Auto repair shops in Hong Kong

[ilya]

I recently traveled to Hong Kong and took some photos of car/motorcycle repair shops. The shops are generally very small, about the size of a 2-car tandem garage. The repairs are typically performed at the curb, or sidewalk for scooters/motorcycles. The technical level of mechanics whom I observed appears to be better than what I've seen in Mexico. In one of the photos, there's a fairly big shelf with technical literature, most of the time tools are neatly arranged.

View the entire set on flickr.

1. Motorcycle dealership. The shop area is in the back.

2. Hong Shing Motorcycles Co. I took this photo aroun 11pm.

3. Titanic Moto Centre. The biggest motorcycle dealership I've seen in HK. These guys wouldn't let me take a picture of their shop. Notice the rare Suzuki SW-1 out front.

4. Tires are typically changed at the curb. Notice the ramp and the floor jacks set up outside.

5. Breaking the bead. Notice the tub in the background for washing tires/locating punctures.

6. USAG wall cabinet in the background, shelf with repair manuals and rollaway.

7. Beta tool cart.

8. Also took this photo around 11pm. Same block as the Hong Shing Motorcycles.

9. Notice the office upstairs in the back.

10. Taking up half the sidewalk.

11. About to connect the air hose to the floor jack. Notice the customer waiting area in the foreground .

12. One of the bigger shops.

13. Closeup of a tool board. I never got a chance to look at the hand tool brands.

14. Would you service your Rolls Royce at a shop like this?

15.

16. Record vise in the foreground.

17. The only private garage I've seen in HK.

 

[daveblank]

Cool pics.

 

[nate379]

Looks very much like the shops in Korea from what I can remember (last was there in 2004)

 

[Monte]

very nice pics !!! Thank you very much !!!!

 

[RickP330]

Damm, I complain about my dealer. Thanks for the pics.
RP

 

[Danglerb]

Nice pictures, reminds me a little of many urban shops both in the USA and UK.

I wonder what one of those mechanics would say looking at the shop in a USA dealer like Fletcher Jones MB here in Newport Beach?

 

[davesnothere]

Awesome!

 

[Scout Driver]

Very cool! Best 20 minute break I have taken in awhile. Its amazing what you see tucked away in those shops if you take time to just soak up the pictures.

Scott

 

[american lockpicker]

Very interesting pics, I'm suprised you didn't only see English boxes and tools since its a former part of the empire.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I spent time in Taiwan, and saw many car and motorcycle repair shops just like those. Some of them were pretty down and dirty, while others were neatly detailed with tile floors. The thing I noticed is they seemed to be always open - no matter what time of day or night you walked by there was someone in there working. I imagine that was at least partly because in most cases the owners lived in an apartment directly above the shop.

 

[Bull]

This is a terrific thread!

 

[G1GRANDEUR]

Awesome curb ramp. lol

 

[maxipouce]

Lots of euro things there, usag hand tools,ravaglioli and nussbaum lifts, fiac compressor, tecnotest emissions analyser, elf lubricants, selenia (wth!!) oil, wurth consumables, are you sure you were not in the chinese district of Paris?

 

[TheGrooveking]

Mighty cool seeing how things get done in other parts of the world. Thanks for posting.

TheGrooveking

 

[toolnut]

That's cool. Thanks for posting. Makes me appreciate the extra space around here in the good 'ole USA.

 

[hilld]

Love it. Thanks for posting.

 

[balane]

Do the shops have a Harbor Freight tool truck that comes around every week?

 

[domain]

I enjoyed the pics. Thank you!

 

[91bronc300]

I hope the guy in the purple shirt breaking beads doesn't sever his own foot. I have had enough close calls when using an ax like that that I try and wear the thickest dang boots and pants I have whenever I do stuff like that.

 

[tatra]

busting truck tires on the street outside the shop reminds me of the old william tire i used to work at...........did it in the middle of winter too.........

 

[TjoFrasse]

Very interesting, thanks for posting!

 

[mofo62]

.Muchas Gracias,excellent post.


V!

 

[jeffmoss26]

Very cool pics!!

 

[Moose-LandTran]

Awesome pics, very cool. Went there years ago and loved it, would love to go back and see Hong Kong again.

Did you take the ferry over to Kowloon at night? It's amazing to see Hong Kong lit up at night over the water.

 

[Rickster]

That was way cool!

 

[eborcim]

Nice pics thanks for posting!

 

[littletoes]

Bet they would be impressed with how some of our "home-owner" shops are out fitted. Quite interested, but not surprised, its a crowded city.

Bet those guys get quite a bit done, with what they have.

 

[Burgerkong]

The car shops are even better, next time I go back to visit my relatives (prolly December-ish) I'll take some pics.

 

[Daedalus]

I can't imagine making a living like that over there. It is crazy hot and humid there in the summer, worse than anywhere I've been to in the US, including the midwest and Florida in August. As I recall the vast majority of citizens there live in apartments without AC.

 

[Catamount]

I LOVE stuff like this. Thanks so much for posting.

 

[mrobins297aaa]

very cool pic's.......thanks for posting

 

[Scuderia-F1]

Very interesting, thanks for posting these pics!

 

[Burgerkong]

I can't imagine making a living like that over there. It is crazy hot and humid there in the summer, worse than anywhere I've been to in the US, including the midwest and Florida in August. As I recall the vast majority of citizens there live in apartments without AC.

You get used to it after a while, it's not too bad.

 

[xroad]

I can't imagine making a living like that over there. It is crazy hot and humid there in the summer, worse than anywhere I've been to in the US, including the midwest and Florida in August. As I recall the vast majority of citizens there live in apartments without AC.

People there are aclimated to the environment. Years ago, I visited Taipei. The temperature dropped from 90+ *F to 80+ *F after a rain storm and my local colleague puts on a jacket becasue it got "cold". Months later, another colleague from the same local office visit me in central New Jersey in the midst of summer and he was complaining the air is too dry for him and his sinus is all irritated.

 

[xroad]

Bet they would be impressed with how some of our "home-owner" shops are out fitted. Quite interested, but not surprised, its a crowded city.

Bet those guys get quite a bit done, with what they have.

Hong Kong has one of the highest cost real estate in the world. Taipei is similar in the way their shop spills out onto the sidewalk and into the street. Come to think of it, I grew up in the Bronx in NYC and the garages and body shops also spills out to the sidewalks and streets.

 

[ImportTuner]

Very cool pics; thanks for sharing

 

[nokiafan88]

Thanks for sharing the pics, I hope you had a good time there. The shops are tiny and they barely have any space to work around but thats because rent is really expensive. But anyways, hope to see more pics of your travels some time

 

[Benji]

Nice pic's I liked them thank's.

 

[vssjim]

My eye first went to the Rock Oil display, which is an English company I understand the former colonial deal but shipping oil from England to Hong Kong has to be crazy money.

 

[PJSimone]

As much as others have enjoyed looking at the photos, I like them as well.