For Albert Fuller, his 50th year of earning a living as an automotive mechanic is cause for low key celebration.
To commemorate the occasion, Al is looking at retirement and has considered putting a For Sale sign on the building that he’s occupied since 1988.
“I like it here so I don’t think I’ll leave,” says the Montana-born owner of A & B Automotive, located at 113 S. Bunker Hill Trail in downtown Red River.
“There’s no reason to move back to White Sulphur Springs. There’s nothing there for me and I like living here.”
In addition to car and truck maintenance and repair, A&B sells automotive parts and supplies, including Interstate batteries and features AMSOIL Synthetic products.
Albert enjoys his work and takes satisfaction in being ASE Certified. The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence is a professional certification group that certifies professionals and shops in the automotive repair and service industry in the United States and parts of Canada.
Born in Townsend, Montana, and growing up in nearby White Sulphur Springs, Albert had an interest in automobiles from an early age.
“My Uncle Jim was a mechanic and I took after him.” He attended Helena Vo Tech School, paying his own way, from 1969 to 1971. Upon graduation he took a job at the Berg Garage, a Chevrolet dealership in White Sulphur Springs that was founded in 1919.
He worked there for two years.
In 1973, he moved to Phoenix Arizona to work for Kraft Automotive, whose specialty was rebuilding engines.
“I stayed there for six months and decided that I had to get back to the Rocky Mountains. So, I loaded up everything and headed north.” His trip took him to Durango, Colorado, where “I had a job the next morning!”
La Plata motors was a Ford dealership. He worked there from 1973 to 1979. He liked the town of Durango “very much but it was getting too big. And I was tired of working for someone else and I decided that I wanted my own business.”
In 1979, his girlfriend at the time had relatives who lived in Red River. Tony and Maryann Heiberger ran the lodge which is today the Mountain Shadows Lodge.
“They were running the Holiday Lodge and I came to visit them and decided that there wasn’t any automotive shops in town – besides the gas station – so I thought this was a good place to start my own business.”
Decision made, he talked to long-time Red Riverite Johnny Mutz who said “he would lease me the building at the “Y.” The large metal structure was built in 1973 for David Willis who operated it as a auto repair shop for a year before selling the business.
Albert moved to Red River and “had to buy a mobile home” from Harold Young, in the trailer park that Harold owned.
“After I got here Johnny Mutz said ‘No’ he was not going to lease me that building, so there I was, stuck!”
At that point, Harold Young, who owned Young Ranch, agreed to build a building for a shop.
“He built the 25’x35’ building that is now the Washboard Laundry. It was constructed by Fred Armijo in 1979 and in the spring of that year, I opened A&B Automotive.” (Photo lower right) In 1985 Albert bought the property behind Der Mark. Formerly owned by S.E. Bolton, ski area founder, the property was owned at the time by Ted Calhoun and included a number of storage units that had been built by Bolton.
“It was the only place in town I could find that was big enough for me to build a shop.”
In 1988, Albert secured a loan from Red River Bank (which no longer exists) and hired Jim Sneed Construction, a Red River contractor, to build a shop.
First, however, an existing metal building of Bolton’s was dismantled by Andamo Sanchez and hauled away “for the materials” before construction of A&B could begin.
Albert occupied his time from 1985 to 1988 with cleaning and revitalizing the rental concrete block storage units which went with the purchase. It is unclear if the storage units were built by Bolton.
Fill dirt was hauled into the area which had historically been a part of the large swamp area which had dominated the valley from the time of the town founding in 1895.
Construction then began in early spring 1988 with the pouring of the concrete slab flooring. To this day, the free-floating slab has not shifted or cracked and is as sound today as the day it was poured.
Work progressed quickly. On June 27, 1988, Albert opened the doors of the new A & B Automotive.
“I’ve always been open year-round,” Albert says, modestly. Unlike many businesses that are operational on a season-only basis, Albert keeps the doors open.
He has, however, been known to take a vacation on occasion, frequently in his camping trailer or a motor home he recently rebuilt.
Albert utilizes the winter months from November to March with a major project. The motor home and a pickup camper were two recent travel projects.
His current winter project is a Ford pickup restoration that was owned by his late uncle.
As a contributing member of the community, Albert volunteered in 1987 and served 21 years with the Red River Fire Department, answering fire calls and serving as an ambulance driver. He was also a wild land firefighter.
“I retired from the Fire Department in… must have been about 2008.” He then adds, “I’ve got the date written down at home.”
Two fire experiences stand out in his memory.
The first was the Hondo Fire in 1996. A trash fire on a windy day got out of control in San Cristobal, resulting in a wildland fire that consumed over 7,000 acres of the Carson Forest and destroyed 30+ structures.
There was no loss of life reported.
The Red River Fire Department was the first to respond and was active in protecting houses in the Lama area between San Cristobal and Questa.
The second memory is of the fire at the complex currently know as the Wyndham Club Pass Resort WorldMark Red River. The building consisted of two large structures that were built by Craig Swagerty who owned the Riverside Lodge at the time. One of the structures was nearly completed when it is believed that a pile of oily rags left unattended combusted and set the building ablaze.
He is currently serving on the Public Works Committee for the Town of Red River, a position he has occupied for nearly 30 years.
“I’ve been on Public Works since Harold Young was the Mayor, however many decades ago that was!
It was right after he was elected Mayor that he asked me to be on the committee.”
What are the biggest changes he has seen in the 42 years he has called Red River home?
“Paved streets, sidewalks and street lights,” he says. “Having all the power lines going underground was a big change. That was the time of the highway project. Offseasons are not as long as they used to be.
“The biggest change in automotives has been all the computerized stuff. It’s just been overwhelming. Now the last 10 years, the electric vehicles. And diesels really took over. While he does some basic maintenance on diesels, he emphasizes that he is not a diesel technician.
“People think they can get all the info they need off of YouTube and the Internet and don’t realize how much some of that stuff is a lie and can be dangerous to their vehicle!”
