Donut and Tater make the move into town

Justin McDonough and David 'Tater' Davis expect to have their businesses up and running in town this week, taking over the long-empty repair shop across from the Lincoln Post office.

McDonough recently purchased the building, which had been owned by Seeley Lake's Don Van De Riet for several years. With the help of Denny Peterson, Fred Ray, Chad Dietz and Davis, he was busy for much of last week cleaning up the building and removing old or redundant equipment

McDonough expected to be fully operational earlier this week, but he said April 1 will serve as their grand opening date.

McDonough started Donut's Tire in January of 2018 and has been working out of a Conifer Logging building owned by his father-in-law Brent Anderson, about a mile west of Lincoln. Last April, Davis began renting half the building when he started Carburetor Tater, a repair business specializing in small engine, OHV, dirt bike and snowmobile repair, while also handling some work on larger vehicles.

McDonough has had his sights on the repair shop in town for the last two years, but wasn't comfortable with the asking price. Recently he made the decision to go ahead and invest in the building regardless, with an eye toward both growing his business and putting the long vacant Main Street building to use. Davis will join him in the new location, renting out part of the shop for his business.

"I always liked the idea of being downtown. I didn't mind being where we were at because we had the room, but I think our business will pick up more here."

McDonough doesn't have plans to make significant changes to his business model, but is looking at adding a few new services. While he'll continue to focus on tires, brakes and oil changes, he's adding the capability to work outside his shop by converting a pick into a service truck.

"If someone blows a tire on Rogers Pass, I can go up there and fix it."

McDonough also has a welding set up and a plasma cutter, which will allow him to do some ornamental welding. He said he doesn't plan to do much beyond that due to the high cost of the insurance for more structural type welding.

The building also once served as a small Napa parts store and came with the stock that had been left behind by previous occupants. McDonough said they will probably have some auto parts available, but will have to do research what they may want to carry. He said he will also have to call Napa to see if he can swap out some of the older parts that have been sitting on the shelves for several years.

Ultimately, McDonough said the new shop gives him and Davis both the option to do more if they want to.

The repair shop has stood empty for about five years. It last saw use in 2016, when Sean Reynolds rented it from Van De Riet and opened SR-X, a general automotive repair shop. Reynolds, from England, had plans to develop it into a shop that could, in part, tap into the market for European automobile repair work, but that didn't pan out before he had to return to the UK. Prior to that it had been home to Rocky Mountain Auto Repair, but had been empty for some time before SR-X opened.