Two automotive shops in Waterloo recently made a move to the same location, offering a variety of services to those in the area.

Waterloo Auto Body – formerly Valentine Auto Body – and Biggies Restoration now share the old Koerber Distributing building at 946 Park Street in Waterloo.

The move comes just over a year after Waterloo Auto Body owner Rodney Cissell purchased Valentine Auto Body from longtime owner Ken Valentine.

Valentine sold the shop to his friend Cissell – who previously operated an auto shop in Red Bud – early last year after 40 years of ownership, having inherited the shop from his father.

Cissell grew up in Renault, finding an early interest in automotive work.

“I’ve been here my whole life, and I kinda always was a car guy,” Cissell said. “Always liked cars.”

He said he found himself dealing in parts at Weir Chevrolet, but really got into auto body work around 2003.

With his recent purchase of Valentine Auto Body, Cissell explained Valentine had allowed him to operate out of the original shop for five years.

He added that his move only a little over a year later is simply a matter of taking the opportunity for expansion.

“His building was older and not as big as what I’m in now, and it was at his house,” Cissell said. “He didn’t want to keep a business in his yard if he wasn’t part of it… That was always the plan, to move it out of there.”

Additionally, the name  change from Valentine to Waterloo came as Cissell wanted to step away from using a family name that wasn’t his own while also keeping the shop’s name simple.

Adjoining Waterloo Auto Body is Biggies Restoration, owned and operated by Eric Helton and his wife Hollie.

While Waterloo Auto Body is a collision shop, Biggies focuses on restoration, mainly dealing with classic cars.

Helton explained that their specialty is whatever most shops usually don’t do nowadays.

“A lot of people are plain and simple nervous when they get around the classic cars because there’s a niche for it,” Helton said. “If you didn’t grow up around it, you probably don’t really know what you’re doing, to be honest.”

Like Cissell, Helton said he had a passion for cars from a very young age, adding that working with cars is pretty much all he’s ever done.

Originally from Dupo, Helton went to Ranken Technical College to study welding, later working at local shops in the area like V8 Speed & Resto Shop in Red Bud.

Biggies started back in 2018, with Helton getting some attention for restoring several classic cars while working in a barn housed off Country Club Lane.

Helton expressed a deep passion for classic car restoration. He spoke about how every car he and his small team work with has a story or some personal significance to its owner.

The significance of each vehicle makes every project special for Helton and his close-knit team, and it’s also afforded him the opportunity to get to know quite a few people.

“I would say probably the coolest part about all this is probably the people you meet,” Helton said. “You meet some awesome people. Some of the people that are good friends of mine to this day that I worked on their car 10 years ago. And plus, it’s Waterloo. Everybody’s awesome.”

Helton said Biggies’ move was largely thanks to Cissell.

Cissell had worked out a leasing agreement with Robert Stumpf of Iron Crafters, which owns both the old Koerber Distributing building and the shop just across the street.

When he found out that the space next door would also be available, he reached out to Helton.

Helton offered his thoughts on the rather unique setup that the two businesses now have being side-by-side.

He said that, given each shop’s specialties, he doesn’t anticipate there being any competition or other such issues. The two have even worked together in the past, with Helton bringing newly restored vehicles over to Cissell for him to paint.

“A lot of people kinda question having another vehicle shop right next to a collision shop thinking that we’re gonna be competing,” Helton said. “I don’t do anything he wants to do as far as new cars and collision work. I don’t do any insurance work. And he doesn’t want to do rust repair or anything like that, so it works out pretty well. He can say ‘Go next door,’ and I can say ‘Go next door.’”

Cissell also spoke positively about the arrangement, adding he’s already done some painting for Biggies in the new space.

“I think it’ll be good for both of us,” Cissell said. “Eric doesn’t paint, he just gets his side ready so we’ve been doing some painting for him anyways, so now we’re all in the same building. It’ll be really nice that he can just wheel them over here.”

Though both businesses recently made a substantial move, both men also spoke about the future of their shops.

Cissell described his hopes to grow and maintain the quality and customer service Valentine Auto Body has long been known for.

“We wanna expand,” Cissell said, “keep it rolling and try to help everyone in the community and hope that it will continue to be successful.”

Helton said he and his team are likely going to be comfortable in the space for some time, hopefully put out a few of the best restoration jobs in the area.

He added his interest is in the cars themselves rather than the monetary aspect of the job.

“It’s not something you’ll get rich doing, and it’s also not something that your employees are gonna get rich doing,” Helton said. “They have to love it. It has to be something that they’re looking at and, at the end of every build, everybody stands around and says ‘Man, that is one of the coolest things we’ve ever seen.’”