By James Bowler

PHOTOS: Action Transmission celebrates its silver anniversary

Jul 18, 2013 | 6:42 AM

Action Transmission is celebrating 25 years of doing business in Prince Albert.

Action Transmission, owned by Rick Deagnon, has been offering custom builds and customer care for the past 25 years.

“We had a decision to make, my wife and I, as to whether we were going to move away from Prince Albert or not and stay here and start our own business,” said Deagnon. “As we’re all young at one time, you know everything, we decided let’s start our own business.”

Deagnon added that throughout the years, cars have changed dramatically and so too has the equipment to diagnose their issues.

“The last 10 years the transmission field has been getting really narrow, and it’s been getting really expensive, either on parts, technology or electronics,” said Deagnon. “Some transmissions are so expensive to repair now because of electronics, it’s not even feasible for us to learn about them or even repair them here.”

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Deagnon has been a mechanic for 38 years and started Action Transmission in 1988 with some help.

“Twenty-five years ago, Walter Hackl was my partner at that time – he got me started in my new business,” said Deagnon. “And within the year, we moved into the new building and unfortunately at that time he passed away, and I bought the family out, and we moved forward.”

So now, Deagnon continues to compete against the big-box stores.

“We have the technicians to diagnose customer vehicles and repair them on site, we can give them better information because we’re trained in that field of giving them advice, if you have an engine problem or is it a transmission problem,” said Deagnon. “Big-box stores aren’t set up to give answers like that, we have experienced people here that are working with them all the time, and if it’s something that we can’t handle we can advise what they should do.”

He says it’s hard for him to keep up with the new technologies that are necessary for transmission issues today, but his younger workers are fully up-to-date with these new technologies.

“I came into this world working with hydraulics and mechanics, and now they’re turning fully electronic, where did my world go,” said Deagnon. “ You have to step down and let the younger generation that you’ve trained and trust, take over that and go further with it. When it comes to electronics and computers, my younger staff is ready to take over that.

When it comes to what’s next for Deagnon and Action Transmission, he says being a mechanic is his entire life.

“This is my love of work, I guess until I can’t walk these cement floors anymore,” said Deagnon. “Maybe take a few more days of, but meeting the people and seeing the people, the phone calls, I’d miss it.”

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Action Transmission held a barbecue. During the event, workers cooked burgers and hotdogs for customers who came by.

jbowler@panow.com

On Twitter: @journalistjim