’50s-era garage still runs like a top

Ron Walther has never been out of work. He has never had to write a resume. He has never had to commute.

“It’s been really convenient,” he said. “I’ve always had a job.”

Convenience?

Walk into Walther’s Garage, at a rural intersection just across the Snohomish River east of Everett, and you’ll sense something far greater than mere convenience, although Ron Walther does live right across the road.

A quiet man, the 57-year-old Walther doesn’t elaborate on the father-son bond that has meant a lifetime of work fixing cars in the 1950s-era former gas station.

At his side each day – and to this day – has been his father, Gene Walther, who on Monday will turn 90. The older man still comes to work daily. He’ll offer sage advice, but the actual toil is left to his son and 20-year-old grandson, Barry Walther.

“It’s something to do,” Gene Walther said of his work habits. These days, his starting time is “whenever I get done sleeping in the morning. And naps are a priority.”

On Saturday, longtime friends and customers were invited to share cake and memories at an “open garage” birthday celebration.

With a mostly word-of-mouth clientele, the elder Walther has been in the car repair business in the Swan’s Trail area between Snohomish and Everett since the 1940s. His grandparents were homesteaders who settled in the late 1800s near what is now Lowell-Larimer Road.

Gene Walther began in business behind his house. Nearly 50 years ago, he built the garage next to where he still lives.

“They’re honest and they know what they’re doing,” said Ralph Gamman, a neighbor and longtime customer.

Years ago when he moved in, Gamman said, “I needed a tractor and borrowed one from a fellow up the road. The doggoned thing jammed in gear.

“I took it over to Gene, and he knew just what to do,” Gamman said. “Those guys are mechanics, they can fix things, they have an understanding.”

Gamman’s two sons found jobs and a work ethic at Walther’s. It was an ethic he always saw in Gene Walther.

“Gene lost his wife a number of years ago, and he just kept working every day. After he fell and broke his hip, he was right back to work again,” Gamman said.

“It’s been an icon here for years,” Ron Walther said of the garage.

They used to pump gas, but no more. “We weren’t making any money on gas. We’d sell a gallon for somebody’s lawn mower. We’d charge a 10-cent markup, pump 10 gallons and make a buck. Out came the tanks,” Ron Walther said.

Gas or no gas, they’ve been busy for half a century. Two vehicles filled the service bays Thursday, an older Cadillac and a Ford van.

With the computerized systems and complexities of newer models, Ron Walther said, there are some cars they don’t touch. “It’s so specialized, we refer out quite a bit. My wife just bought a Saab. She gets it worked on in Seattle,” he said.

The garage’s vintage look has landed it on the small and big screen. It was used as a movie location in the 1977 movie “Joyride,” a tale of teens on the run to Alaska starring Desi Arnaz Jr., Robert Carradine and Melanie Griffith.

Pointing to a water pipe visible from the garage, Ron Walther said in the movie it was supposed to be the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

“It wasn’t a very good movie,” he said.

Walther’s was in two episodes of the recent TV series remake of “The Fugitive,” once as a South Carolina location and later as Northern California. The CBS series, airing in 2000 and 2001, was filmed around Everett and Seattle. Hanging in the garage is a picture of series star Tim Daly with the Walthers.

“The Fugitive” crew brought its own people, cars, even junk. The look created for TV couldn’t possibly have rivaled reality.

Walther’s Garage is the real deal, with three generations of the family quietly going about their business. The men are Snohomish High School graduates of 1933, 1966 and 2003.

Times change, and Barry Walther will soon attend Western Washington University. He hopes to work in computer science rather than fix cars. But he’ll always have the values and skills learned from his father and grandfather.

“People like that are everyday heroes,” Gamman said. “They’re modest, very humble, they show up for work, do their work, and look what happens? Fifty years later, they’re always jammed with work.”

Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com