Chris Saunders

I have always had a love for automobiles and motorsports, it’s in my blood! Passed down from my mom and dad who had matching Austin Mini rally cars back in England.

As of now I’ve been in the industry for almost 30 years starting my first automotive job at age 16 at Black Gold Import Auto Parts.

My passion for VW and Audi started when I bought my first Scirocco when I was 18. I was hooked. At that time I was a 2nd year apprentice working for Ford. My goal was to work for VW some day. I dropped my resume at Southgate Volkswagen and Audi 6 times before they finally decided to give me a chance… Persistence works! That was in 2001. I then completed my Red Seal Journeyperson and eventually became a VW Master Technician after hours and hours of training.

13 years later I opened Rivercity Motors with Linnea (my wife) and good friend Kobi. It was a challenge to say the least! We started with an empty bay and even had to change the zoning. Slowly we got busier and were able to pay ourselves which was nice. It’s almost been 10 years now and I wouldn’t change a thing! I have met so many amazing people along the way. After 3 years at Rivercity I decided to get into racing Miatas and doing very well, I soon learned that the Mazda Miata is a capable and amazing car. Hence the reason we added Miatas to our specialty list!

My hobbies are doing fun things with my wife Linnea and 3 rascals (Otto, Ivar and Hazel), ice racing my 89 VW GTI 16v, road racing my 1999 Miata, and TIG welding (hobbyist).

My goal is to spend more time with my family while growing Rivercity so we can help even more people and their cars.