by Anne-Marie Jennings
Northern News Services

NNSL (Mar 13/98) - The cars and trucks are parked outside the front door. Inside the garage, there's hardly enough room for the mechanics to get around among the cars, trucks, and diagnostic equipment.

For Hak Mujcin, lack of space isn't a problem. It's finding the time to finish all the repairs.

"We're always busy," he says.

Mujcin is the owner of Hak's Auto Body, a Franklin Avenue shop full of spare parts and cars and trucks waiting for repairs.

An auto body technician's life, says Mujcin, is about more than hammering out the dents and painting over the scratches. When he arrived in Yellowknife as a mechanic in 1973, Mujcin spent four years working as an apprentice to obtain his certification in auto body repair.

"You can't just jump in," Mujcin says. "You got to know how to do a variety of things -- suspension, brakes, welding, painting, and sanding."

Twelve-hour days are the standard for Mujcin, but he says the long hours don't bother him.

"I always liked working with cars," he explains.

As for how things have changed since 1973, Mujcin says the biggest change has come in technology.

Mujcin's shop is full of computerized equipment, each with its own purpose. Most of them make his job easier. He adds that being an auto body specialist is no longer just about knowing cars, but knowing how the equipment used today works.

Sitting in his office is a personal computer, complete with modem, Internet software and auto insurance estimate programs. When Mujcin gets a new car or truck for a repair estimate, he can videotape any damage to the automobile, send the pictures to the insurance company, whose adjusters see the damage without ever having to step foot into the shop.

And when Mujcin hangs up his tools for the last time, there is someone who is ready to take over the business -- his son, Mirsad.

But the son did not always want to follow in the footsteps of his father.

"It wasn't my ultimate life," Mirsad says. "I wanted to be a hockey player. But I like it."