Mechanic on Campus: Carlos Santos

NOAH SONNENBURG

The man who keeps Santa Clara rolling

Two hydraulic lifts, hundreds of old Craftsman tools and a rotating cast of Ford Rangers and GEM golf carts inhabit the bright, tidy monument to mechanisms which rests in the back of Santa Clara’s facilities building. All of this is under the purview of one man: Carlos Santos.

For Santos, what started as a weekend hobby of casual car restoration is now his career of more than three decades. He began his work as an automotive mechanic at the end of the Vietnam War. When a friend of a friend returned from the front lines, Santos was gifted something which sparked a newfound adoration in a then-young, wide-eyed Santos.

“The first thing I worked on was a 1958 Chevy Del Rey,” Santos says with a nostalgic smile. “My brother-in-law got that for me from a buddy of his who came back from Vietnam. He didn’t want the car so we ended up picking it up for free. He gave it to us so of course it needed a lot of work.” That was when Santos’ career took off.

Today, Santos maintains and manages a fleet of roughly 150 vehicles all over Santa Clara’s campus. University groups including Facilities, Campus Safety, Bon Appetit, the Athletics Center, SCCAP, the Arrupe Center and the Ignatian Center depend on him to get from point A to point B. From gas to electric to a few straggling diesels, the on-campus modes of transit stay moving because of this man — something which thankfully doesn’t go unnoticed.

While he maintains a staff of one, his reach is broad on campus. For select services, his work is an absolute necessity. Walker Tippett, a student who works with Bon Appetit’s catering services maintains that without him, he would be out of a job.

“For catering services, our carts are everything,” Tippett says. “It wouldn’t work without them.”

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Vital though his work may be, there remains a man behind the machines. After just 15 minutes with Santos, it is readily apparent about how much he cares for people, both those he knows and those he doesn’t. Ask anyone who knows him, even just in passing, and there won’t be a single complaint about the man — professional or otherwise.

Jenny Brown has worked in Santa Clara’s facilities office since her graduation from the University. For a period of the 12 years she has been a member of this office, she worked at the front desk where she often interacted with Santos. Even today in her job as a technology support manager for the University where face time with Santos is infrequent, she can only sing praises of him.

“I think Carlos is the sweetest man,” Brown says, beaming from cheek to cheek.” I think he really cares about people and that comes across — you get that feeling of warmth from him.”

“He knows his stuff too,” she continues. “And he is also a really hard worker — he has a lot of passion and cares about what he does here.”

For Campus Safety watch commander Michael Brady, Santos’ work is a matter of safety and security for his staff. For him, Santos is the man to go to when issues of mobility arise. As he describes it, Santos just has an instinct to get working on things right away, recognizing how important it is to get their officers on the road again.

Brady goes on to note however how Santos is an integral part of the whole University community, not just the select offices he services.

“He is the person who keeps the campus rolling,” says Brady. “Anything that moves, he’s responsible to make sure it moves.”

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Santos peers out of his office window at a Ford Ranger which remains suspended on one of his lifts. “It’s just me in the shop,” he says. “I don’t have anybody to argue with — it’s just ‘run it the way you want it’ to a certain point, obviously. I enjoy it, but sometimes it’s just challenging to keep up with the total fleet.”

Santos has carved out an impressive workshop where he fettles on the engines, shocks and inner workings of each and every campus cruiser. The tidiness of his space is, if nothing else, a shock. The typical mechanic’s shop is a greasy hole carved into the side of an abominable ARCO station, Santos’ space is a sparkling cube of cleanliness peppered with vintage posters, license plates and automotive badges — without a single oil stain in sight.

His philosophy of spotlessness is guided by one simple phrase he repeats frequently, “I like to know where everything is.”

When he’s away from work, Carlos Santos seems to have three loves: family, travel and Corvettes.

“I'm more of an American car guy,” Santos says as he looks up lovingly at the photo of his baby blue Corvette which hangs above his desk chair. “Muscle cars are my era when I was growing up. I have a ’71 Corvette I also have a 2006 Corvette and they’re both kind of spare cars.”

Today Santos mostly takes these two treasures out to small, local car shows where he can meet with like-minded lovers of American muscle. But when he’s not there or in his office on campus, Santos takes time for himself. When he needs a week off, he’ll be tooling around the country with his family in his RV or at his home in the Azores which he shares with his brother.

But during those times is when the campus misses him the most. As Michael Brady puts it, “They have someone who will fill in for him, but you definitely notice when he’s not there. If Carlos isn’t here, some things are going to have to wait.”

Contact Noah Sonnenburg at nasonnenburg@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.