SHOP PROFILE Rideout’s
by Steve Bodofsky
members.atra.com www.atra.com
Transmission Repair: Serving Evansville for Over 55 Years!
I
t takes a lot of commitment to remain in any business for more than half a century; maybe even
more so in the auto repair business. The number of shops who’ve been around that long are few and far between, and when we do find one, they’re worthy of a profile on the pages of GEARS. In this issue, we’re going to meet
Dave Rideout, owner and opera- tor of Rideout’s Transmission Repair. Founded by his father, Red Rideout, back in 1954, Rideout’s is the old- est transmission shop in Evansville, Indiana. Dave came to work for his dad in 1969, and took over the business in 1992. He bought the shop from his father in 1995. “Back then it was Rideout’s Auto
Repair; dad opened as a general repair shop,” says Dave. “But he fixed auto- matic transmissions even back then. He went to Hydramatic school to learn how to fix them.” In those days, Hydramatics made up the bulk of the automatic transmission business, so the
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Dave Rideout, owner and operator of Rideout’s Transmission Repair
things Red learned there gave him a good jump on the industry. Dave started out as a mechanic
in his dad’s shop, doing R&R and general repairs. “I started building Powerglides and 400s and putting them on the shelves for exchange,” says Dave. “That’s how we slowly began the changeover from general repairs to transmission repair. We reached a point where we were doing so much transmission work that we just eliminated general repair altogether.” Rideout’s supports six people including Dave: There’s Dave’s son
Chris Rideout, rebuilder
Chris Rideout, who’s a rebuilder and the shop manager; and a second
GEARS March 2012
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