Wir lieben unsere Leidenschaft

We love our passion

Michael Gerischer

The Auto Architect

A residential area on the Rheinau. Bourgeois detached houses, well-kept front gardens, traffic-calmed streets. Not exactly a typical location for a car repair shop. But the workshop that Hans-Michael Gerischer has set up here in his double garage is not typical either. Only cars of the Porsche 964 model are put on the lifting platform, and the car enthusiast gives them a new shine. He rejects the term ‘tuning’ for his 964 work, because ‘tuning always implies a higher, faster, further. That's not what I do. I find refining more appropriate.’

Why? Life and work should become one!

The fact that he specialises in restoring the Porsche 964, which came onto the market in 1988 and helped the Zuffenhausen carmaker out of a serious crisis, is due to his personal fondness for this model. It perfectly combines the classic look of a 911 with a high level of comfort and sophisticated technology, enthuses Gerischer. In terms of workmanship and durability, Porsche sets the standard. These cars do not lose any of their value.
Born in Bochum, he has spent almost his entire professional life in the automotive industry and recalls: ‘For my parents, cars were just a means of transport, but they fascinated me even as a small child. There was hardly a brand I didn't know.’ After an apprenticeship as a precision mechanic, he studied mechanical engineering with a focus on vehicle construction and entered the sales business. He sold luxury cars, in particular Jaguars, Maseratis and Aston Martins, in various regions of Germany. Even back then, he was passionate about manufacturing processes, because: ‘An Aston Martin is a classic handcrafted car.’
He came to Mannheim in 2005 for a job at a car dealership. He quickly lost interest in the work there. Nevertheless, he settled here, because he not only fell in love with a Mannheim woman, who is now his wife, but also with the city where Carl Benz once invented the car. Mannheim is where the bread is cut. This is where work is done and values are created, he explains.
Creating value – this idea ultimately led to the founding of the 964 manufactory. My 40th birthday was a turning point for me. I wanted to do something completely new. Life and work should become one, admits the Peter Gabriel fan. He took the musician as a role model: he left Genesis at the height of its success. I think he is a fascinating personality in his uncompromising nature. A second, flourishing company gave him the peace of mind of financial independence to take the risk. The 964 community is small, but I was sure that there was a market for my idea, he says.
Tinkering with cars had always been just as much fun for him as driving. However, his first participation in a race track training session in the mid-1990s marked the beginning of a new dimension and the passion for race track driving on track days at the Hockenheimring, the Nürburgring or the Formula 1 circuit in Spa, which continues to this day. Hans-Michael Gerischer has been an instructor for the Porsche Pistenclub on these tracks for almost ten years, and he has realised that your own life depends on the quality of the work. All components of the car are put under extreme stress. Any negligence can have devastating consequences.

This is where work is done and values are created

An uncompromising approach to quality, absolute faithfulness to the original and transparency with customers became the guiding principles of the new company. Original parts are used as far as possible, for example the characteristic yellow chromated screws or original combination screws for fastening the wheel arch linings, even if the part costs 3.57 euros. You can certainly get all of that cheaper, but that wouldn't meet my standards, says Gerischer. His customers are consistently with him on this path. They are freaks just like me, he explains with a laugh. They are mostly men between the ages of 45 and 55; their career is on track, the kids are out of the woods and now it's time for the father to fulfil his childhood dream. The Porsche 964 is not an everyday car for the least of the few.
Gerischer begins the manufacturing process with a detailed inspection of the car and a consultation. The basic cleaning is done using dry ice blasting at minus 78 degrees Celsius. This process does not attack either the paint or the body, he explains. All the panels and operating fluids are also removed and the engine, transmission and brake components overhauled. For re-spraying and re-upholstering, he draws on a network of experts, including the AEV saddlery in Mannheim and his partner Jochen Dronia, who specialises in racing cars and is based in Mainz. ‘I am the architect of the car’ is how Gerischer describes his work, which has allowed him to fulfil his life's dream.
His goal: to build the perfect car one day. I will know I have achieved this when I stand in front of the finished work one day and am sure that I could not have done anything better, he explains. But first, he needs to move. The double garage has become too small. Hans-Michael Gerischer wants to hire employees. Because one thing is certain: the legend of the Porsche 964 lives on. And it needs to be cared for.

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