Since 1978.

Sandra and Richard loved talking to people, and they sure loved owning a repair shop. It was sort of like they were repairing automobiles for a living, but at the same time, they were also helping people out by listening to their problems.

Named initially, European Automotive Engineering, was not only an automobile repair shop, but it was also a place where people sought and found comfort from their lives and routines. "It's funny, but sometimes people would show up just to talk," Conner reminisces.

It was their love for books that got them talking to each other at Blackwell Chevrolet and Mercedes in 1976. Richard was an avid collector of hardcover, first edition books, and Sandra had just finished reading "Atlas Shrugged" when they both met each other. It was a discussion about Ayn Rand, the author, that sparked their interest.

But besides his relentless love for Sandra, Richard also loved German cars and diesel engines. He considered himself a machinist, and he loved everything about Mercedes-Benz automobiles.

So, with the support of Sandra by his side, Richard hired Ed Macke in June of 1978, and they began rebuilding engines outside Richard's home, and they were really good at it. It was as if diesel fuel ran through his veins.

"That's where he gets it from," Conner remembers. "My grandfather, Woodrow Wilson McCary, was a Hudson and Plymouth mechanic. He had immigrated to New York, moved to Oklahoma, and finally settled in Mercedes, Texas. My dad was always taking things apart. He was studying premed, but on the side, he was always building hot rods."

In 2001, Sandra passed away, and later in 2010, Richard followed. At the young age of twenty-two, Conner took the reigns of the automobile repair business and has continued working hard every day since. With the help of Ed, Jake, Chris, amongst others, Conner set out to build not only a business but a family — and he has.