the Pitts Bay Road near Mills Creek. `Operates' is an appropriate word: the new garage looks and feels more like a hospital for cars.

Garages, by their nature, are usually messy places. Years of specks of oil become whole areas people have to walk around. Old machinery which did not prove too useful sits covered in dust in the corner.

Not so at Rayclan. The building is spotless; you could quite happily eat your lunch at the staff canteen in a downstairs corner, which is where the tour began. Half a dozen gentlemen, the extended Rayclan clan, were having lunch there.

The space is bigger than is immediately needed, a sign of confidence and a smart business move. Operations happen in different areas, laid out in a sequence which the flow of business requires.

Across the building lies the paint shop, which looks hermetically sealed off from everything else.

"It's a spray-baking system, which filters air down from the ceiling and then sucks out the excess paint and fumes underground,'' said Daniel, who was reluctant to talk much about himself, but was plainly very keen to show off the new premises.

"We paint first, then bake it on with heat from 75 to 185 degrees. It's a 20-minute bake cycle. Filtered air, dust-free, with computer-generated paint codes for all makes and models of cars,'' he said. A smaller baking machine next to the main booth bakes smaller parts.

Nearby is the body shop, which has a frame-straightening machine, an image not from a hospital, but a James Bond movie as a device for torturing spies.

"It's the biggest one in Bermuda,'' Daniel said. "It saves you from having to write off your car.'' Driving at slower speeds is also recommended in this regard.

"When we looked at the size of the building, we realised we could have a car elevator, which we think is the only one in Bermuda,'' Daniel said, as we made our way across the ground floor to the elevator.

"Drive on down here and drive off upstairs,'' he said as we did just that.

Upstairs is even roomier.

"We do the majority of our mechanical work upstairs,'' Daniel said. "We have two stationery ramps and some portable ones.'' We approached the Mega Flush machine, which is a big deal in matters automotive, because it solves a huge percentage of transmission problems. A car's transmission spreads the power from the engine to the axles.

"The life of a transmission can be extended by flushing its fluids every 15,000 kilometres,'' Daniel explained.

"You're pretty much assured of 200,000 kilometres out of your transmission by following this simple guideline.'' In the far corner is the parts section, rows of metal shelving holding a variety of new and used parts. All around are undamaged doors and other larger parts salvaged from vehicles written off. "We're building quite a nice store of things like doors,'' Daniel said. "You never know when you might need one.

Close attention has also been paid to environmental and safety issues. "An air conditioning unit recycles the refrigerant, Motor oil is painstakingly collected and transferred to a reservoir outside the building,'' Daniel said.

"From a safety point of view, we have been careful to keep as much as of the equipment, hoses and electrical outlets off the ground as possible.'' Different types of fire extinguishers are in evidence all over the building.

Back downstairs, next door to reception, is a large, unused space, which would make a perfect car showroom. "Oh yes'', Daniel said, as the tour ended, "we will be using that as a showroom.'' The Ray automotive dynasty continues.

Rayclan Ltd. is a new automotive service business Mechanic under the hood: Stephen Pellett, mechanic, hard at work at Rayclan Ltd.

Wheels support you evermore: The new Rayclan building, the latest addendum to the automotive industry in Bermuda located on Addendum Lane South, near Mills Creek, Hamilton.