Dave Helton in his office


My sign at the street


View of my house from the street. The shop is in the back.


Dave Helton looking at a wiring problem


Dave Helton inspecting a rear differential


Dave Helton creating an invoice


The shop has two dogs: Smoke and Cody


Wall art from the 1950s

 Hi. I'm Dave Helton, and I own and operate Abbey Road Auto Repair. I spent most of my life working as a mechanic for auto dealerships, and in 2002, I decided to open my own auto repair shop. The shop is located at 5801 NE Abbey Road just outside Lafayette, Oregon. This 5-acre property also includes my home, several acres of mature trees, and best of all, a nifty playhouse for my grandkids.

Customers can contact me though my cell phone: 971-241-5080.

Estimates

As a rule of thumb, I don't give estimates over the phone. But if you drop by anytime, I don't charge for estimates (as long as they don't require serious mechanical work to diagnose the problem).

Before any work is done on a vehicle, I want to have an agreement with the owner based on an estimate along with a written authorization to proceed.

Location

Finding my shop can be tricky ... it is located behind my house. Simply enter the driveway you see below and drive back through the property. The shop itself is shown at the top of this page. Why doesn't the shop have better signs? That would be a good question for our county commissioners who set the rules.

This map shows roughly how to drive to my home and auto repair shop.

About my background

I've spent most of my life repairing cars and trucks:

  • My first professional job was at Marv's Line-up Shop (located in Tigard) from 1976 to 1980.
  • At Damrow Ford in Beaverton, from 1980 to 1988, I worked as a general mechanic. I specialized in brakes and suspension, and this included anything from ABS, traction controls, to air ride suspensions.
  • At Bill Copp's Cadillac in Vancouver, Washington, from 1988 to 1993, I worked as a general mechanic and specialized in alignments, power steering systems, and suspensions.
  • I "retired" from Newberg Ford after working there from 1993 to 2002 ... and I started my own business that operates out of a shop behind my house.
  • Since 2002 I've acquired a 9,000 pound hydraulic lift, a machinist's lathe,  and diagnostic scanner. The shop started with an alignment bay and of course a lifetime collection of auto repair tools.