Utah Mechanic Buys, Fixes Car for High School Custodian Walking to Work (Video)

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

I swear someone was cutting onions right next to me just now.

A Utah high school custodian, whose broken-down car left him commuting two hours each way to work, was surprised by a mechanic who purchased and fixed a car for him with money collected from crowd funding.

Sean Merrill, who owns Nobori Auto near Salt Lake City, along with his wife, picked up Robert Ford last month when he was walking home late one night. Ford told the couple about his hardship and his commute, and Merrill said he was compelled to help.

“I think it’s important to take a step back and think about others and think about that they are a person just like you,” Merrill told KSL in Salt Lake City. “They go through the same struggles, maybe different experiences, but everyone needs help now and again.”

Merrill tracked down Ford after looking for him near the intersection where he met him and found his home.

“Robert has been in my thoughts in the days to follow that experience. This man is really trying to get back on his feet after life has thrown him some curveballs,” Merrill wrote.

On Nov. 22, Merrill surprised Ford at his home with the 1997 Nissan Maxima that he had purchased at auction and fixed. Merrill passed the car through emissions and safety.


On the GoFundMe page set up to buy Ford’s car, the Merrills said that money raised over the purchase price for the car will go to pay for Ford’s first year of insurance.

Photo courtesy Kathy Ford

About a month ago, this wonderful couple saw Robert walking home from work. They stopped and gave him a ride and In their words; “We couldn’t get him off our minds.” They set up a go-fund-me account and collected enough to “find Robert a ride” Sean Merrill is a mechanic, so he got to work and made sure Robert was taken care of. Here’s the wonderful outcome. Thanks to Sean and Darilyn Merrill, for their Christ-like charity!https://www.gofundme.com/bx6tp3da

Posted by Kathy Ford on Saturday, 21 November 2015

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  • Jeff S Jeff S on Nov 26, 2015

    Wonderful story. This story reminds us of the true meaning of the holiday season.

  • JohnTaurus JohnTaurus on Nov 27, 2015

    Ive loaned cars to friends, family members, and neighbors many times, and even to my boss one time (for like 3 months lol). I have also given a car to a friend that needed it, but it would make that Maxima seem like showroom condition compartively. I didnt buy the car for him, but it just ended up that I had bigger fish to fry and was in it for nearly nothing, so thats how it came about. I only bought it because I had a matching parts car lol. He ended up giving it back to me (several months later) after he overheated it horribly one night on the freeway and the oil light came on afterwards, so I gave it to my scrap guy just to get rid of it (very VERY beat up early 90s Mercury Sable with more miles than the space shuttle). We actually tried to pop its airbag by ramming the parts car, but with a lot less than all 6 firing, it simply couldnt go fast enough in the short space alloted to hit it hard enough to trigger it (neither car's bumper cracked!!), and it stalled after the first attempt (maybe out of fuel, tank was dry), so I gave up, got my battery out and called dude to come get em.

  • 3-On-The-Tree Lou_BCone of many cars I sold when I got commissioned into the army. 1964 Dodge D100 with slant six and 3 on the tree, 1973 Plymouth Duster with slant six, 1974 dodge dart custom with a 318. 1990 Bronco 5.0 which was our snowboard rig for Wa state and Whistler/Blackcomb BC. Now :my trail rigs are a 1985 Toyota FJ60 Land cruiser and 86 Suzuki Samurai.
  • RHD They are going to crash and burn like Country Garden and Evergrande (the Chinese property behemoths) if they don't fix their problems post-haste.
  • Golden2husky The biggest hurdle for us would be the lack of a good charging network for road tripping as we are at the point in our lives that we will be traveling quite a bit. I'd rather pay more for longer range so the cheaper models would probably not make the cut. Improve the charging infrastructure and I'm certainly going to give one a try. This is more important that a lowish entry price IMHO.
  • Add Lightness I have nothing against paying more to get quality (think Toyota vs Chryco) but hate all the silly, non-mandated 'stuff' that automakers load onto cars based on what non-gearhead focus groups tell them they need to have in a car. I blame focus groups for automatic everything and double drivetrains (AWD) that really never gets used 98% of the time. The other 2% of the time, one goes looking for a place to need it to rationanalize the purchase.
  • Ger65691276 I would never buy an electric car never in my lifetime I will gas is my way of going electric is not green email
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