'Good' mechanics open shop in industrial park

Brothers return to roots to open local business

By Evan Jensen

The Estacada News, Feb 4, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Evan Jensen / Estacada News

Cascade Automotive and Repair Services owners and brothers Loren Good and Marlin Good work on a car together inside their shop located in the Estacada Industrial Park.

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The young Marlin Good rebuilt the engine of a 1987 Nissan pickup when he was a teenager, and his brother Loren got his first taste of driving heavy farming and construction equipment more than a decade ago. The two brothers grew up in rural communities in Oregon and Minnesota, where their father carved out a career in woodworking, and learned how to fine-tune an engine at an early age.

It was the kind of upbringing that encouraged hard work, integrity and the kind of character you hope to find when you go looking for an auto mechanic after driving 50,000 miles with the “Check Engine” light on, or having ignored that thumping noise coming from under the hood until your car ends up being towed to the shop.

With a combination of experience, professional training and a home-grown work ethic, the Good brothers opened Cascade Automotive Repair and Services in the Estacada Industrial Park on N.W. Campus Drive a few months ago. Since then, their shop has had a steady stream of cars coming in for minor tune-ups, engine repairs and troubleshooting those hard-to-pinpoint problems.

“We’ve been doing a lot of basic repairs and electrical diagnosis type of work,” said Loren Good, who runs the shop with his brother. “We’ve had cars in here because the airbag light or the ABS light was on, or the ‘check engine’ light was on. And we’ve had cars in here with some serious rattles and clunks. … Our real focus here is on the maintenance side. We want to help people maintain their cars to keep them from breaking down. … I can remember when 100,000 miles was pretty high for a car, and it usually meant it was time to get rid of the car and buy another one. But with the proper maintenance, most cars can reasonably be expected to go 200,000 miles or more now.”

Loren Good previously worked for Fisher Mill Supply in Oregon City and Estacada-based Rob Davidson Excavating before launching the business with his brother. He also spent time in Belize in South America as part of a church service mission, where he maintained a fleet of vehicles and handled other maintenance projects.

Marlin Good spent the last several years working for a western Washington auto repair shop and gained the experience, training and certifications to open Cascade Automotive with his brother. He worked for Metallion Industries, also spending time overseas as part of a church mission and service project, building houses in Indonesia in 2006, two years after a tsunami devastated the area. In addition, he spent time in Liberia working on humanitarian projects to help others on the northwest coast of Africa. Working on cars has been his passion since he was a teenager.

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