Vdubfixer is Mystica (Emma) Rosling.
Once upon a time there was a child who dreamed of having a VW camper van and all sorts of adventure to go with it.
Years went by and that child grew into someone who loved the puzzle of a broken machine — almost any kind of machine. Bring on the squeaky bicycle, toaster that won’t toast, tape player that eats tapes, and computers that make you want to throw them out the window.
Vera the van — One day the childhood dream became reality — there was an air-cooled 1980 VW van in all its moss-covered non-running glory.
The repair manual was read from cover to cover, the tools were borrowed, and with much guidance from a friend the engine was rebuilt. Many adventures were had with that van, including more breakdowns and more learning to fix it.
One of those adventures led to meeting an air-cooled Porsche mechanic who was willing to trade the parts required to fix the van for some labour in his shop — and the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” was finally answered.
Schooling
Wanting to work in a shop soon led to enrolling in an auto mechanic’s course at the Centre for Trades and Technology in Surrey. Emma aced the course and was their best student ever — rebuilding the school owner’s 1.8T Jetta engine as a course project.
Apprenticeship
By that time she was completely hooked — not only on being a mechanic, but also addicted to Volkswagens. The years of apprenticeship went by, working in several different VW/Audi shops while looking for the right place to stay a few years.
She tried working for a VW dealership. Access to all the right tools and information was wonderful but it was all about productivity without room to get to know individual cars and their owners and what the owner wants from their car.
That problem was solved by working in independent VW/Audi repair shops. The performance-oriented ones were the most fun, but even there not all was perfect. Some shop owners are not as honest as one would like, others maybe not as skilled, but all of them have something we can learn from.
Vdubfixer
Having worked in many different shops, all VW/Audi-focused, Emma’s dream now is to bring the best elements of all of them together in her own shop.