Surgeon brings Corvettes, hot rods back to life

DAYTON (AP) — When Dr. Marc Trzeciak isn’t in the operating room repairing fingers and hands, he oversees surgery on Corvettes, muscle cars and street rods at his customizing business.

An orthopedic surgeon with a passion for cars, the 46-year-old Trzeciak opened his customizing shop five years ago in Lowell, Ind., then moved it to Dayton in 2006.

“Most of the car guys just call me Doc,” said Trzeciak.

Though Trzeciak doesn’t work on customers’ cars himself, he does customize his own cars at his 4,000-square-foot HiTek Hot Rods shop. He’s restored a Model A and spiffed up the Beast, his 1967 Chevrolet II Nova.

Trzeciak cuts, welds and sands, and tries to be extra careful not to injure the hands that earn him his living.

In the operating room, Trzeciak does everything from reattaching severed fingers to repairing injured hands to surgically treating carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful wrist problem.

Retreating to his shop is a way for him to beat the stress that comes with the surgical profession.

“It does wonders for your psyche,” Trzeciak said. “It is a creative and artistic outlet. It gives my mind something else to think about other than everyday surgery.”

Among the autos being restored by the five full-time employees Trzeciak calls his “artists” is a 1951 Mercury, whose chassis and body were entirely separated at one point.

When fully restored, the nearly 60-year-old vehicle will have a new suspension, rack-and-pinion steering and even air bags.

Trzeciak became enamored with muscle cars as a teenager, when he worked at a filling station and also helped a friend work on autos.

His parents encouraged him to study and not focus on cars. It wasn’t until after he launched his medical career that he returned to his passion.

He decided to open his own customizing business after he took his Nova into a shop for some beefing up. He felt like he was going to be overcharged and that he could probably do a better job himself.

Bob Bond, publisher/editor of AutoArt Magazine based in Kansas City, said he knows of no other surgeons that run car-customizing businesses. And Don Boeke, a longtime Dayton car customizer, said he knows of no physicians who do hands-on customizing for customers.

Trzeciak said the automotive sideline is about his love of cars, not the income from the shop.

And there are few things Trzeciak loves more than to hang around the shop at the end of a hard week and talk cars with his friends.

“I don’t play golf, so this is my diversion,” he said.