A long-empty Shrewsbury garage will soon be revving to the sounds of Lamborghinis and other big-ticket cars. (Photo below by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)
By DANIELLE TEPPER
For two years, it’s stood empty and forlorn, with tufts of weeds poking through cracked asphalt out front.
But a two-bay garage on Broad Street in Shrewsbury is set to roar back to life with the with the opening of Massimo Motorworks, the second location of a high-end auto repair shop in Long Branch.
The new shop, at the corner of Haddon Avenue, will offer servicing of all makes of cars, but owner and certified master technician Massimo Bottino specializes in European vehicles, including Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes and Volvo.
An immigrant from Italy, Bottino discovered his passion for cars at age 14, he told redbankgreen on a recent visit to his Long Branch shop, where two Lamborghinis and a Mercedes were in for work.
When he moved to the U.S. in 1990, he wasted no time getting into the industry. He started working at age 16 for AW Imported Auto Parts in Eatontown, where he got his first taste of exotic cars.
Bottino went on to work as a technician with Mario LoMedico Exotic Cars in Shrewsbury and Contemporary Motors, a Mercedes dealer in Little Silver. But there was never any question in his mind that he would someday open up his own shop, he said.
Since day one, you want to have your own place, because when you work for somebody else, you make a name for your bosses, so you want to do something for yourself, he said.
In December of 2003, Bottino claimed a spot on the small alley of Clinton Place in Long Branch as his own. The modest auto shop beside the train tracks has been his pride and joy for the past eight years. But its location, in an easily overlooked area, soon had him looking for an opportunity to expand his of customer base.
When we started over here, it was good, but this is a dead-end street, and nobody really goes by,” he said. “We were getting very nice cars here, the best in Long Branch, so why not go to a bigger area?
Last December, Bottino began planning to make the Shrewsbury lot his smaller second location. It was originally supposed to be ready to open in March, but renovations took longer than anticipated.
Bottino now hopes to have the shop up and running by June 1.
