Michael Kettl (that’s “Kettl” to customers and friends) has been a gear head since he could remember, initially inspired by his father’s ever-present classic hot rods and tenacious tinkering in the garage. From the 1949 Buick to the 1929 Plymouth, Kettl, always eager to learn, would shadow his dad as he worked, absorbing as much as he could.

And he absorbed much more than oil and grease, validated when he cut his teeth in 1999 landing a job at a local Volvo dealer as an apprentice. He learned the old ways of working on cars by doing instead of reading—a strategy that paid off by 2002 when he attained the level of Master Certified technician. But Kettl’s auto-trajectory was about to change; Aaron Marshall joined the team, shifting his new friend’s attention toward the awesome potential behind a different category of car for the first time.

It didn't take long before Kettl bought his first Audi, a 1986 4000 Quattro, from Aaron—he didn’t stand a chance after that, legitimately sold on and addicted to German engineering, and he never looked back. It was only a matter of time before Kettl would join the Berg Performance team Aaron founded, seizing the opportunity in November 2014.

When he’s not under the hood, Kettl is a devoted family man with three children, quickly approaching 14 years of marriage to his high school sweetheart. A youth leader and mentor at his local church, he’s also an avid outdoorsman who loves all things related to mountain activities, especially if it involves being on a river fly-fishing. You’ll also find him playing full-contact football in his spare time.

His current garage boasts a 1999 stage three A4 1.8t, a 2010 K04 GTI, and his wife drives a 2013 VW Passat. What else but an all-German fleet? As we speak, Kettl is spending several hours contemplating his dream car, narrowing it down between a TT RS, R8 V10 and a euro-spec S2 to name a few list toppers.