A one-car garage that stayed a family business.
Skip Hull opened in Waltham in 1972 after a year as an engineer convinced him he'd rather be fixing cars.
How it started
Skip repaired cars to get through engineering school at UMass Lowell. After grad school he gave engineering a year, then went back to wrenches in a one-car garage in Waltham. By 1977 he'd moved to Thayer Road and hired two mechanics.
"I decided to work at LFCG until I figured out what to do with my degree in Engineering," he says. "After awhile, I realized I was using my degree every day, and I'm doing what I love!"
- 1969Skip's first day as a professional mechanic: a 1962 MGB and a 1959 Rolls-Royce.
- 1972Little Foreign Car Garage opens in a one-car garage.
- 1977The move to 50 Thayer Road.
- 1982Lindsey Brown joins, and stays.
- 1992Skip's sister Judie joins, and the family business takes shape.
The people you'll deal with
Skipper Hull
Founder and President
Born and raised in Waltham. Holds bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering, trained at the British Leyland factory and was trained on Porsches. Off the track he likes basketball, sailing, tennis and gardening.
Judie Hull-Maker
Service and Office Manager
Judie sets the tone for how we treat you, a skill built rising to Assistant Hotel Manager at the Portland Sheraton. Her first car was an Austin-Healey Sprite, which she drove cross-country. Today it's a much-loved BMW 325i convertible.
Lindsey Brown
Shop Foreman
With us since 1982, Lindsey specializes in custom chassis tuning, and his photography has been published by the Audubon Society. Favorite car to drive: any Porsche turbo. Least favorite car to work on: any Porsche turbo.
Treat every customer as if they were signing your paycheck.
From our Statement of Purpose. Trust is the first requirement, personal attention the second, and we do the job right the first time because people only want to bring their car in once.
A green shop that stays in the black
The first thing you'll notice here is how clean the place is. That's by design.
- An EPA-approved waste oil heater burns all the shop's used oil, so none of it goes to a dump site.
- Parts cleaners use biodegradable soap and recyclable mineral spirits, distilled daily.
- Old tires are recycled into road beds.
- Shop rags are laundered, and floors are washed daily with biodegradable soap.
