Do you remember Nissan Pro Cap? Richard Bell does. Nissan offered the Pro Cap college program in the 1990s. Pro Cap was a pivotal discovery for Bell. A cursory internet search reveals little about Pro Cap’s origins—or its dissolution-but Bell feels everyone—Nissan, students, dealership teams—would benefit from its return.

Let’s back up. In 1998, Richard managed a restaurant. He wanted out. Mechanical things were a lifelong fascination, but, he chuckles, “I literally did not know how oil was changed.” Enter Pro Cap, a two-year A.S. degree with an automotive technology component. If students met certain grade requirements, Nissan reimbursed their tuition.

“You had a co-op after each year,” Bell says. It was more like Master Technician training than modern technical schools according to Bell. “When I started school, I knew nothing about cars. Two years later, I hit the door flat rate. Not apprenticing. Flat rate. I don’t know if it’s the culture with the new kids or the schooling technique,” he says. “But these kids pay $20,000 for no degree. They’re not even equipped to work on cars.”

“I became a Master because I wanted to be the best that I could be,” Gary says. “And for Nissan, there’s nothing higher than Master Tech.” Correction: there is actually one level higher than Master Technician, and Gary has his sights set on that, too. “The next step is to get my Platinum Master,” he says. Platinum status, Gary explains, is granted to Master Technicians according to their customer satisfaction scores. “I just need to get my CSIs where they need to be.”

Finley still works on cars in his spare time— but only in special cases. He says his approach at home is “totally different. It’s gotta be something where I really wanna spend time working on all the details. Not just get it fixed and move it along. Older classics and stuff. It’s a lot of fun. Last thing I worked on was an old Ford Mustang.”

When he is not on the tech tip, Gary is a professional dart player. “Last weekend was the state tournament,” he says. “I did pretty good.” He is slated for a national competition in Vegas a little later this year.

Jim Greenlee has nothing but praise for Nissan’s Master Technician courses. “It’s good training,” he says. “You learn a lot. They set up different cars with different problems, you find the problem, you fix it, and then you re-break it and move on.” Jim thinks any Nissan technician would be well-served to take the training.

Of course, Greenlee has very different advice for young, aspiring technicians. “I would kind of discourage them,” Greenlee says. Ha laughs, but he is serious. “I’ve got a son. I told him, you’re not gonna turn wrenches. It’s nothing but back issues, cracking knuckles, bending over.” As much as the field evolves, with digital components and electronic diagnostics, Greenlee does not think this will ever change.

“Everything progresses, and you gotta keep up with it, but you still have mechanical parts you have to work on and fix. There aren’t any shortcuts. And it’s a hard life. As for his son, he is just fine not following in his father’s footsteps. “He had a ’99 GMC,” Jim says. “The rods started knocking, and he was out there every night after work with me, swapping engines on it. So he knows how hard it is!”

For Jeff May, the road to Master Technician certification was a long one. “I’d have liked to have gotten it sooner,” Jeff says. “But some things take time.” He has been with Nissan for 30 years and at his current dealership for the last 10 years. For the last seven years, Jeff has focused on Nissan Master Technician classes. He put his ASEs on the back burner until the last minute. “Once I got close to the end, I went in and knocked out all the ASEs within a couple weeks,” he says.

There were times when it seemed like the whole process might take forever. Now, it is finally paying off. Since he became a Master Technician, May has racked up his GT-R, LEAF and diesel certifications. He was recently promoted to shop foreman and charged with raising survey scores.

So what’s next? “I would like to earn a management position,” Jeff says. “But right now, I’m making the most of my skills and making a fairly decent living at it.” He enjoys the security of Master Technician status and is pleased to see corporate’s ongoing investment at the dealership level.

There was a time when David Owens dismissed Nissans. “I said, oh, those are imports,” he says. “Now, I own ‘em and drive ‘em. I love ‘em.” David has been at it since the age of three—yep, helped his dad pull a transmission when he was three years old—and had done UTI’s NASCAR program and Jaguar’s Journeyman program by the time he got his Nissan certification. The Nissan training totally changed his mind about the brand.

“With Jaguar, we never broke an engine down in class,” Owens says. “Never really broke down anything. Nissan does those things really indepth. It makes it easier to understand how everything works internally. It makes diagnostic a lot easier once you’ve seen how everything works. I was impressed.”

Cars are not David’s only obsession. After changing diapers at the track a few times, David found a more family-friendly hobby. “I’m into boats now,” he says. David lives 10 minutes from the water and is earning his captain’s license so he can run charters on the weekends. He also loves scuba diving and swims with 10-foot sand tiger sharks. “They’re like big puppy dogs,” David says. “It’s the most surreal thing I’ve ever done!”

For Alex Patino, there is only one reason to work on cars. “You have to do it because you love it,” he insists. “Otherwise, you’re gonna go crazy, or you’re gonna do bad work. Or both!” Fortunately, Alex really, really digs the Nissan/ Infiniti lines. They were his first favorite cars and they are all he has ever worked on. Even in his off-hours, Alex has never really strayed. For example, one of his buddies runs a performance shop, and Alex briefly helped out there. He thought it would be fun but quickly decided he gets all the wrenching he needs on the clock.

During the interview, Patino considers the loyalty shared by many Nissan/Infiniti technicians. He wonders if, for many, that loyalty might have roots in a cultish, teen-year interest in the brand. “You don’t think about it,” he says. “But when you’re 18, 19, that’s when you get really into the Skyline, and these kinds of cars…” He trails off. “Maybe that’s where the Nissan loyalty starts for a lot of techs.” He laughs at the sudden realization. “I don’t know, maybe that’s why I became a Nissan tech!”

True expertise in any field can only come from a relentless desire to know more, to improve, and to learn all there is to learn. That is a quality Nick Bulloc has in spades. He brought it with him when he came to Nissan six years ago. “I don’t want to have anything holding me back,” Nick says. “Or stating that I didn’t try to do everything I could do.” These are lessons Nick learned from his mentor, Darren Hart, who ran the aftermarket shop where Nick cut his teeth.

When it was finally time to take Nissan Master Technician training, Bulloc was ready. Just look at the dates. Once classes opened up, Bulloc nailed the certification in under a year. “I’ve wanted this from the moment I came here,” he says. “I’ve been to over a hundred aftermarket classes, and the Nissan classes were the best I’ve seen.”

Nick thoroughly enjoys his job. It has only gotten better since he became a Master Technician. “There’s definitely more money coming in,” Nick says. “Plus I get the more challenging jobs because they know what I’m capable of. And that’s fun.” He chuckles, “Most of the time!”

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