Scotty Kilmer
Scotty Kilmer is an American YouTube personality, author, and auto mechanic from Clarksville, Tennessee, U.S. whose channel has over 3 million subscribers and 1 billion views.[1][2]
| Scotty Kilmer | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | Scott Michael Kilmer October 2, 1953 Niagara Falls, New York, U.S. | |||||||||
| Nationality | American | |||||||||
| Education | University of Illinois, York University | |||||||||
| Website | https://scottykilmer.com | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channels | Scotty Kilmer | |||||||||
| Years active | 2007–Present | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 3.8 million | |||||||||
| Total views | 1 billion | |||||||||
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Early life
Scotty Kilmer was born on October 2, 1953 in Niagara Falls, New York. At age 14, he learned to be a mechanic from his grandfather, Elmer Kilmer, who was the chief mechanic at the Texaco gas station that Scotty's father owned. He went to York University for his undergraduate degree. He later attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and received a master's degree in Anthropology. He was in the process of working towards his Ph.D., but eventually quit to become a mechanic in defiance of the tenure system. Scotty wrote a book, "Everyone's Guide to Buying a Used Car and Car Maintenance", in 1994 upon the suggestion of his wife. Upon release, it led Scotty to be on the front page of the Houston Chronicle, which attracted the attention of the local CBS affiliate KHOU.
Career
Before YouTube, Kilmer had a television segment on KHOU titled "Crank it Up with Scotty". In this series, he showed the audience how to diagnose minor automotive mechanical problems, offered opinions on vehicle engineering, and provided solutions to low-profile problems. His YouTube channel is much the same, and he answers questions about car problems and the vehicle industry, and gives advice. Scotty typically uses his customers' cars in his videos as a point of comparison or other demonstrations with various products he uses as a mechanic.
Personal life
Kilmer married Leslie Kilmer (née Thornberg) in 1979. They have two sons, Riley Wyeth and Ethan. He lived in the Rosemont Heights neighborhood of Houston, Texas from 1980 to 2020. In October 2020, he moved to Clarksville, Tennessee to be closer to his younger son and grandchildren.
His personal vehicles include a 1994 Toyota Celica, a 2002 Lexus ES300, and a 2007 Toyota Matrix. He also owns a motorcycle; a 2011 Triumph Thruxton 900.
References
- Krasoff, Bess (June 24, 2019). "These are the Houston YouTube stars you should be watching". Click2Houston. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
- "Car Repair Shops Beware: YouTube's Scotty Kilmer, Mechanic For Over 40 Years, Offers His Advice [Video]". www.inquisitr.com. Retrieved 2019-11-18.