One thing that has always bothered me a little is how shops get lumped into categories. For instance we were considered a “Supra Shop” for a long time. Even after we had stopped drag racing the Supra and built a 450 whp SR powered S14 that beat up much higher horse power Supras. Trust me, NO ONE had one of those back then in Atlanta. Then we changed the S14 to be a drift car, built one for Tracy too, and got our Pro licenses. Naturally, we then became considered a 240 shop. When we built the Hello Kitty Evo 8? Again our label changed. So on and so forth. Our competitors deal with the same issues. There is “The Honda Shop” and “The 350z/G35 Shop” or “The Subaru/Evo Shop” . To me it seems that these shops embrace being labeled as a specialty shop so they can try to justify their inflated rates and outrageous prices. It appears, for the most part, to garner them a lot of business for that particular car, while limiting their experiences and knowledge of other makes and models. Some have even refused to work on certain cars. Thanks for the business guys!
Now, I’m not saying that these other shops don’t work on other cars—not at all. I’m just saying that we are able to work on anything. We are not afraid to work on the “tough” cars. I personally enjoy it. It makes my job more interesting and more challenging. It has been this way since I came to the shop in 2003. It is a part of what makes us Batlground. I think a lot of people don’t realize how Batlground got started. Dan started working on his own cars in his drive way before he even thought of opening a shop. He worked by himself for more than 2 years before I came into the picture, all self taught. If he couldn’t figure it out he bought the shop manual and learned. This self teaching was on his own Mercedes, E46 M3, and Supra. I worked at a Toyota dealership when I first moved down here and they sent me to school for alignment, suspension, and brakes. I spent a year on the service line performing all aspects of work on all models, including the non-Toyota wholesale cars. I then worked at a Subaru/Hyundai/Honda/Mitsubishi dealership for a little over a year. We take a lot of pride in our ability to work on anything. Back then, for Dan, it was necessity—for myself it was my job. Now—its our passion.
This applies to tuning, too. Dan can tune on any platform, even if we don’t have the software here in house, as long as he has it when its time to tune—from an AFC to Motec and anything in between. Those other guys only “toon”. They talk a big game, but when it comes down to it they are just mashing keys. Dan has thrown down the challenge. Compare his maps to the other guys. You don’t have to be a tuner to see the difference.
Just take a look at our history to get a glimpse of our future. With the Supra it was the quickest, fastest, highest horse power in GA. When we had the Evo, it was the quickest, fastest, highest horse power in GA. The 240? Same story for an SR power plant in GA, then it became Dan’s drift car when he was the ONLY Formula D licensed driver in GA. Soon enough the LS6-Z is going to be done. There are going to be more projects to master beyond that. There is an old saying: Expert of many, Master of none. Who do you want working on your car? Experts of few, Masters of one? or Experts of many, Masters of Done? If it were me I would choose the shop that has progressed with the scenes and trends of their customers.
Please visit our gallery for more pictures of our cars and to take a look at the variety of customers we have worked on.
