Scott Michael Kilmer (born October 2, 1953) is an American

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

, author, and

auto mechanic An auto mechanic is a mechanic who services and repairs automobiles, sometimes specializing in one or more List of car brands, automobile brands or sometimes working with any brand. In fixing cars, their main role is to Diagnosis, diagnose and ...

Early life

Scotty Kilmer was born on October 2, 1953, in

Niagara Falls, New York Niagara Falls is a City (New York), city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 48,671. It is adjacent to the Niagara River, across from the city of Niagar ...

. At age 14, he learned to be a mechanic from his grandfather, Elmer Kilmer, who was the chief mechanic at the

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...

gas station which Scotty's father owned. He studied at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

and received a BA in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

in 1975 and then attended the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

, receiving a master's degree in anthropology. He was in the process of working towards his Ph.D., but eventually quit due to his dissatisfaction with the university tenure system. Kilmer went on to become a mechanic and moved to Houston in 1980. On the suggestion of his wife, he wrote a book, ''Everyone's Guide to Buying a Used Car and Car Maintenance'', originally published in 1994. Its release led Kilmer to be on the front page of the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

'', which attracted the attention of the local

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate

KHOU KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Conroe-licensed Quest station KTBU (channel 55). The two stations share studios on Westheimer Road near ...

Career

Before YouTube, Kilmer had a television show on

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. In 2004, ''Crank It Up'' earned a

Regional Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for "Outstanding Interactivity"; Kilmer subsequently received an Emmy for "Best Interactive Car Talk Host." His YouTube channel is much the same, and he answers questions about car problems and the vehicle industry, and gives advice. Kilmer typically uses his customers' cars in his videos as a point of comparison or other demonstrations with various products he uses as a mechanic. He has garnered controversy over the use of "clickbait" video titles.

Publications

References

Living people 1953 births YouTube channels launched in 2007 DIY YouTubers Mechanics (people) York University alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni People from Niagara Falls, New York YouTubers from New York (state) {{YouTubers-bio-stub