SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Danny “The Count” Koker, a self-taught technician and star of the hit reality TV series “Counting Cars,” will join hundreds of vehicle repair professionals and other VIPs during the grand openings of Federal-Mogul Motorparts’ first three “Garage Gurus” regional training centers, in the Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City markets.
According to Federal-Mogul, Garage Gurus is a first-of-its-kind, nationwide technical education network offering onsite, online and on-demand training to professional technicians, shop owners, service writers and other front-line industry professionals. The network will expand to 15 training center locations by the end of the year. Federal-Mogul Motorparts is a division of Federal-Mogul Holdings Corp.
Koker, whose Las Vegas-based vehicle restoration and customization business is featured in a popular weekly series on the History Channel, will attend the Garage Gurus grand openings on April 14 in Skokie, Ill.; on April 16 in Van Nuys, Calif.; and on April 21 in the Bronx, N.Y. Open to any vehicle service professional, these celebrations will take place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will feature food trucks, live entertainment, facility tours and opportunities to meet several of Federal-Mogul Motorparts’ more than 100 ASE-certified “Gurus.”
“As a self-taught mechanic, I can appreciate how challenging it must be for professional technicians to develop the specialized skills needed to diagnose and repair each new automotive technology,” Koker said. “Garage Gurus delivers that training and related support when, where and how technicians need it. This is a huge benefit to the thousands of professionals we all count on to keep our cars in safe and reliable condition.”
Each Garage Gurus training center includes multiple vehicle repair/training bays and classrooms, and serves as the operating base for one or more “Gurus-On-The-Go” product technology vans. The Garage Gurus curriculum comprises more than 100 diagnostic and repair courses, including onsite workshops, field clinics and distance learning modules and webinars offered at FMgaragegurus.com. All training, product demonstrations and related assistance are available in English and Spanish languages.
“Garage Gurus is our investment in the future of the thousands of local shops and talented, hardworking professionals who maintain and repair today’s passenger vehicles,” said Dan Ninivaggi, CEO, Federal-Mogul Motorparts. “They have difficult but extremely important and rewarding jobs, and we are committed to providing the information and support they need to continue to be successful.”
Garage Gurus is a central element of Federal-Mogul Motorparts’ “Tech First” initiative aimed at strengthening the automotive service industry’s connection to the front-line professionals who service thousands of vehicles each day. Federal-Mogul stated that, in addition to offering technical training and other assistance, the new network is designed to underscore the importance of using premium-branded replacement parts engineered and manufactured to provide the quality, safety and performance consumers demand.
