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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2017)
INSIDE THIS YEAR’S SECTION FALL ICE, ICE, MAYBE? | C2 2017 TAX CREDITS | C3 ROOF REPAIR | C4 & CAR CARE IN THE DETAILS | C5 ‘SECRET LOCATION’ USED AS A POSITIVE Helix couple restores, rebuilds classic cars By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN EO Media Group T he black 1928 Dodge Coupe with a louvered hood sits innocently the outside Holton Secret Lab shop. But given the chance, it’ll blow your doors off. “I made the whole car around the engine,” said Bill Holton. “It has a dual 4-barrel carburetor, tunnel ram, nitrous injected V-12.” The car is ready to go fast, but Bill has more work to do. He’ll paint the engine red, polish the valve covers, get the manifolds chromed, and make it look as smooth as it drives. But all that may have to wait. Bill and Marcy Holton rarely work on their own cars — they’re too busy restoring them for other people. Holton Secret Lab, located on the couple’s property outside Helix, offers full frame-off restorations for classic cars, street rods and muscle cars. They do engine and body work, and assist people with partially done projects. The couple started the shop in 1992, but they have a long history with cars. Bill’s father, Herb, started a body shop in Vale in 1945. Bill grew up working on cars, and he and Marcy met when they were both driving 1960s Corvettes. Employees often put more than 1,000 combined hours of labor into the cars, which range from 1930s classics to sports cars from the last few years. The team of six employees — not including Bill and Marcy — fall into two basic categories. “They make ’em look good, we make ’em go,” said Kevin Rolstad who, along with John Riddle, is a mechanic. See SECRET LAB, Page C6 Bill Holton, owner of Holton Secret Lab outside of Helix, stands in front of a wall of tools for doing body work. Some of the tools date back to a shop Holton’s father opened in 1945. STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
