Luxury Car Repair Technician and Shop Owner (O.J. Lopez)

The Dream Vocation Podcast with Tony Bellagamba

In this episode we speak with Luxury Repair Technician and Shop Owner OJ Lopez. I’ve known OJ for a few years and while we didn’t see eye-to-eye when we first met, today I am proud to call him a friend as well as an inspiration.

This might be the coolest podcast episode I’ve done yet because not only was it my fist in-person interview, but we recorded the episode in OJ’s shop surrounded by high performance vehicles such as Lamborghinis, Porsches, and American muscle cars!

But even cooler than the atmosphere is OJ’s story, which is one I believe many can appreciate and even envy. He initially followed the “traditional path” of attending a four-year university because that’s what his family had done and what he thought was expected of him. His passion for cars wouldn’t go away however, and he soon began working on them whenever he had spare time. This all came to a head one day when his mom came home to find a car radiator in the bathtub! This prompted a conversation about what he truly wanted to do with his life and with his mother’s support, OJ left college and began pursuing his dream of working on cars full-time by enrolling in a tech school.

After graduating at the top of his class, OJ secured a well-paying job with one of the top BMW dealerships in the country. His talent and work ethic allowed him to rise through the ranks quickly to become the youngest master tech in the company’s history but OJ still wasn’t fully living out his dream. He believed the automotive industry could be done better and with that he set out on his own, taking a major risk and opening his own shop.

He is now the owner of Fluid MotorUnion, a luxury and exotic car repair and performance shop in Naperville. As a result of OJ and his team’s skills and honest approach to business, he has built a reputation as one of the top shops for luxury and exotic cars in not only the country but even the world.

Join me as we listen to OJ’s incredible journey along with some incredibly cool stories, including working in the middle east and hanging out with a prince and his pet cheetah!