Tuetonic tune-ups

by Christopher S. Pineo

Around the back of a small industrial cluster by the Fresh Pond Mall there is a small auto shop. Inside the shop is a passionate New Jersey native. He washes his hands in the shop sink whenever he greets someone entering the shop.

His passion is high performance German automobiles.

The German Performance Services shop at 26 New St. has the feel of a personal garage someone might have in their home.

The shop’s owner, Marc N. Feinstein, is at home in this environment. From his early experiences working auto repair in high school to Jan. 26 his trip to Daytona International Speedway with the Turner Motors Sports racing team. Feinstein always surrounds himself with racing, high performance cars and plenty of grease.

“Basically, for the past six years I worked for a company, Turner Motor Sports,” said Feinstein. “It was my life, I mean I would, you know, get there at nine in the morning and work till nine or ten at night, six or seven days a week.”

During that time Feinstein developed a strong relationship with the racing crews for Turner Motor Sport and although he owns his own business, continues to work with the racers.

As a race team engineer, he helped the team accomplish many accolades.

At the Jan. 26 race, the team finished third, seventh and tenth with two BMW 330i’s and a BMW M-3, he said.

Recent victories with the team he worked with include Drivers Championship and Team Championship for the past season, he said.

“The difference between the Drivers and Team Championship is this. Driver means one driver could drive ten different cars and still win the championship. Team Championship means that a specific car won, scored the most points. We normally have two, well two are required.

Sometimes we have three drivers depending on the length of the race.”

Feinstein said he moved to North Cambridge when he was 24. After spending a brief time staying with a friend apartment and job searching he applied at Turner Motor Sports. “I went there and said: Hey, you should hire me,” he said.

With experiences ranging from running a pro racing team to rebuilding antique Porsches into race cars he was a natural fit. “We took old rusty ones and turned them into, you know, beautiful cars as nice as any car that would be in a museum,” he said.

After six years of hard hours and intense experiences he decided to open his own place, he said. “I just wanted to have my own business and not work, you know, for the man.”

Feinstein said he has found that a lot of the area cyclists and rowers who bring cars into his shop take an interest in the work that he does.

But, he does not mind when customers come into the shop and look on while he works on their vehicle, he said.

“A lot of mechanics hate that,” he said.

“If you like cars, and you think your car is the coolest thing in the world and you bring it to somebody who’s like, ‘I don’t care,’” he said.

“Then all of a sudden that gives you, like, ‘What’s this guy? This guy’s not going to take care of my car. I put a lot into it,” he said.

It is the connection with the customers as they go over the strengths and weaknesses of a vehicle and work out a plan for taking its performance to the next level, he said. “So I’m enthusiastic about my customer’s cars, and it’s nice when they are too.”

His hands may be covered in grease after working at his passion for much of the morning, but he will wash them in the shop sink and greet his next customer. He is a passionate car enthusiast who found his way into the business of his hobby.

His shop has the feel of a hobbyist’s refuge where a race engineer can work and not answer to ‘the man.’