This spring, Dan’s Garage in Kennewick will reopen with a new driver behind the wheel of the 45-year-old vintage and collectible auto parts salvage business.

The new owner – a self-described gearhead – already owns several auto-focused businesses around the Tri-Cities.

His latest acquisition will have a new-old name that longtime Tri-Citians may remember: Last Chance Auto Wrecking.

A company by the same name originally operated at 508 E. Bruneau St. before moving to Pasco off Lewis Street, later selling the property to Dan Stafford in 1983.

Dan’s Garage owner Dan Stafford put the 2.5-acre lot next to Twin City Metals up for sale nearly three years ago. The Journal of Business wrote about his retirement plans in April 2023.

Stafford hoped to find a buyer who shared his passion to carry on what he calls a vanishing trade.

Enter fellow local auto enthusiast James Hutchinson and his wife Ashley Hutchinson, the owners of Rad Towing, Rad Cab, which they bought last year, and several other ventures including The Automotive Locksmith Services, auto sales, vehicle auctions and auto detailing.

“I’ve wanted to buy a junk yard since I was a kid,” said James Hutchinson, echoing Stafford’s own high school yearbook stated career goal.

Now, with two boys almost out of high school who are also into cars and helping out with the family’s other businesses, James Hutchinson said it was time to launch his own road map for retirement.

“Every business up until this point has been a step toward retirement. I started out as a mechanic, but then towing fell in my lap,” he said.

A benefit of acquiring the auto wrecking and parts business, is “this business has closing hours. I can turn off the phone. Just last night I was up all night dispatching (for Rad Towing),” James Hutchinson said.

He conceded that taking over Dan’s Garage is “the most expensive and most labor intensive but also the most fun venture” that he and his wife have undertaken. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Stafford’s operation features a former 76 service station building overflowing with salvaged parts and surrounded on all sides by vintage car bodies stacked high. 

The shop will remain closed through spring while the Hutchinsons clean up the property, which has become overgrown by trees. They plan to make improvements to the old 76 building, reorganize inventory, and start entering parts into a searchable computer system.

“There’s software now where you can inventory the whole car and break it down and put in the location of the parts and specify whether these parts are bolted in the car or sitting in the warehouse,” James Hutchinson said.

He lamented that there are too many cars stacked up to effectively navigate the yard, so some will have to be selectively crushed and scrapped.

“We need people to step up and buy them,” he said.

The new owners plan to maintain the same classic vibe while specializing in GM vehicles like Chevrolet, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Pontiac and GMC. We also offer quality auto parts and reliable auto wrecking services, according to their website.

“I’m going to try to keep the business very similar to what it’s always been, probably (vehicles and parts) 1960 and newer. There’s just not as much interest beyond that as the customer base for older parts is shrinking every year,” James Hutchinson said.

As the years go by, what was once new becomes vintage. The Washington State Collector Vehicle license plate can be obtained for vehicles 30 years and older.

Though people will still be able to come in to inquire about parts and car bodies, James Hutchinson plans to take most of the business online to connect parts with more potential customers.

Last Chance for Dan’s Garage

Longtime Dan’s Garage customers may be glad to know that Dan hasn’t completely retired, but simply moved shop down the road to 210 N. Date St.

He bought the building as well as the neighboring lot and the lot across the street to the west where for years he has stored some of his most treasured antique and vintage vehicles.

He also leases a building to Kennewick Auto Body.

Though Stafford continues to maintain a large Ebay storefront after buying out a couple of other sellers on the platform, he is moving away from parts sales and focusing on the gradual sell-down of his automobile collection.

He also stocks a booth at Ragtime Antiques with mostly non-automotive finds.

“Now I’m just a car dealer. This is my empire now,” he said, referring to the lots of vehicles flanking his Date Street operation.

Hutchinson quipped: “Dan and I don’t keep money for long. We turn it into metal.”

Just about anyone in Eastern Washington who’s ever tried their hand at rebuilding or restoring vintage vehicles has likely been to Dan’s Garage at some point because “you can’t be a gearhead without knowing Dan,” James Hutchinson said. “I’ve known Dan since I was a teenager. I had an ’83 Firebird with cross-fire fuel injection that I was working on. I got the car in pieces.”

Some pieces he needed were missing, so he went to Dan’s Garage.

“We walked 12 steps, and Dan knew right where it was. That’s something I can’t replicate,” said James Hutchinson, a fourth-generation mechanic who got his start in the trade at 16 at Rad Towing.

He later became the tow manager and eventually met his wife through his chosen trade.

When Rad Towing’s previous ownership announced it was going to close the business, James Hutchinson jumped at the chance to buy it in 2010 at the age of 23.

He later created 1st Choice Towing and acquired Pinkie Tow and Generic Towing, both of Pasco.

For eight years, they operated a car sales business at 294 Williams Blvd. in Richland. They now lease the space to an auto repair shop and operate 1st Choice Auto Sales at 4771 W. Lattin Road in Richland.

The Hutchinsons’ businesses employ 40 people, with James and Ashley heavily involved in day-to-day operations, coordinating a fleet of 30 trucks on the towing and locksmith service side.

They are proud to volunteer employees and four trucks to provide towing services for every race at Tri-City Raceway.

Over the years, Stafford and the Hutchinsons kept in touch between James Hutchinson being a vintage Monte Carlo collector, and Stafford’s vehicle finds occasionally exceeding his own towing capacity.

The Hutchinsons also conduct monthly auctions of unclaimed vehicles from their tow lot, which Stafford regularly attends.

“I think that’s what started this whole ball rolling is that I was at one of your auctions … and I said, ‘So when are you going to buy my junk yard?’”

“The dream is there, but it’s probably going to be a couple years until it turns a profit,” James Hutchinson said.

He added that he looks forward to carrying on a business that helps parents bond with their kids, as he has done with his own sons. “How many fathers and sons come in to build cars on the weekend? I did an ’83 Monte Carlo with my son,” he said.

Friends from his son’s autobody class have helped out with the cleanup effort at Last Chance. “They see the cars and they want to work on them,” James Hutchinson said. “The old stuff you can keep running for generations.” 

Last Chance Auto Wrecking: 508 E. Bruneau St., Kennewick, reopening in spring 2026, 509-586-2579, lastchanceautowrecking.com.

Dan’s Garage: 210 N. Date St., Kennewick, 509-727-9190, dansgarage.net, ebay.com/str/dansvintagegmgarage.