Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

A career of caring for cars



DELANO, MN – Coming out of technical college in Willmar in the summer of 1979, after winning a nationwide competition, technician Harvey Moser had several offers for employment.

He chose the Chevrolet dealer in Delano, following a classmate there, and hasn’t looked back.

In his time there, he has worked for four different owners:

Frank Routson, John Tackaberry, the Carousel Group, and John Davis.

Moser worked for Tackaberry for 33 years.

“Harvey stood out,” Tackaberry said. “The biggest thing is he’s a diagnostician. That’s important, because it’s not changing parts. It’s about diagnostics, so you know what’s going on, what’s wrong. Nobody is perfect, but Harvey is pretty well close to it. He’s as good as it gets.”

Moser first got into mechanics when he realized his asthma would keep him from working on his family farm in western Minnesota.

“I had to think of something else to do,” Moser said. “Mechanic things seemed to come easy for me.”

Why has Moser stayed in one place for 40 years?

“They’re paying good wages. I like the people. I like the small dealership compared to big dealerships. I get to know everybody,” Moser said. “ . . . There’s not a lot of turnover. The vast majority of us have been here quite a few years.”

He also likes the variety of work.

Moser has seen a number of changes over the years.

“We used to do only automatic transmissions,” Moser said. “We hardly do transmissions anymore. It was enough to keep one guy busy years ago. I did that a lot. You couldn’t get a reconditioned transmission then. It was labor intensive.”

Moser remembers when electronics were nonexistent in vehicles in the late 70s and early 80s.

“Electronics now are a lot better than when they first came out in the late 80s,” Moser said. “ . . . It was a matter of trial and error to try to get it to act up. In that way, it’s easier. In other ways, there are software glitches.”

Moser takes advantage of continuing education to stay up-to-date on the latest technology.

He’s not planning to retire anytime soon.

“I’ll just keep going, I guess, until I don’t enjoy it,” Moser said. “I enjoy it for now.”

He has enjoyed watching Delano grow, as well.

“We liked the community,” Moser said. “That’s a lot of the reason why we stayed here.”

He and his wife, Allison, have been married slightly longer than he has worked at the dealership.

He jokes about how his mother was nervous about him getting married before he had a job.

The couple has two grown children, Janeen and Jeff.

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