It's payback time for Gene Mayer - but in a good way. The owner of the 34th Street Garage in Magnolia Village is repaying the kindness and help of an old friend in Oregon by fixing up the old friend's 1971 Porsche 911 for free, Mayer said.
The reason for his largess goes back 25 years to when he was teaching automotive classes in Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Ore. "I didn't make a lot of money," Mayer remembered.
Enter Kenzie Dedek, who owns Beaver Plumbing & Heating in nearby Corvalis, Ore., and needed work done at night on his company trucks, Mayer said. "But he always made sure I had work. He could have gone somewhere else."
Dedek said he bought the Porsche in 1983 or '84. "It was an older car when I got it," he added. And it needed work, as older cars always do, something Mayer was willing to help with, Dedek said.
"He's the only guy who touched on that car and hadn't messed it up," he said of Mayer. "He's incredible about car knowledge. He's kind of like more than a mechanic; he's a car artist."
Dedek used to commute in the Porsche, but the car got to the point where it needed a major overhaul or he'd have to leave it by the wayside, he said. And then just recently when one of his sons turned 16, he decided to tear the sports car down so the boy couldn't drive it, Dedek said.
At that point, Mayer offered to take the Porsche to Seattle and fix it on his dime, Dedek said. "I was more stunned than anything else and said, 'go for it,'" he added.
Phil's Body Shop in Crown Hill is doing bodywork on the classic car, Mayer said. "I already sent them a check for $5,000." Phil's has already worked on the car for a couple three months, and Mayer is hoping the body will be back in his garage by the end of September
And Gerber Motor Sports in Magnolia is working on the engine, he said. "Then I'll put it together." Meyer estimates he'll spend around $30,000 on the Porsche by the time he's all done.
The goal is to have the car back on the road by next spring, but Dedek said he told Mayer to take his time. Mayer downplays the work he's doing for an old buddy. "This is just a little bit of payback for someone who helped me out 25 years ago," he said.[[In-content Ad]]
