Meet the Team

Bruce Bartels

Bruce Bartels was raised in La Crescenta, California and has spent his whole life in the Crescenta Valley area. He graduated from Crescenta Valley High School and Glendale Community College. He met his high school sweetheart, because she lived next door to his best friend and married her in 1987. Bruce spends his spare time with his wife, Erin, or studying geology, ancient history, anthropology, and philosophy. He also writes short stories and loves his motorcycles.

When Bruce was young, the paper route money that bought the motorcycles was not enough to fix them too, so he learned to repair whatever was broken himself. That led to high school auto shop and full-time professional employment.

The young mechanic was good with the cars, but he was not yet a philosopher and his passion for his work was unrequited. He was unfulfilled. It was after studying philosophy that he discovered a very basic principle that guides him today: “A car doesn’t care if you fix it up. The person that owns that car cares if you fix it.”

That’s when auto repair became personal. It became about more than just fixing the car. It became all about doing it right by the customer.

The Philosopher – Mechanic started Bruce’s Automotive to taking care of you, the car’s owner. WE are here to help you, by doing the very best we can for your car

Nick Armstrong

Our lead mechanic at Bruce’s Automotive is Nick Armstrong. He is master certified and has extensive experience in all aspects of auto repair. Nick is 35 years old and has been working on cars for 16 years now. He graduated Crescenta Valley High School and went to T10 Technician School at Azusa Citrus College. He has previously worked at Bob Smith Toyota, Bob’s Machine Shop, Spence Wheel Alignment in Glendale, and with his dad restoring old cars in Oceanside. Here at Bruce’s Automotive, Nick is our go-to guy for hybrids and older cars due to his extensive background.

When he’s not working at Bruce’s Automotive, Nick works on restoring his recently purchased 1964 Volkswagen Beetle. He bought his first house three years ago where he lives happily with his dog, Tigger , cheering on the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Broncos.

John Montano-Wade

Our other mechanic at Bruce’s Automotive is John Montano-Wade. His certification is in brakes and suspension. John went to Crescenta Valley High School, received his GED, and went to Pasadena City College.  He is 25 years old and has been working on cars since he was 15 years old. John has previously been employed at Firestone Tires, Just Tires, and Vince’s in Pasadena. In his spare time.

John likes to work on motorcycles, play music, eat ice cream, watching the sport of hockey,Baseball and skateboards when he has some time. He is teaching our lead mechanic, Nick, to skateboard as well. John’s favorite sports teams include: Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Clippers, and the Oakland Raiders. He watches every game with his dog, Poncho.

Luck is a door that swings both ways.