Sue and Marty Drake started Santa Cruz Imported Truck Service, which first opened its doors to the public back in the late 1980’s. However, Santa Cruz Imported Truck service at that time was formerly known as Seabright Imported Truck Service, due to the location being on the corner of Seabright Ave and Pine St, Santa Cruz, CA. This location previously served as the neighborhood’s local corner gas station back in the late 1950s into the early 80’s. Some may even recall the small red push truck fire engine on the top of the poll (which was commonly used as a landmark point of reference for the neighborhood), when Seabright Imported Truck Service first opened.
At that time, Seabright Imported Truck Service was one of the few shops in Santa Cruz that specialized in service and engine repair for Toyota trucks, and other Japanese imported trucks (such as Mazda and Isuzu). As the early years of the business progressed, they expanded their work from mainly trucks to include cars.
In the early 90’s the shop moved to its current location at 132 Benito Ave, Santa Cruz CA., and changed the name from Seabright Imported Truck Service, to Santa Cruz Imported Truck Service. Also at that time, Sue and Marty’s oldest son Denver began showing interest, and his talents in automotive repair, and quickly became part of the Santa Cruz Imported Truck Service team.
As a local, and family owned and operated shop, Santa Cruz Imported Truck Service has always strived to set the bar high with customer service, and automotive repair, and still continue to surpass the standards already held high by our beliefs as to what an automotive repair shop should be.
Denver worked with his parents (Sue and Marty) for 27 of the 35 years they were in business. After 35 years of being in the business, Sue and Marty retired at the end of 2020. Their son Denver has continued on with the shop, and now is the current owner. Denver’s wife, Stephanie has also joined the Santa Cruz Imported Truck Serivce team, and is the new voice on the phone, and in the office.
– We’d love to help you out, and keep you on the road!
Marty has always been very mechanically minded. His passion for the internal combustion machine put him on motorcycles at a young age and as a result knows more roads in central and southern California than most map makers. Both Marty and Sue share a passion for skiing and often drive their 4wd van to Mammoth to spend as much time as possible in the mountains. Marty retired in December 2020 and has taken residence in a small town in central Oregon.
Sue has a gift for making anyone feel right at home, and was most often the voice on the phone in the earlier days, but most recently has retired with Marty! She has been told that she is so sweet she probably cries gumdrops. Seriously.
Denver is Marty and Sues’ son and has been working with and for them full time for 25+ years. Longer if you count the little red truck… He loves fuel injection and diving into those hard to solve drivability problems and fixing the car right the first time. Denver took over the shop in January 2021 and continues to offer the same level of expertise and service that Santa Cruz Imported Truck Service is known for.
Stephanie (not seen in this photo) is the newest addition to the Santa Cruz Imported Truck family. She and Denver have been together since high school and she is the new voice on the phone. A former science teacher at Harbor High School and then Tierra Pacifica, she is an amazing artist that had to close her private art studio to adults and students due to Covid-19. This teaching experience gives Stephanie the ability to explain complex things in a way that people can understand easily. She is one of the friendliest and sweetest people you’ll meet (although nobody has accused her of crying gumdrop tears, yet…)