Shop Name: Beck's Garage
- Owner(s): Jeff Beck
- Location (city, state): Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Staff Size: 6
- Shop Size (in square feet): 4,067 square feet
- Number of Bays: 7
- Average Monthly Car Count: 180
- ARO: $483
- Annual Revenue ($): 1 million
Located in the historic Western Avenue District of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Beck’s Garage embodies the look and feel of a middle America roadside service station you might see on “American Pickers.”
"I've always been a nostalgia nerd," says owner Jeff Beck, a collector of mid-20th-century commercial art. “It’s campy. And if we're going to spend most of our lives at work, why not make it fun?”
'It's Like Disneyland’ for Nostalgia Lovers
The waiting room at Beck’s Garage is housed adjacent to the shop. Once in the front door, customers are greeted in a reception area whose walls are covered with photos of classic cars and hot rods and where glass showcases house delicate collectibles. There’s even a vintage bottled soda machine and an antique rotary pay phone.
Rustic Repair Aesthetic
The main part of the shop is comprised of three main bays that can fit up to seven vehicles.
“You can get three cars deep in of one of the bays,” says Beck, while explaining the remainder of the logistics. “[We have] three flat bays and four lifts and those are where our three main technicians work.”
At the rear of the building is a designated area for tire machines and balancers and additional space for working on classic cars and hot rods.
Despite its bent for the nostalgic, Becks is a modern shop.
"We are completely modernized. We’ve got multiple scan tools from Autel, Matco, Snap-On. We’ve got four or five different scan tools that we use for European, Asian, and domestic work,” says Beck.
But not everything is modern and digital. Inspections are still managed on paper.
“We did the DVI (digital vehicle inspection) for a number of years, but the guys preferred to go back to the old handwritten notes,” Beck says. “We're very democratic here ... They prefer to use paper and write notes down, that way we can refer back to them.”
Retro Wrenching
Beck, who is a working owner, says 25% of his business comes from work performed on classic cars and hot rods. It’s an opportunity to scratch an itch while teaching his technicians how to repair older vehicles.
“Sometimes the guys want to learn how to work on older vehicles and learn how carburetors and distributors work. I will teach them and then, if I get overloaded with the classics, I will flip a few of those classics to them and then guide them through what they're unfamiliar with,” Beck says.
