About
Our Story
A Syrian mechanic who built something from nothing, and a team that carries it forward.
The Founding
In 1979, Mike Vartanian arrived in Redondo Beach from Syria with a set of tools and a knowledge of engines that could not be taught in a classroom. He had been working on cars since he was a teenager — Mercedes-Benz in particular. By 1980, he had opened a shop on Artesia Boulevard. No investors, no franchise. Just a mechanic, a garage, and a reputation built one car at a time.
Mike did not advertise. He did not need to. Word spread the way it does when someone does honest work at a fair price — slowly, and then all at once. Within a few years, the shop had more cars in the lot than parking spaces. The Mercedes owners came first — people with older models that dealerships had stopped caring about. Then the BMW owners. Then everyone else.
The Mercedes Love
The Mercedes-Benz specialty was not a business decision. It was a matter of temperament. Mike understood these cars the way a watchmaker understands a movement. He had been working on them for close to sixty years — longer than most shops have been in business. The engineering rewarded patience and precision, qualities he had in abundance.
Customers with older models, the kind that dealerships had stopped supporting, found their way to Artesia Boulevard. They never left.
As featured in Easy Reader News.
“Word spread the way it does when someone does honest work at a fair price — slowly, and then all at once.”
The Team
Mike built the team the same way he built the shop — carefully, over time.
The people who work here learned from Mike directly. They share his standards and his honesty. When you bring your car to Mike’s, you are not handing it to a stranger. You are handing it to someone Mike trained.
The standards did not change. The honesty did not change. The care did not change. The shop on Artesia Boulevard is the proof.
Our Philosophy
We treat every car as if it were ours.
We will tell you when something does not need fixing. We would rather keep a customer for twenty years than overcharge them once.
There are no service writers here. When you call, you speak to the person who will be working on your car. When we explain what is wrong, we explain it in plain language. When the job is done, we show you what we did.
Service Area
We are located on Artesia Boulevard in Redondo Beach, serving the entire South Bay.
Hermosa Beach · Manhattan Beach · Torrance · Gardena · Lawndale · Hawthorne · El Segundo · Palos Verdes