Bernie Myers, co-owner of The Hot Rod Barn in Morris, Illinois, has been working on cars for more than 30 years. He apprenticed at a body shop right out of high school, learning how to do paint and body work on the job while also teaching himself welding, fabricating and chassis work. That experience was enhanced during 20 years spent working for an Indy car team.

“I was able to learn quite a lot about fabricating with special metals and alloys, and making things lightweight and strong,” Myers said. “[I] did a lot of design work and [made a lot] of brackets and fasteners and engine components.”

In addition to developing his technical skills, the time spent working for the race team helped Myers develop business skills, too.

“I just had a wealth of information from running the team,” he said. “I was the team manager so I was in charge of all the people and all the mileage, parts, changing of parts before they broke, looked after the trucks and trailers and stocking equipment, so it was quite a big endeavor. I learned a lot of things business-wise from that experience. That sport’s really driven by money, so sponsors are such an important part. You learn how to talk with drivers and sponsors and potential sponsors that come in and take a shop tour and try to get a feel for what you’re doing.”

When not busy with the race team, Myers would build cars for himself, friends and occasionally customers from his own shop. In 2002, Myers began building cars full-time, opening The Hot Rod Barn with his wife Marcia in a home-based garage.

“The racing business kind of wound down for me and I started looking for more fabrication and paint work and tin fabricating and all the chassis and things associated with muscle cars and hot rods,” he said. “I was really surprised at the time in how easy it was to get some of the work. There seemed to be a lot of people looking for good quality design work and nice fabrication work.”

Many of those first customers were impressed by Myers’ racing background.

“At the time when we first started up, a lot of that racing experience really helped [me] take care of customers and pay attention to the details and it was, early on, pretty easy to acquire work,” he said. “Things just started to snowball a little bit and we were looking around for a different place to do work at and have a property that’s a bit more professional than just being out behind your house.”

Growing Pains

Myers found the ideal property off I-80 in Morris, covering four acres and featuring several existing buildings, including an old Stuckey’s restaurant/gas station.

“It had a roof line like a barn, so we went ahead and refurbished that building,” Myers said of the Stuckey’s building. “Originally we were doing our fab work in there and then we had a separate building [where] we did body and paint work.”

Four years in, The Hot Rod Barn was outgrowing its two-building set up.

“We got to the point where we had cars that were literally door-to-door and bumper-to-bumper,” Myers said. “It was tough to do the volume of work that we had. We were moving cars in and out every day and we needed to expand.”

Having four acres of property meant Myers had the space to expand; he just needed to find the financial means to make expansion possible, so started looking for a business partner.

“Without the help of some finances to really push the business forward, it would have been difficult for Marcia and I to [expand] on our own,” Myers said.

The Lanigan family, owners of the Mi-Jack group of equipment manufacturing companies, came on board as partners. Myers knew the family from his Indy race team days.

“We put together a business plan and they came on board,” Myers said. “Everything they do, they jump in with both feet and they want to be the best in every business they have. I just have to say, there’s nothing like having somebody on your side that can really pull the trigger on financing equipment. Certainly the building was a big expense and they didn’t hesitate to build one of the nicest hot rod facilities out there.”

With the Lanigan family on board, construction began on a 13,300-square-foot building that now houses The Hot Rod Barn’s engine shop, clean room, chassis dyno, engine dyno, assembly area and upholstery shop. The addition also has a large kitchen and break room for the staff.

The former Stuckey’s building now houses The Hot Rod Barn’s speed shop and vinyl and decal shop. A third building on the property is dedicated to body and paint work.

The addition gave Myers the opportunity to hire more employees, add on additional services and build more cars for more customers.

“We’re able to get things done in a more-timely manner and, with the customers coming in, they’re pleased at the sight of the building, and how clean it is and organized,” Myers said. “Every step of the way, we always try to make everything look nice. People are more apt to bring you their projects when they see the building, how nice it is, how clean it is, and the process in which we work on cars.”

Reaping the Benefits

Partnering with the Lanigan family has not only made it possible for Myers to expand The Hot Rod Barn, but through its connection to Mi-Jack, his employees now have medical, dental and vision insurance, and can also participate in a 401(k) program.

“One advantage that we really have as a business is my partners have several other companies and businesses, they have a lot of employees so we were able to piggyback onto some of the benefits that they have,” Myers said.

The shop also participates in the Mi-Jack safety program. All employees must wear steel-toe shoes and safety glasses, and full-face shields and garments are provided to welders. Any visitors to the shop are also given safety glasses to wear. Monthly safety meetings are held to ensure procedures are followed.

“It’s a big benefit,” Myers said of the safety program. “[If] a guy gets hurt, he’s out for a couple of hours or even a couple of days or a couple of weeks. A back injury can really put a guy out for a long time, so they’re taught how to lift heavy boxes and when to ask for help if something is a little bit too large for one person. We’ve seen a big benefit from all these programs.”

Partnering with Mi-Jack has also provided The Hot Rod Barn access to various business resources, like marketing and accounting services. The shop now also has a general manager who writes estimates and handles customer relations.

“It was a huge transition at first because I didn’t want to give up any of those things that I was doing,” Myers said. “But after you step back and see how much the advantage is of having good people behind you, it’s not hard to give up some things at that point because the job’s better, the business is better, everything runs a lot smoother.”

Having this additional help lets Myers do what he loves best—work on cars.

“It’s a dream come true to go to a nice facility with nice equipment and have the freedom to design and fabricate things you like,” he said. “Not every job requires a lot of thought or design work, but the ones that do are really the ones that intrigue me and those are the ones I enjoy the most, where your personal input goes into it and your own design work and fabricating work.

“It’s a treat being able to turn a car back to a customer [who has] had a car his whole life and now he’s got the money to restore it or make a hot rod out of it or a resto-mod or muscle car,” he continued. “These are their dreams, and when you’re able to fulfill that for them, it’s really gratifying.”

Stat Sheet:

Address:  6245 N. Seneca Rd., Morris, Illinois 60450

Phone:  (815) 941-9551

Owners:  Bernie and Marcia Myers, The Lanigan Family

Services Offered:  In-house speed shop, engine shop, chassis dyno, engine dyno, upholstery shop, fabrication shop, mechanical shop, assembly area, decal and vinyl shop, and media blasting

Number of Employees: 10

Number of Current Project Cars: 37 open work orders

Current Project Cars: 1936 Ford sedan, 1936 Oldsmobile three-window coupe, 1947 Cadillac limo, 1948 Ford, 1954 GMC panel truck, 1960 Lister replica and more

Website:  http://www.thehotrodbarn.com/

Approximate Shop Size:  22,000 square feet

Years in Business:  8

Tags: Employee Benefits, Employee Issues, Health Care, Midwest shops, Restorer Profile, Shop safety, The Hot Rod Barn