Since 1978
Same corner. Same tool wall. Four decades of not upselling anybody.
Marion Auto Works opened in a two-bay cinderblock building on Fairgrounds Road NE the year the Trail Blazers won the title. We've added bays and scan tools since. We have not added a sales script.
The story
It started because somebody got ripped off.
Bud Halvorsen opened this shop in 1978 after a dealer in Portland charged his mother for a water pump she didn't need and a timing belt they never installed. He came home furious, borrowed against the house, and put a hand-painted sign on Fairgrounds Road that read "We'll show you the part."
That sign is still in the office. It's faded to about the color of a paper bag now and the paint's cracked along the bottom, but the promise on it is the only thing about this business that has never been up for discussion. Ray bought the shop from Bud's daughter in 2011 with exactly one condition attached to the handshake — keep the sign, and keep meaning it.
What's changed: we went from two bays to six, from a timing light to a scope, and from Polaroids in a manila folder to photos texted to your phone before you've finished your coffee. What hasn't: nobody here works on commission, nobody touches your car without your yes, and if it can wait, we'll tell you it can wait.
How we run
Three rules, taped above the parts counter.
-
Show, don't tell
If we can't photograph the problem, we haven't proven the problem. That single rule has killed more bad upsells in this shop than any policy we've ever written down.
-
Nobody here works on commission
Our technicians are paid hourly, not on a percentage of what they sell you. Nobody in this building makes an extra dollar by finding you an extra repair.
-
'It can wait' is a real answer
Plenty of what a shop finds is genuinely not urgent. We say so. We'd rather log it and see you in six months than scare you into spending today.
The crew
Four people. You'll meet all of them.
It's a small shop on purpose. The person who writes up your car works twenty feet from the person turning the wrench, which is why nothing gets lost between the counter and the bay.
-
Ray Okafor
Owner · ASE Master
Here since 1999
Bought the shop from the Halvorsen family in 2011 after twelve years in the back bay. Still does his own diagnostics because he doesn't trust anyone else with the hard ones — including himself before coffee.
-
Jorge Medina
Lead Technician
Here since 2014
The one who pulls your car onto the lift and points a flashlight at the problem until you see it too. Brakes, suspension, and an unreasonable memory for which Subaru does what.
-
Tessa Nguyen
Diagnostics
Here since 2019
Lives inside a scan tool and an oscilloscope. If two other shops already threw parts at it and it's still broken, Tessa is who finally finds the chafed wire.
-
Dale Ferris
Service Advisor
Here since 2006
Writes down what you actually said instead of translating it into shop-speak, and calls you before the number moves. Knows roughly half of Keizer by first name.
Marion Auto Works, by the numbers
Two bays and a hand-painted sign
Four lifts, two flat
Two of them Master level
Everyone here is paid hourly
Come meet the crew before you need us.
Honestly — stop by. Bring the car in for an oil change and let us show you what a photographed inspection looks like when nothing's wrong. That's the best time to find out who you're dealing with.