Tamworth man Kelvin Scott isn't ready to hang up his Retorque hat after thirty years of service to the company

The 67 year old has worked for engine reconditioning business Retorque for the better portion of its 40 years in Tamworth.

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He's noticed these days more parts are thrown away.

"There's no reconditioning like we used to do," he said.

"It's just come in, throw it out, put a new one on, especially the cylinder heads."

Once upon a time, the process involved pulling down old parts, surface grinding and cleaning them up to get them good as new again.

"Now, you just get the new part, put it back together and that's it - the old one's just a throw away," he said.

"The stuff itself that comes in now - there's a lot of the heads that just crack whereas before, the old stuff was better made.

"Now it's just cheap."

Retorque changed hands five years ago - Mr Scott said communication with the old bosses was off.

"Now if you want something, you just ask and it comes," he said.

He passed his love of the industry to his four sons - they ended up in the air force, as a truck driver, a builder and a miner in Attunga.

After three decades of demanding work, the mechanic still doesn't see an end in sight.

He said he has too many bills, but doubts there's another decade in him.

"One of these days it'll come to that stage where I just can't keep going and that will be the end of it."

The reason he has stuck around - "I just enjoy the job."

Retorque director Paul Bedford said while employees stay on as they get older, 30 years of service is a long time.

"He still produces the perfect job from the first time he started to now, and it's still continuing on," he said.

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