Peter Haughton moved to Athens in 1988 and opened Japanese Motor Works in 1992 on a shoestring budget. His work ethic and inability to compromise resulted in immediate growth and success.

Peter began working on cars professionally in 1977 in his hometown of West Palm Beach, Fla., at the Datsun dealership in West Palm Beach. In the early 1980s, he owned his own repair shop, Haughton Motor Works.

Emerging technologies in the mid '80s required a return to the dealer environment to continue his education. From 1987 to 1992 he worked for four different Japanese automotive manufacturers, where he received extensive training. The advent of the Internet has allowed him to continue his training through online educational materials and professional Web sites.

His wife's '90 Acura Legend has more than 300,000 miles on it. To this day, it remains a reliable backup car. She now drives a 1999 Acura RL with close to 200,000 miles on it. His own daily driver, an '96 Toyota T100 pickup truck has in excess of 175,000 miles on it and is used often to pull a heavy camper or pontoon boat.

Peter's personal cars have always been Japanese and he always manages to coax hundreds of thousands of miles from them with minimal repairs because of his aggressive maintenance schedule. So, when promoting maintenance, he speaks from the experience of success.

Even now, when you call Japanese Motor Works to talk to Peter, he'll likely need to come out from under a hood. His calling is the repair of Japanese cars, and he truly enjoys his work. As a result, Japanese Motor Works is the benchmark for automotive repair facilities in northeast Georgia.