"A few years ago, it was hard selling a job," Olson said, pointing out the lure of low-interest new-car loans.  "What works is just being trustworthy and honest," he said.  "People want to fix up their cars and keep them running."

Trust is the family mantra that Olson said his father, Jim Olson, founder of the shop, passed on to him.

Since the age of 12, he said he began working for his father at the shop's original location at West 25th Avenue and Benton Street in Edgewater near Sloan's Lake that he founded in 1973.  Ten years ago, he said he took the reins of the family shop and purchased it from his father, who was preparing for retirement.

"There's nothing wrong for charging what you do, just as long as you do what you charge for," Olson said, citing the main lesson he learned from his dad and grandfather, Orville Olson, who worked in the family business for many years.

Jeep clientele are  unique when compared to the average vehicle owner, said Technician Colin Ratcliffe, who has worked with Olson for more than a decade.  He added that the shop's work is 95 percent Jeep repairs, everything except body and paint.

"The one thing about the Jeep world is that owners see them more as a toy they play with on the weekends," Ratcliffe said. 

"They are more apt to keep them up and repair them instead of trading them in."

In addition to general repair and maintenance on Jeeps from 1941 on, Olson said the shop also fabricates custom roll cages and bumpers, and has built many ice-racing Jeeps that compete in the "Our Gang 4 Wheelers" league in Georgetown each year, a league that his father and grandfather started 30 years ago.

Along with being active in ice-racing, Olson said he competes in the open-wheel division of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) and the Colorado Hill Climb Association (CHCA), was named Rookie of the Year by CHCA in 1994 and won the open-wheel division of PPIHC in 2000.

Off-road racing draws business for the shop, Olson said, as many racers also own 4x4s.  Getting the shop's name in front of people who associate it with winning vehicles also helps, he said.

Another element of racing that translates into the shop environment is heightened sensitivity and ability to diagnose problems by noises and handling characteristics.

Olson said he and Ratcliffe use a Snap-on Solus Pro and a Snap-on Vantage to assist in diagnostics.  "For the most part, modern vehicles are made better, drive smoother and quieter, but are harder to work on," he said.

When it comes to electronic components, such as control modules, Olson said he prefers to use OEM parts, which he mostly purchases from Go Chrysler Jeep West, which also provides reflash service for $50 on modules the shop buys, saving him from having to purchase Chrysler's OE scan tool.  Chrysler has also made using OE brakes more attractive by packaging them in kits that meet or by beating aftermarket pricing, he added.

"Gas prices aren't necessarily stopping people from fixing their cars," Ratcliffe said.  "Sometimes we have to find a better price for a part."  Having relationships with a variety of suppliers helps, he said.

Product knowledge is also an important factor in choosing vendors, Olson said.  He said his other vendors include CARQUEST for underhood parts, such as pumps, filters, and motor mounts; Jasper Engines & Transmissions for remanufactured units; Kenz & Leslie for BG Products; and Transamerican and Competition Specialties for 4x4 parts and accessories.

The shop still rebuilds its own differentials and has a nearby shed with many salvage axles, transmissions, engine blocks, and other parts, some of them rare, he said.  When rebuilding gear boxes, he said he prefers to use Dana Spicer and Precision parts.

When Olson first began working with his father, he said he had the desire to change many parts of the business. "Then I realized Dad was doing a great job for more than two decades.  I hope in the future to maintain what I have and pass it on."  Other plans include the possibility of opening a custom fabrication and welding business, he added.