Colony One Auto Staff
Sam Tate, Founder
In 1971, Sam Tate established Wilcrest Automotive in Houston, Texas after repairing Volkswagens in his garage at home while managing a Texaco Service Center. For many years Sam maintained a successful blend of community activities while providing quality automotive repair. This led Sam's shop to achieve one of the highest repair rating in Houston. Wilcrest Automotive was then honored as the first shop in Houston to receive membership in the American Automobile Association (AAA).
In 1986, Sam sold Wilcrest Automotive and began a retreat with his family in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado for several years. Upon returning to the Houston area, Sam decided he wanted to start another automobile repair facility in the Fort Bend area. Therefore, in April of 1991, Sam and General Manager, Rick Hanson, opened the doors to Colony One Auto Center.
After a brief illness, Sam passed away in February of 1999. He will be sorely missed not only by his family and many friends, but by this area and all the customers whose lives he touched throughout the years. The Tate family continues the same standard of excellence Sam set forth thirty plus years ago.
Rod Tate, Owner
Rod Tate joined the Colony One team February of 1995 as a service advisor. Rod had the opportunity to learn the business the way Sam did it, the right way, until Sam passed away in February of 1999. Rod continues to operate Colony One with the principles that Sam had set in place and that people have come to expect from Colony One.
When Rod isn't at work, he enjoys the busy life of having a large family with lots of activities. He and his wife Karen and children: Amber, Sara, Justin and Clay live in the First Colony community.
Rick Hanson, General Manager
Rick Hanson graduated from San Gorgonio High School in San Bernardino, California in 1972. After graduating, he joined the U.S. Navy and served in Vietnam and the Western Pacific until 1974 when the ship on which he was stationed, the U.S.S. Duluth, came back stateside. Rick was discharged from the Navy in 1975, but continued as a reservist while attending Alan Hancock College in Santa Maria California. He pursued an auto technologies curriculum and graduated with an Associate’s degree.
In 1977, Rick started his first professional career position in the automotive repair business in Santa Barbara, California. All facets of the repair business were encountered, making his practical automotive education well rounded.
Rick met Sam Tate in 1980 at Sam's Wilcrest Automotive in Alief, Texas. He went to work for Sam in 1984, and the two became close friends. In 1991, Sam and Rick opened Colony One Auto Center. The business quickly grew into a successful repair center with customer service being its first priority. Rick has continued with the original plan - "Service the customers and their vehicles as we would like to be serviced. Our main objective is to get the job done completely right the first time. On those rare occasions that we don't, we stick with it until we do." He has built many cars for the track and currently races two race cars on tracks in Texas and Louisiana.
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Rich Trojanowski
Rich originally joined Colony One in 2006 as a porter & parts driver. After two years, he moved to a Volkswagen dealership for three years to develop himself as a Service Advisor. His first year he won the Magna Award for Best Service Advisor in the dealership and the OBS Award in the Region. In October 2010, Rich transferred back to Colony One bringing with him his newly acquired Customer Service skills.
Rich graduated from Clements High School and spent two years at Tri-State University in Indiana where he met his wife, Christy. The newlyweds spend their time traveling, riding bikes, playing tennis, and playing on co-ed softball teams.
Gary Pretzsch, Service Advisor
Gary joined Colony One in 2003 as a service writer. He worked for seven years in the bicycle business and was first introduced to Colony One as a customer himself.
Gary believes in treating customers the way he would want to be treated and enjoys helping customers understand the repairs and maintenance on their cars.
Gary is married and has two beautiful children. He enjoys time spent with his family, riding bikes and gardening.
Kevin Klusendorf, Parts Manager
Kevin joined the Colony One team in 1998 as the parts manager. Prior to joining Colony One, he worked in the auto parts business for 14 years. Kevin is known in the industry as being able to find any part for just about anything, and is even called by other shops in the area to help them run down a hard to find item. The right part & fast help keeps the work flowing steadily in the shop. Kevin is a father & grandfather, and likes to spend his weekends at the beach and bbq-ing in the back yard.
