Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Pottle.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve been a long time car enthusiast and in the early 2000’s graduated from an auto tech school. I got hired right out of school to work on a professional Porsche racing team and spent the next 10 years traveling around the United States working on Porsche, BMW and Volvo racecars.
In 2016 my wife and I moved to Cleveland from Maryland to be closer to her family as we were expecting to have our first child. I took the opportunity to open my own automotive repair business. Nordkuste Performance was started in May of 2016. The main reason behind starting my own business was to have control and flexibility of my time. Secondarily to provide a location where people feel like they are treated with respect and feel comfortable having their vehicles services & repaired.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Far from smooth. It’s been a tough and trying journey. Aside from learning how to run a business while in business, having to navigate a 3 year old business through the Covid Pandemic while continuing to grow and hire my first employees. Make it through the Pandemic to then experience the highest inflation I’ve seen in my lifetime and still continuing to grow and hire. In my almost 10 years in business for myself, I feel like the most difficult part has been the lack consistency in regards to the economy and outside forces.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My background as a mechanic comes from being in professional sports car racing. For the first 10 years as a professional mechanic I working on professional racing teams. I worked many different roles within the team. Everything from a tire technician, pit stop tire changer, head mechanic and truck driver.
This career has had lots of positive moments. In 2006 I was the head mechanic on the “worlds fastest Volvo” and helped Volvo North America achieve it’s first victory in professional racing which it also set the record for largest margin of victory in the racing series it competed in.
In 2018 I was hired as a stunt man for the movie “Art of Racing in the rain”, a movie produced by Patrick Dempsey. This was another high light as I got to experience something new which was film production.
Another positive for being in business for myself is having almost 200 five star Google reviews and creating jobs for 7 people.
My business specializes in VW Vanagon and vintage VW Bus engine conversions. We have customers from around the United States have us convert their vintage VW’s to be powered by modern Subaru engines. We also service most European makes and models for general repair and schedule services.
What are your plans for the future?
My future plans include continuing to build and grow Nordkuste Performance along with a second business that I’ve started. Abflug VW Camper Van rentals. The goal is to rent different generations of vintage Volkswagen camper Vans. People will have the options to rent VW Vans from the 1970’s , 1980’s and 1990’s. I want to help expose people to camping and the popular “Van Life” without the high expense of owning and maintaining a vintage VW camper Van.
My main business Nordkuste Performance with support the Abflug business on the maintenance side.
Contact Info:
- Website: Nordkuste.com and Abflug.co
- Instagram: nordkuste_performance
- Facebook: Nordkuste service & performance
- Other: https://www.google.com/search?q=nordkuste
