There’s loyalty – and then there’s Stuart Avery. Throughout his incredible tenure working on Hondas, he’s moved workshops a handful of times, even cities, but his dedication and love for the cars, brand and community, has been unwavering.
“My father would always go to garage sales and bring back little engines,” Stuart recalls fondly. “Not saying anything about them, he’d just put them in the garage, knowing that I would wander over and start playing around with them, tinkering with them. So that's what got me interested in mechanical things.”
Raised on a small farm in Tauranga, young Stuart’s plan wasn’t to work on cars but planes. Yet at 16-years-old, he was offered an apprenticeship in a country garage. Looking back now, it was a case of right place, right time – a recurring theme throughout the course of his career.
“I was still at school and had passed the pre-entry exams to join the Air Force but they weren’t taking people for a whole year,” he explains. “So I thought, I'll just help out at this garage. Then [the owner] offered me an apprenticeship.”
Photography by Emily Chalk
There began Stuart’s fortuitous journey that would eventually lead to his current role as Workshop Manager for Douglas Automotive, who operate Honda Service Store Rotorua. He is as happy now as he was working for the British Motor Corporation in Mount Maunganui back in 1982. “That's when I started my long-term, 40-year association working on Hondas,” he says proudly.
While Stuart’s undoubtedly a Honda lover now, his first car, a British classic, came about as a matter of chance. “As an apprentice, I went out on a farm one day to look at a farmer’s tractor and in his hay barn was an old Morris Minor 1000 car. It had hay bales all over it and I said ‘Oh, do you want to sell that?’” Stuart gave him a hundred dollars for it. “I got it up and running, registered it, and that was my first car.”
As a youngster, Stuart would often assist his father with restoring vintage vehicles at home but these days he prefers to leave car projects at work, keeping it separate from his personal life. “I try to give it a rest, bring it back on Monday morning,” he says. Motorbikes, though, are a true passion. “I haven't got a motorbike at the moment; I'm in between – Hondas, of course. I used to enjoy doing a lot of sightseeing trips on the weekends, jumping on the bike and going for a ride.” While he doesn’t have a particular model on his wishlist right now, he says: “I’ll know what it is when I see it.”
In 2002, Stuart’s wealth of knowledge saw him seize the title of second fastest Honda technician in the country, an achievement that won him a trip to Japan. Alongside his first place counterpart, the pair flew over for Honda’s Asia Oceania Technician Contest. “To be rewarded that opportunity was absolutely mind blowing. Spending five days in Japan, knowing that you’re representing Honda New Zealand was the biggest buzz I've ever had,” he says.
One of Stu’s favourite memories from Japan is discovering the Honda Collection Hall in Motegi, a transport museum showcasing the brand’s history with an incredible collection of iconic cars, motorcycles and racing machines. At the end of the trip, he was gifted a beautiful gold-plated spanner set: “It really was a once in a lifetime experience.”
Being good on the tools is one of Stuart’s strengths, but so is his heart. He holds his connection with the community in the highest regard — a value he’s keen to pass on to the next generation. “My customers, they’re like family, you give them hugs every time you see them,” he says. “I really try to put a strong basis towards building up relationships and that way you get huge customer satisfaction.”
Reflecting on 40 years, Stuart agrees it’s quite the innings but there’s no place he’d rather be: “If I wasn't happy in my job, I would have moved on. But I've always been happy in my job. I’ve often thought, ‘Could I do something better, can I broaden my horizons?’
I probably can't, actually, because I've been a mechanic, a diagnostic mechanic, I've worked in parts, I’ve done administration. I've done all the facets. So that's why I've been satisfied to stay here.”
With Stuart are Darrius Strickland, Head Technician (left) and Vince Douglas, General Manager (right)
I love the design of the cars, the way they put them together, they put a lot of thought into it.
