PROUD SPONSORS
OF THIS PAGE
AUTOLOCKSMITHING
JIM LOOKS TO THE FUTURE WITH JUSTCARS
JIM HETCHLER (70) is
President and now sole owner
of JustCars, the major event
in the US auto locksmithing
calendar.
Here he talks to The
Locksmith Editor, Pat
Gwynnette about how he got
involved in the business, and
how he sees the future.
Where are you from – and
where do you live now?
I grew up just outside of
Chicago, Illinois. Presently, I
live outside a small community
named Blanco, Texas, which is
one hour north of San Antonio,
Texas in what is called the “Hill
Country” I have a small farm
.
on which spend as much time
as I can. It takes quite a lot of
keeping up!
Any family?
I have been married for 42
years, my wife and I have four
children, five grandchildren
and four great-grandchildren
– and as you can imagine, they
also take quite a bit of keeping
up!
Do you have any hobbies,
interests – if your busy life
allows?
I enjoy reading and playing
on my tablet - and I usually try
to read for an hour or so every
night before bed.
Tell us about when and how
you got into this business
originally?
I owned a Repossession
Company (taking back cars or
property not paid for by order
of the finance company) and
it was while doing this work
that I learned something about
making car keys. I sold the
company and bought a small
computer company.
One day, I was working
at a hardware store setting
92
THE JUL/AUG 2014 ISSUE
SPONSORED BY TRADELOCKS
work properly together to
disseminate knowledge - and
do successfully what the OEM’s
of the auto industry really
don’t want us to do. This is
becoming more important
every day here in the USA.
up an accounting system,
when suddenly, the owner of
the store and his locksmith
employee got into a fight. The
store owner fired the locksmith
and - for whatever reason (I
still don’t know why) - I turned
around and told the owner I
could do that work for him.
I told him that if he bought
the supplies and handled the
advertising, I would do the
work and split the proceeds
50/50.
He hired me - I got rid of
my computer company and
immediately wondered why
in the heck I did that - as I
know practically nothing
about making keys! I called
the person who used to make
my keys and asked him to
meet me for breakfast the next
morning.
We met and I explained
what happened. After he quit
laughing (it took a long time!)
he said he was willing to train
me. So I went to work with
him for 30 days and started
making car keys as a contract
employee. I soon learned - as
strange as it sounds - that I
must have been born to make
car keys!
SHARING THE KNOWLEDGE
From the beginning I shared
what I learned, which just
wasn’t what was done in the
industry at the time. No-one
shared anything. My belief
was that only by sharing what
we collectively know, can we
Now that you are sole owner
of Just Cars Auto Expo LLC,
will you be making any major
changes in the organisation
and/or the event?
My attitude is, if it ain’t broke,
I am not fixing it. My former
partner set up a great venue
and idea with this program
and it will continue along the
same lines. The Corporation
is currently made up of six
family members and one
non-family member. This
creates a good balance and
also means there is a majority
not directly involved in the
industry. Only three of the
seven board members are
actually in the locksmith
trade. Decisions made for the
show will, therefore, avoid the
politics with which they can be
commonly associated.
Just Cars is primarily HT]