Midday at the Capital Restorations garage, owner John Wheatley turns the ignition key in a 1953 Mercury Monterey. The rusting but classic hunk of a machine roars to life.
Shop dogs Prissy and Moky bark at the new noise.
A restoration is in full swing.
Exhaust fumes fill the 11,000 square-foot garage. Karen Hellard, receptionist, walks among the 40 some historic vehicles.
“John, would you mind if we opened the back?” Karen says. “The fumes are gettin’ into the office.”
John has been passionate about old vehicles since he was a boy.
He began tinkering with mechanics when he was 10.
“He’s been working with cars for so long that he has metal in his hands somehow,” says John’s daughter, Alora.
With a few cigarette puffs here and there, John and his two mechanics, Shawn Luttrell and Steve Meadow, work steadily from open to close. The business started in 2012 and is based on Christian values of respect and tradition, John says.
Alora, 14, carries those values forward.
She has begun restoring her first car, a 1958 Morris Minor. She can’t drive for two more years, but she’s already stripping old paint and shining small parts.
John plans to revamp the upstairs apartment of the garage into living space for him and his oldest daughter, Bayle, and her son, Braxton. He has crafted giant lofted bunks for his three teens to use when they visit.
John belongs to the Cowboy Church, a religious organization holding services and serving meals to low-income families. On Sundays, baptisms are held in his garage. A restored metal tub filled with water sits in the lobby.
The building began as Whitaker Motor Co. Sales and Service, an Oldsmobile dealer with classic and beautiful showroom windows. John plans to restore the building to its 1946 state.
