Faces of Southeast Missouri: Mike Ruppel

Mike Ruppel says he is “90% retired.” But that doesn’t stop him from doing what he loves and spending time at Ruppel Auto Service, a shop founded by his father and that Mike owned until 2024.

“I enjoy fixing things,” Mike says. “I enjoy taking things that are broke and repairing them, make them like they should be. I’ve always got a lot of satisfaction from doing that.”

Mike’s father Lester Ruppel and Lester's business partner Woody Colyer opened Ruppel Motor Company in 1955 as the Colyer/Ruppel Motor Company, selling Plymouth and DeSoto cars and doing repairwork. After seven years, Lester bought out his partner and focused solely on car repair.

Mike grew up less than a mile away from his father’s auto shop; as a child, he often rode his bicycle to the shop and played there. At 12 years old, he started drawing a paycheck there, cleaning tools, burning trash and doing light mechanical work. Throughout his teenage years, he worked at the shop after school and on the weekends; in the summertimes, he worked there several days a week, going full-time in the summer when he turned 16.

Mike says he always knew he would work at the shop after graduating from high school. As a teenager, Mike overheard a conversation between his parents about a job offer his father had received from a different company to be a supervisor; he is grateful his father declined the offer, so he had a place to work after high school.

Mike’s father specialized in electronics in the Navy during World War II and the Korean War and brought that knowledge with him to the automotive world. When vehicles switched from using generator charging systems to alternator charging systems, Mike says his father exposed him to how to work on vehicles with electronics much sooner than many other shops. Because of this, Ruppel’s became known as a diagnostic shop.

“Dad taught me a lot. Dad was the most intelligent guy I’ve ever met in my life. He would stop and explain things to me, why things worked the way they did,” Mike says. “So that helped a lot. Having a very smart mentor to help you through that.”

Mike and his father worked together for 20 years before Mike bought the shop from his dad in 1992, although his dad still lent a hand in the shop. They specialized in working on European-made cars, which they got into when they started repairing cars for a local used car dealer who bought them. Mike says he enjoyed doing the mechanic work much more than the office work.

After his father retired, Mike, who lived next door to his dad, drank coffee and read the newspaper with his father every morning before going to work at the shop. His best friend, Mike says even throughout working together, they never got into an argument.

In May 2024, Mike sold the business to GearHeads Auto & Diesel Repair owner Amy Ybarra. He continues to pass down his father’s and his own knowledge to the next generation of mechanics, mentoring the technicians at both of the shops. Monthly, he holds classes for the technicians on topics such as air conditioning, reading wiring diagrams and how to use civil lab scopes.

Like he has been for most of his life, Mike is still at the shop five days a week. When the mechanics don’t need help, he works on restoring his 1959 Triumph.

“It allows me to keep my hands in it, for one thing,” Mike says. “And I still enjoy fixing things."