About Us
Antonious Kochskamper (Bob) Was born in The Netherlands in 1931. After completing primary and secondary school he attended technical school in Holland. He wanted to become a mechanical engineer, however, the technical school cancelled the course he wished to study twice due to inadequate heating conditions.
After the course cancellations, Bob decided to move to Australia and landed in Geelong in 1954. He took a job as a motor mechanic at NV Auto Services which kickstarted his career as a motor mechanic, he worked there for 5 years. Over the next few years Bob found himself working for a number of different companies, NV Auto Services, Blackstone Road Transport, Alan Coffey Motors and Gundry Motors. He soon moved the family to Nathalia and stayed there for the next five years. Five years had passed in Nathalia and Bob decided it was time to move on, he ended up moving to Ballarat taking a job at Eclipse Motors and decided it was time to settle down.
Whilst working at Eclipse Motors Bob decided he wanted to start his own business. He moved into a service station on the Corner of Grant and Barkly streets. It wasn't long before Bob noticed there was a new garage up for sale on the Corner of Peel, Barkly and Row Streets, this is where Bob's son Peter joined Bob and A & P Kochskamper Motor Engineers started. The business started selling fuel and both Bob and Peter worked in the garage repairing cars.
As time went out the business outgrew the Peel Street garage and it was time to build their own workshop which was built in 1988 and can be found at 13 Elsworth Street East, Ballarat.
In 2003 Nathan, Peter's son joined the business and had started his apprenticeship. At this point in time Bob was at the end of his career and was about to retire, he still helped out around the garage and was able to pass on his many years of knowledge. Nathan worked along side Peter whilst completing his apprenticeship and finished studying in 2008. Sam, Peter's youngest son also joined the business as an apprentice in 2011 working under Peter and Nathan and taking in all their knowledge.
In 2018 Peter retired from the family business, it was time to slow down and enjoy his rerirement, he still however drops in to help out Nathan and Sam with some of the bigger jobs in the workshop. After Peter retired, Nathan and his wife Sarah decided to purchase the business to keep it running in the family name and both Nathan and Sam are still working under the same roof in Elsworth Street, pop in and see us for any of your vehicle repair needs.