Classic Headache?
Think Twice Before Accepting That Restoration Project
In a corner of a heavily-padlocked garage sits a baby-blue 1952 Chevy pickup, covered with an inch of dust. "She's a beauty," Bret Sullins of Eurasia Collision Repair in Fort Worth, Texas, says. "Look at that front grill. It'll win some awards if the owner decides to show it. Me, I'm glad to be getting rid of the thing. It's been in our shop two years."
Sullins isn't alone in his thoughts. Collision repair professionals across the country are concluding that classic car restorations can wreak havoc on their business, disrupt established workflow, sink technician morale and take up valuable space for little or no profit.
"I judge how good a body shop is by the number of restoration projects they have laying around," says Gary Spear, AAM, of Horsefeathers Restorations in Cedar Crest, New Mexico. "If I see one taking up space, I figure the guy running the shop hasn't learned his lesson yet. We learned the hard way you can't do both." Spear, who specializes in restoration projects, tried to add collision work to fill in the slack time during restorations. The experiment didn't work.
"We don't do classic car restorations because they're just not worth it," says Keith Burkey of Dempsey Adams Auto Body in Granite City, Ill. "You can't charge enough for the trouble these cars give you. All too often, they just end up taking up space while you're waiting for a part."
"Restoring a classic car will sink your collision business," Jan Vesely of Jan's Spectrum Collision in Tempe, Ariz., says. "These projects ruin your production schedule and drive your techs crazy. It's doubtful anyone in the shop has the expertise to work on the car. Pretty soon, nobody wants to work on it."
In an age of "cookie-cutter" cars, the appeal of the classic automobile remains alluring, even among the shop owners and managers who adamantly decline to take on restoration projects.
"Those old cars had personality," Spear said. "When I was a kid, I could tell just by looking who made the car, what kind of engine it had, drive train and everything. Today, I have to walk up to a car and look at the nameplate to see what kind of car it is."
"Classic automobiles have style," Tom Morrison, proud owner of a 1955 Chevy Cameo, said. "The designs are timeless." Morrison can rattle off everything distinctive about his Cameo: it was the first year Chevy put in a V-8; the first year fiberglass was used; the first year smooth side panels were manufactured for trucks. As for today's cars, Morrison says only that "most look like jelly beans."
Anthony Capozzi of Capozzi's Custom Car Line in New Britain, Conn., like many collision repairers, has restored an automobile for personal pleasure in his spare time. It is something many shop owners do once, for the personal gratification, and never do again, he said.
"I guarantee you that if you spend five to eight years and thousands of dollars to get a vehicle back to its original condition, you'll think twice about starting another one," he said. "Ninety-five percent of the time, you just end up with a nice looking old car. I'd rather buy something new and clean."
Even the specialists try to discourage the hobbyists from having an old car restored, and then are very stringent on the terms by which they will accept a restoration project.
Spear says he gets paid for all the work up front and as soon as the customer's money runs out, all work stops. He also only specializes in certain makes and models to eliminate having to carry excessive inventory or search for hard-to-find parts.
Some owners, however, view restoration projects as a measure of the quality of work their shop is capable of producing.
Dave Van Etten of Complete Auto Body in Novato, Calif., says the secret to classic car restoration is to plan ahead and determine how serious your customer is.
"If the customer has the money to see this thing through, we can work it into our production schedule," Van Etten said. "Most of the people who want restorations done know what they are doing and already have all the parts you need. The hobbyist who sees an old car and wants to revive some memories is usually shocked to discover how expensive recreating their memories can be."
One of Van Etten's restorations, a '56 Porsche, sits in a museum in Stuttgart, Germany. "We'll pretty much take anything if the customer is serious, and we'll fit it into our normal course of business," Van Etten said. "But that's the key, determining whether your customer is serious."
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AutoInc. Magazine ®, Vol. XLIV No. 12, December 1996