Mike Perkins, a third-generation carwasher from Perx Car Wash in Anderson, SC, remembers the late nights his father spent diligently changing sprockets and bearings on the Havelburg "monster."

His father handled customers, supervised employees and maintained the equipment. He had no choice.

In those days the equipment was complicated, often one of a kind, and required constant attention. Money for the carwash pioneers was tight, and they could neither afford downtime nor depend on a non-existent equipment manufacturer "dealer network."

This steep design-engineering learning curve developed a generation of carwashers that could fix anything. But as the pioneers retire and take their equipment expertise with them, there is a growing need for a different, more refined carwash mechanic.

The operational scheme for old equipment was almost intuitive, and the mechanic could learn the equipment using anecdotal experience. Lever A operated limit switch LS 5, controlling air cylinder 7.

It was easy to understand that to increase the wrap's travel across the back bumper, you simply increased the air pressure on regulator B.

But times and equipment have changed. Gravity has replaced pneumatic power in controlling wraps and side brushes, the antenna-eating top brush has been replaced with a cloth mitter and touchless blowers have replaced top nozzles. Even the Havelburg has been replaced by the horizontal tire brush.

These equipment design simplifications, with the associated increase in reliability and maintainability, have reduced the need for the owner or manager to dive into the tunnel to repair, on the fly, a malfunctioning machine - reduced, but not eliminated; simplified some aspects while complicating others.

The new equipment's higher level of sophistication requires a new skill set for the carwash mechanic. Although the mechanic still needs the knowledge of mechanical maintenance, far from being just a "grease monkey," modern carwash equipment technicians must understand much more than their predecessors.

For example, adjusting a "gravity" controlled wrap-around requires more than a passing knowledge of physics. The maintainer must understand how the bearing thrust centerline is deliberately set out of plumb to bias the wrap's action on the rear of the car. Adjustments in one axis will affect the wrap's action across the front, sides and back of the vehicle. These interrelationships are not intuitive, and for many people the adjustments seem to be more black magic than science.

Fixing today's equipment requires a lot more than intuition and hunches.

When carwash equipment changed, attitudes soon followed. The results of these changes created even more opportunities for carwash mechanics.

In the days before extra services, volume is what made money, and managers who could keep the equipment running well were assured of good volume.

Frank Hutchins, president of the Frank's Car Wash chain in Lexington, SC, once washed 3,465 cars in one day, operating two tunnels and more than 100 workers. But he notes, "Those days are gone forever."

The modern carwash is sales-driven, and its management requires highly developed people skills, leaving little time for technical expertise.

As carwash operators have become better businesspersons and managers, their desire to learn the mechanical skills required to repair equipment has waned.

But someone must have the expertise to keep the car wash running.

As many operators look to hire in-house maintenance personnel, the shortage of carwash mechanics becomes increasingly apparent. Quality maintenance personnel are in short supply and are well paid.

Bill Campbell, maintenance manager of Frigidaire's Anderson, SC, manufacturing plant, says maintenance technicians there are earning up to $80,000 per year.

With that kind of competition, the odds of even a large chain carwash attracting a highly qualified technician are slim.

The hours required (after the wash closes) and working conditions (hot and cold, wet, dirty, smelly) are a definite turn-off to qualified persons.

The combination of budgetary constraints and a shortage of mechanics willing to work at a carwash lead most operators to shoot for personnel below the standards used in manufacturing operations.

Because of difficulty hiring and retaining mechanics willing to work at carwashes, the person who can perform welding, electrical, plumbing, hydraulic, pneumatic and computer process control at a fair price will continue to be a hot commodity.

"There is a tremendous future for any person willing to learn the mechanical trades and get their hands dirty," says Hutchins. "With so many non-technical people entering the carwash business, I foresee a growing demand for persons who can solve problems and repair carwash equipment."

The demand will continue to grow as operators' opinions on maintenance evolve. Too many carwash operations view the maintenance function as a "cost center," and the art of maintenance management is overruled by a "let it run till it breaks" mentality.

Preventive maintenance is a concept to which the carwash industry has generally paid only lip service. Predictive maintenance is unheard of at most carwashes.

But in reality the "total cost" of a properly run maintenance program is a net gain to carwash income. As operators continue to realize this and preventive maintenance programs continue to grow, the market for skilled mechanics will grow along with them.

But the carwash owners, through hiring and training, will have to commit to increasing the skill sets of those mechanics. The day of "hammer and channel-lock" maintenance is passed.