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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesOpen For Business: Anthony's Auto Repair

Open For Business: Anthony's Auto Repair

As someone with a terrible, terrible car and a busy schedule I find myself in need of a car mechanic more often than the average Joe, and when you’re in that position, it’s a wonderful thing to find a good, honest, reliable mechanic close to where you live. If you live in the west, Anthony’s Auto Repair in Hogensborg is a great place to know about.

Owner Anthony Francis, better known as "Red" has run the small garage next to his home for many years and is well known to locals. Red ‘s son Earl works in the garage too, and is more gregarious than Red, a man of few words and long silences.

They hooked me when I came in one day with an electrical problem. I was ready to pay a few hundred for an alternator. I left and came back and Earl tells me the battery and alternator are fine but he replaced a damaged wire with a perfectly good used wire from another vehicle. He noticed the driver’s side door caught the body just a tiny bit and clicked when you closed it, took a drilling hammer and a well used wooden shim seemingly made for the purpose and fixed it with careful application of force. He also pointed out a damaged coolant hose that was just slightly dripping and cut and installed a replacement hose.

Earl was informative and up front about everything he did. When it came time for the bill, he charged me $20, at which point I was hooked. I’d have paid triple that without hesitation.

It isn’t that they are super cheap though. They charge a fair, reasonable price. Since then, I blew a head gasket, warping the aluminum heads. Red and Earl fixed it in one week for $1,200. With trepidation I turned the key and lo and behold, it ran smooth as a sleeping kitten, quieter than it ever did before.

I can’t recommend them enough. Heading west on the Queen Mary Highway, right past Kmart west take the first possible right turn into Hogensborg, an unpaved road. On the corner is a green chain link fence. There is no sign. Follow the road perhaps 200 yard until it ends at Red’s. It’s the gray concrete house with many cars. Call 772-9230.

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