John Hreha said price is the main advantage of his auto repair and restoration business, in two shops in a warehouse space near the Port of Astoria. He does all manner of auto work by appointment at 503-468-8976.

What do you do?

Auto repair, auto restoration, custom fabrication just about any aspect of automotive minus computer. The price points pretty unique. The other unique thing is its done with minimal overhead. Its completely set up to be a super low-overhead auto repair shop. I have two shops down here, so Im basically bouncing in between the two shops.

How did you get started doing this?

Auto work in general, I started when I was about 10. I did work with one of my cousins, who was a drag racer. One of my other cousins liked to do Lamborghini kits. And I used to draw cars; I still do. And I would do airbrush T-shirts. The one who drag-raced liked my work so much, he was like can you do that on a car. And I said yeah; if you show me how to work on them. And it pretty much started right there. This business here, I started officially about a year ago.

What is the volume of your business?

In a given week, I can probably see anywhere from about three to 10 customers a day depending on the project, or three to 10 customers a week, depending on the project. Its never-ending. It just doesnt end. Its either wet and rainy and slippery outside, and people slide into people, or you have constant brake work, because theres hills. Theres just constant work, because I can pretty much tailor to whatever they want.

How does the economy affect your business?

Ive never had to work so much in my whole life. What the economy has done, it has made it so if you want to be successful, you might want to embrace working 14-hour days, seven days a week. As opposed to when I was in Portland, I would work about four hours a day, three days a week. When the economy was good, I made a huge amount of money and I really didnt have to work that much, because everybody could pretty much afford whatever they wanted done.