HISTORY
American Wrench is a family business, rooted in a long line of motor enthusiasts. This family just can’t pull themselves away from the heartbeat of fuel burning machines, and the wilder, the better. They jokingly refer to this “problem” as their Oil Addiction™. The Sirotek family history starts long ago…
Long ago, on a battlefield far away, a knight gave an orphan a chance to live… This orphan (Sirotek in Czech) grew up and unlike many others who are orphaned, the young man decided not to change his last name from Sirotek (Orphan), but rather to keep his name so his family would never forget where they came from.
Joseph Sirotek, a descendant of the orphan, came to the United States in 1913 with nothing. In fact, he had to live out of an apple orchard in New York because he had no money, no food and no place to live. Joseph left Czechoslovakia because he believed he could make a future for himself here and had a vision and an undying passion for what he believed the automobile would do for this country and the world. With his vision to be the “American Wrench,” two years after his arrival, Joseph found his way to the south side of Chicago and with a little bit of borrowed money was able to open a small auto repair shop.
103 years later, the undying passion and enthusiasm for finely designed machines burns brighter than ever with the founder's 2 great-grandsons. Always remembering where they came from, Kevin and Brian are the 4th generation leaders driving the company forward today.