Not often do you find business partners that are 60 and 22.

For South Whidbey residents John Kirkham and A. Matthew Piehler, those numbers work together like a well-oiled machine.

Until earlier this year, Kirkham and Piehler had been working at the same Whidbey Island company. Kirkham was a truck driver who picked up materials and made deliveries. Piehler was a shop manager and mechanic.

Last spring, they learned they were going to be laid off. Unemployment was not an option. Piehler, married with two children, and Kirkham — who says he is not ready to retire — needed to keep working.

To do that, they pooled their skills and opened up A&K Repair.

“When they laid us off, we decided to do it on our own — open up our own place,” Kirkham said.

Working out of Kirkham’s private shop in Clinton, the partners repair diesel and gas trucks, trailers, tractors, excavators, garden tractors and pretty much anything that rolls through the door.

Despite the age difference, the two men get along and work well together. Working in the shop one day last week, they didn’t talk much as the sounds of drilling and welding filled the air. The shop’s garage door was wide open to keep the air clear, bringing the temperature inside down to the 40s.

Kirkham stays comfortable in coveralls. Piehler was quick to admit his secret for keeping warm: He propped his leg up on the side of a tractor he was fixing and lifted up the bottom of his jeans to reveal heavy socks and long underwear. He said he and Kirkham sometimes take a minute or two to warm up by a small stove in the back of the shop.

“It gets cold in here,” he said with a grin.

Growing up two generations apart, arguments over differences of opinion or work habits might be expected. But it never gets to that point. Kirkham and Piehler work as if they are old friends.

Crouched over a Case bulldozer, Piehler said “We do a lot of –“

“Discussing.” Kirkham finished.

Age is not an issue while on the job, even though the partners are in completely different places in their lives.

“I’ve never had a problem working with younger people before. I don’t see why it would be a problem now,” Kirkham said.

But thinking about Pieler’s youth is a little amusing for Kirkham.

“I have grandkids who are almost as old as he is,” he said.

Piehler has his own comparisons.

“He’s been married longer than I’ve been alive,” he said. “A lot of people ask me if he’s my dad.”

Discussing their working relationship is not something they have done often, if at all. It’s not necessary, because they respect one another as equals.

“He’s a pretty good kid,” Kirkham said.

Piehler said he is grateful for the knowledge Kirkham has given him.

“He helped me to get my commercial license,” he said.

One day, when Kirkham retires, Piehler could be running the repair business on his own. That day, said Kirkham, is still a ways off because he can’t imagine quitting work anytime soon.

“A guy’s gotta work,” he said. “But I’m not quite as fast as I used to be, I don’t go quite as long.”

As for Piehler, retirement is, well, two generations away. He’s not worried his business partner might retire in a few years. In fact, he can’t imagine it happening.

“He’d go insane if he sat still for longer than two minutes,” he said.

Sounds like a good match.