Western Auto

Wheat Crofts Road is a busy area, and we’ve been right here at number 11 for years. Used to be number 5, but the city changed the signs a while back. Nungambakkam has changed a lot since we opened, but our shop stays pretty much the same. We deal with cars all day. It’s a mix of old models and some newer ones that people bring in. The space is a bit tight, especially when we have three or four cars inside. We’ve got spare parts piled up in the corners. It’s not the cleanest place, but we know where everything is. You’ll usually see us out front talking to a customer or wiping down our hands with an old rag. We don't do much advertising. People just know we are here. Sometimes the traffic on the road makes it hard to pull out, but we are used to it by now. We drink a lot of coffee while we work. The sun hits the front of the shop pretty hard in the afternoon. We have some old wooden chairs for people to sit on while they wait, though most just stand around and watch us work. It’s a straightforward business. We don’t have fancy waiting rooms with air conditioning. Just the shop and the tools we’ve used for a decade. We just do the repairs and send people on their way. It’s simple and we like it that way.