said that “with cars, there’s always something different.”
This morning, the problem at the shop at 116 N. Tacoma Ave. is a battery change. When Barnett started the car, he noticed it had a slow crank. He opened the hood and checked the battery. Sure enough, the voltage was low. Barnett explained this situation while working at the same time, unscrewing the old battery from the engine bay.
“There’s different problems you gotta diagnose, especially with newer cars,” Barnett said after installing the battery. “People think that being an auto mechanic is a pretty easy job. But, you know, there’s a lot that goes into this.”
Barnett knows first-hand how much hard work goes into fixing up cars. Automobiles are a part of his bloodline. His great-grandfather R.H. “Speed” Ball founded the auto shop in 1946. Speed and his son Kurt had been driving around downtown Tacoma, looking for a place to open up shop. The two settled on the location right in the heart of the Stadium District, where it still stands today.
Since he was eight years old, Barnett watched his grandfather Kurt run the business. He washed customers’ cars here and there before working as a mechanic when he turned 18. During college, he often skipped class to work at the shop. Ownership passed down from generation to generation, from father to son, until finally reaching Barnett. In 2022, he and his brother Mike Barnett took over management.
In between questions, Barnett split off from The News Tribune to field questions from a second generation customer.
“It was definitely a big responsibility, because you’re dealing with a generational family business,” Barnett said. “You want to see it thrive and succeed as time goes on, as cars evolve.”
Barnett works at Ball Auto alongside Quentin Luthi, who runs Stadium Garage right out of the basement. Barnett now handles car maintenance, like brake work and oil changes. Luthi takes on in-depth repairs like motor and timing belt replacements.
Like Barnett, Luthi had “always been around cars,” having helped out his father, a career mechanic, in their home garage as a kid. After high school, Luthi worked at a car parts store where he started selling to Ball Auto in 2016. Eventually, in 2019, he joined the team as a lead technician.
“Cars are what we’re about. We’re all passionate about it,” Luthi said. “I mean, like, I race cars too.”
He pointed at a dark and narrow Honda Civic, one of seven cars he owns. He and another technician on the team compete in the OnGrid Time Attack race series. Sometimes, Luthi closes the garage a little early on Fridays to go racing.
The ground level garage houses rows of collector cars stored by local residents. Some of the vehicles are classics, including a ’50s Buick belonging to Kurt. The rustic feel of the shop is part of Ball Auto’s charm.
There have been challenges. Luthi shared that in August, the shop’s insurance company stopped covering the underground fuel tanks for the pumps. Though the fuel pumps still technically work, they are now defunct and filled with sand.
Older cars prove to be more difficult for Luthi. He’s changed his intake to cars made after 1996. Anything older, he will have to review on a case by case basis.
“I know a lot of people will come by and ask ‘Oh, can I bring my ’66 Mustang in’ because they’ll look in and see all the old cars,” Luthi said. “We don’t work on them anymore, because they are so far removed from cars today, that if you didn’t grow up working on these in the ’60s and ’70s, then it’s tough to learn. There’s not a ton of information, and in parts availability is slim to none.”
But the magic, according to car detailer Ed Bowden, is in the change from old to new. Bowden works out of the Ball Auto garage, where he buffs up cars that come into the shop. Having formerly been a juvenile probation officer at Raymond Hall for 32 years, Bowden joined Ball Auto at the garage around eight years ago to run his own detailing business.
“It’s the whole transformation,” Bowden said. “That shine — and once you do all the tires and you get everything fine … . Man, there’s nothing like it for me.”
Recently, Mike Barnett moved to eastern Washington to pursue other career opportunities, leaving Barnett as the sole heir to the business. Barnett is confident about the future of the shop, saying he would “love to see Ball Auto out for 100 years.”
“There are all these jobs out there that I could go out and do. Then, when I think about not being here,” Barnett’s voice trailed off. “When I get back to the shop, I’m just like ‘Ah, I’m back home.’”
