The owner of Stuttgart South, Richard Ropelewski, has devoted his entire career to specializing in Mercedes-Benz vehicles. A native of Albany, NY, Richard graduated from the Nashville Auto Diesel College in 1967. Prior to graduation, Richard had worked as an automotive technician in the Army’s motor pool.

Richard has served the Nashville Mercedes-Benz community for over thirty-five years and is a Certified Master Automotive Technician by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). He and his staff have completed extensive Mercedes-Benz training courses, and keep up-to-date to the most current Mercedes-Benz repair techniques.

He is a member of the following organizations:

• International Automotive Technician Network (IATN) for Mercedes-Benz technicians
• Service Technician Society (STS), a branch of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
• Automotive Service Association (ASA)
• Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA)
• Mercedes-Benz Club of America (MBCA)

Prior to forming Stuttgart South in 1989, Richard was a Service Manager for Autohaus.


A Letter From Richard

I guess you could say I was destined to work on Mercedes-Benz vehicles. When I was young, growing up in Albany, New York, I saw my first matchbox cars in a toy store. I only had enough money to buy one—a  1954 Mercedes-Benz race car—and it was the neatest little thing I had ever seen.

A few years later, I was riding my bicycle, when I came across a 300 SL Gullwing. It was parked in front of the Shaker Road Dairy. The owner had gone inside for an ice cream cone, and when he came out, he saw me staring at his car with my mouth wide open. He lifted the door up and showed me the interior, then opened the hood and showed me the engine. Man, was I blown away. I had never before seen such a wonderful piece of machinery.

My hobby at that time was building model airplanes, so I decided to try my hand at cars. At the hobby store, I chose one particular model that had an electric motor. (If you’re going to build a model, I figured, it might as well run.) The model was a 1959 Mercedes-Benz 219. I spent hours putting it together, and when I finally completed it, it ran for only a few minutes before it crashed and I had to start all over; but I didn’t mind, because engines intrigued me.

After high school, I joined the army and became a tank mechanic. When I fulfilled my duty in the service, I enrolled at the Nashville Auto Diesel College and eventually became an apprentice at a dealership that worked on Ferrari, Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, and Mercedes-Benz. Being a young man, I wanted to work on the Alfa, Ferrari, and Porsche, yet I was assigned to the Mercedes-Benz. At first I was disappointed, but when I saw my first 300 SL roll into the shop, I just stared at it in awe. Right then and there, I knew that working on Mercedes-Benz vehicles was what I was meant to do, and I’ve been doing it ever since.

All the Best,
Richard