Hidden Gems: Meet Jason Hahn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Hahn.

Hi Jason, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Growing up in a small town in the Midwest, you’re accountable. Everyone knows you, and because of this, you can’t operate within the scope of anonymity. How you behave has a profound effect on your reputation, which in turn translates to how you operate a small business.

I was raised on a horse farm in Watertown, Minnesota, where “Friday Night Lights” was my high school career. I had two parents who instilled within me honesty and a strong work ethic throughout adolescence that would see my penchant for athleticism and academia become launching platforms for more than a few core memories and early accolades. While I was recruited by Stanford, Princeton, and Yale, I opted for St. Thomas by way of Carlton, with a curiosity in marketing. A series of sales roles throughout the nineties eventually led me to open an institutional equity office in the Chrysler Building, in 2001— at which point, subsequently, September Eleventh had a profound effect on me, as it did the community around me. My peers and I became impassioned, with capitalism as our vehicle, to really show the world we weren’t to be messed with.

This is the same year I had my first kidney transplant.

I spent the early two-thousands on Wall Street. I remained fired up and fueled as I partook in what made the intangible gears of finance turn. What I learned during my time in New York, is that Wall Street practices the exclusive ability to intimidate consumers. They create a language that is almost incomprehensible to the general public, designed to confuse and bewilder them because they believe there’s money to be made in that disconnect. But I was able to go toe-to-toe with the finest pedigrees, and as a farm boy, capable of dumbing it all down and making it real. I arrived at the observation throughout the parallels of my life with motors, it [Wall Street] was just like the auto industry. There’s nothing complicated about money and there’s nothing complicated about engines, or suspension bits for that matter. It’s just the sh*t that makes the world go ‘round.

2011 saw my second kidney transplant.

Years prior, having bought my first [Land Rover] Defender in my twenties— as well as my first Porsche— this had set the groundwork for what would later inspire an exit strategy of my time spent with those who play with money for a living. Not having the accessibility of a proper service center in Minneapolis during my younger years, forced my commitment to the craft of tinkering and nurtured a self-guided and concurrent discipline to understand the machines I didn’t yet know too well but knew I wanted to. I desired to be closer to my daughters, and to my wife, Kim. I opened a shop for my own vehicles in Scottsdale in 2015.

It was from that point I became serious about cars in the way I have— evolving my interest in these motors into something of a business, rather than merely a hobby. I had previously flirted with the industry by building and restoring one per year to be moved to Barrett Jackson. But now it was serious. I brought on Brian full-time, and in 2017 we tripled our space in another location. December First, twenty-twenty, I purchased Eurosport, which has remained more passionate than work.

Kim: “I was along for the ride.”

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The roads are seldom smooth in this field, but that’s alright because we do our best to remain well-equipped with the wheels for traversing them.

In this industry scale is a large challenge; the objective, finding space that is friendly to automotive in this town, without going into debt. When the area is at a premium, and human capital which is a critical component is so sparse, operating a business such as ours involves a level of ingenuity a lot of other folks can relate to right now. But most businesses don’t have the intestinal fortitude to grind through it. Nothing about this is easy—

Kim: “I will second that!”

Companies with capital— not to name names— have the means to just overwhelm those issues, to throw money at them. I often wonder if I also had half a billion to throw at things to check a box, would I? I don’t think I would. This is truly a friends-and-family business. We want clients for life. And that’s how we look at every oil change and every restoration.

We’ve been impressed with Eurosport, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
On the surface, we’re a European repair, service, and restoration garage based in North Phoenix, with a penchant for high-performance motors and Overlanding rigs. At our core, we’re a seasoned crew of well-studied tinkers attuned to translating that special noise your vehicle only makes for you. We’re a team of machine technicians specialized in what makes fast cars go, and slow trucks work. We like what we do, and some go so far as to say we’re pretty good at it. We live by the wager that what goes down must go up.

Our expertise and reputation are in Land Rover, Jaguar, and Porsche. Yes, we ‘do oil changes,’ and we exceed manufacturer-suggested intervals on every evaluation prescribed. But we also conduct ground-up, nut-and-bolt, frame-off, and tip-to-tail restorations. MotorTrend’s denotation of what it means to “overland” is as follows: “Overlanding is self-reliant overland travel to remote destinations where the journey is the principal goal”— usually Land Rovers’s the limelight candidates in our shop. Restoring these Rovers involve our dedicated research and hand fitting of proper powerplants, and the question of whether where we’re going traditional— 200Tdi, native diesel— or a more modern “Cummins” motor swap. We’ll look at off-the-grid solar energy management systems. (We’re installing a Flat High-Performance Starlink to a Colorado client’s Alu-Cab 110, currently). We have the ability to reformat custom interiors with hand-stitched leather and embroidery— all onsite next to where the motors are mounted, the kitchens are fabricated, and the sausage is made. It sounds like a lot because it is a lot, and it takes everything we have to give, humbly so.

Our range of auto-cast is as diverse as one could dream. Monday we’ll see an Audi R8 V10; a supercar class coupé with the engine of a Lamborghini Huracan, and Wednesday, a Lotus Esprit, the charming mid-engine à la “The Spy Who Loved Me.” Thursday we’ll harbor Bing Crosby’s, Rolls Royce. But by Friday, all the while, we’ve restored a 1965 Land Rover Series “Lightweight,” whose designation was assigned to reflect its unique ability to be carried beneath a turbine-powered, RAF Westland Wessex helicopter.

We’re also building a strong presence, community, and reputation at Porsche. Landy and Jags work together; same engine, the same drive train. Porsche, we’re intentionally developing because there’s a gap in the market; global but regionally to note. We’re making an active effort to support this community, which we’ve found is a huge need. Sadly, some of the stronger, independent shops have faded. We’re also fluent in BMW and Mercedes, which is more a function that they’re easy. They’re easy compared to Land Rover, Jaguar, and Porsche.

Creating a sense of value through transparency is critical. It’s not the norm in the industry, and so we believe the opposite can be true as well. I look for Swiss army knives in my crew. We don’t just need proficiency, we want problem solvers. We do implement a strict no-asshole rule. You know, there needs to be a cultural fit. Everyone on the team needs to reflect the values of ownership, and there are no exceptions. But if you don’t inherently speak Porsche, that’s okay because you’re going to learn. We don’t pigeonhole anyone in the shop and everyone here has their strengths. It is a truly collaborative environment, particularly where most of those outside our space and in our industry allow themselves not to be.

I consider it a personal responsibility to help people feel comfortable about spending a lot of money on something that will continue to require a lot of attention. Enthusiasts and a vast majority of people in this world think of automobile service as a necessary evil, not dissimilar to my perception of credit card companies and transactions and going to banks and filing taxes. So the question becomes, “how do you make someone feel good about a necessary evil in their life?” For us, it’s a matter of helping them to overcome preestablished assumptions about the auto repair industry. Keep it simple. Let people come to the back and show them the issues at hand; allow clients to see what’s at play and what’s in the works. If they aren’t around for this, I’ll send photos to them with the whole front half of her car off. There’s no sign on the door that separates the FOH from the back. You won’t find an “employees only” sign here, and we keep a doorstop in place on purpose. We allow all the noises to flow through. I want people to know that work is being done. An engine is scary and people are visual. This is not the Wizard Of Oz. Customers get excited to see their vehicles on lifts. We want to be different from the moment you walk through the door, and for this, our approach is transparency, not exclusionary language.

We want you to see what is wrong, what you are paying for, and what we’ve done. It’s like picking out produce.

Our differences are intentional.

How do you define success?
Success is a moving target. For us, for Eurosport, it is a combination of the right customer experience, and a healthy and happy environment to work and play. It is the intersection of reputation and profitability, and internally it’s a measurement of having fun.

People tend to say this a lot but for all the wrong reasons— it’s not about money. It’s about feeling like you did something well. It’s not about a positive review. Sure, all of it helps, but when you go to bed at night knowing that you did something well and accomplished everything you wanted to, or at least got close to it, that is a notch of success. When you look back on the day and can say you kicked some ass, that is a success.

My health issues have had a pronounced impact on my life. I was raised well, but when I emerged from that Wall Street environment, and the tone was the way it was, I realized I could not exist on this Earth if it were not for the kindest of others.

Look, at the end of the day, if there’s enough left in the tank to make me happy, that’s just a bonus. But for the other twenty-three hours, I feel it’s my responsibility to deliver a positive experience to all those around me. [Chuckles].

And unless they rub me the wrong way, I will do just that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eurosportphoenix.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eurosportphx/

Image Credits
Ryan Neal Cordwell, Creative Director Eurosport