When Reitmeir’s Werkstatt opened for business Jan. 3, 1966, there was a train station on First Street, orchards nearby and a few Volkswagens scattered throughout the auto shop. Four decades later, the VWs remain while everything else has changed.
“We put every penny there was into this place. Ten thousand dollars was of a lot money then,” remembered Joe Reitmeir, who celebrated the Werkstatt’s 40th anniversary this month.
Reitmeir, who emigrated from Bavaria, Germany, at age 19, began serving a modest clientele of VW and Porsche owners in a town whose institutions were only beginning to take root. Today, across from the bustle of Draeger’s Market, Reitmeir’s Werkstatt services some 50 to 60 vehicles per week, having expanded to repair Audis, BMWs and Mercedes.
As one of only a handful of German specialty auto shops in the Bay Area, the Werkstatt serves Los Altos and its surrounding communities, with some customers traveling from as far as Santa Rosa and Monterey. A gallery of portraits garlanding the waiting room keeps record of the clients and friends of the Reitmeirs, including a signed photo of the singer-actress Cher.
“It wasn’t Cher herself who came, but her sister,” explained Darla Reitmeir, Joe’s wife of 25 years. “But the car belonged to Cher.” Apparently the celebrity’s black Porsche Carrera had unexpected difficulties years ago while cruising Interstate 280. The Reitmeirs were pleased to help.
Since its beginning the Werkstatt has been a family affair. Darla handles the accounting and son Jeff Reitmeir became owner of the Werkstatt after his father’s retirement in 2001. Jeff worked his way up from the bottom, said Darla. “When Jeff was 14, he started here as the cleanup boy. Today he’s head honcho.”
Though mechanics by day, members of the Reitmeir family have led double lives as champion race car drivers. The tradition began with Joe’s appearances in competitions at Laguna Seca and Thunderhill raceways. Following in his father’s footsteps, Jeff garnered his eighth Sports Car Club of America National Championship medal. A large glass case in the waiting room hosts a menagerie of the family’s awards and trophies.
Looking toward a fading poster of late actor Steve McQueen and his Porsche, Darla is nostalgic for the past but content with the present. “We blend the vintage with the modern,” she said. “We try to combine that old feeling of German mechanics with current life.”
Reitmeir’s Werkstatt, Inc. is located at 309 First St., Los Altos. For more information, call 941-4331 or visit www.rw-inc.com.
