Photography by Tim Suddard
How would you like to learn, or improve, your automotive restoration skills? Now you can through McPherson College, a small school in McPherson, Kansas, located nearly dead center in the United States.
While the school itself started in 1887, its automotive restoration program only started in 1977 and now offers a four-year degree on the subject.
The curriculum offers not only technical skills in all aspects of automotive restoration, but business know-how that includes marketing, management and the financial skills needed to run any business in the automotive world.
Ironically, this program, now the school’s largest with about 170 of the school’s 800-plus students, was dwindling a decade ago and was about to be cancelled.
High-profile collectors, most famously Jay Leno, started promoting and donating time and money to the program. He and others realized that, as the old masters retired, there would be nobody left to keep our old cars running.
Rest assured, this program is now very successful, and getting into the program has gotten quite competitive in recent years. And with its newfound fame, students quickly land jobs in restoration, auctions and other areas of the automotive hobby.
For more than a decade, McPherson has also offered one-week summer camps for adults 25 years or older during the first three weeks of June.
Classes run from Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and attendees can only take one subject per week, but they can stay for all three weeks if they wish.
And by staying, we mean that the school opens the dorm rooms to adults for $250 per week. While lunch is included for all summer students, those who wish can opt for a meal plan for $225 per week that includes breakfast and dinner.
Those who aren’t brave enough to completely relive their college experience can stay in either a Hampton Inn or Fairfield Inn about 1 mile from campus for about $100 a night.
The cost of the program is $1325 per week, and students can choose classes that truly teach every facet of car restoration: engine building, painting, metal fabrication and even finishing touches like pin-striping and casting small parts. A complete list of classes is at the school’s website.
While the program is open to everyone and the prices are surprisingly reasonable for what you get, we must warn you that the program is getting very popular and sells out nearly instantly. If you write to the school, the folks there will put you on their list, and when the program opens, you need to drop everything and sign up that minute for the class you want.
A particularly interesting aspect of the program is that students are encouraged to bring their projects to school and work on them during the lab portions of the classes.
We attended this summer and took the automotive trimming class. We also brought the seats from our Elva Mk VI restoration project, along with appropriate fabrics. Our intent was to learn how to sew and recover these simple racing bucket seats in just one week.
Our class, taught by Michael Dudley, also a McPherson graduate, was well organized and included lectures every morning and after lunch each day on everything from the history of automotive trimming to understanding the styles and fabrics prevalent throughout automotive history. And of course, he lectured on more practical subjects covering how to use the sewing machine and the types of stiches and techniques used in automotive trimming. From blind and French seams to piping, we were taught all the basics.
From there, the nine students in our class (class size is strictly limited to fewer than a dozen students to ensure everyone has an incredible experience) went out to the nicely equipped, air-conditioned lab and learned to sew.
Your author literally went from having never touched a sewing machine to sewing seams by noon the first day. By the end of day two, we had completed the headrest cover needed for our Elva’s roll bar and were making patterns for the seat covers.
We learned how to thread the machine, wind a bobbin, lubricate the machine and use the marking, cutting and measuring tools needed to sew.
We also learned from our history lessons how the earliest automotive upholstery was made, what materials were used in every decade, and even when and how rayon and nylon were invented.
We also wandered around and poked our heads into other classes. We saw paint techniques being taught, transmissions and engines being rebuilt and TIG welding being explained.
A lot of people might have this vision of Kansas, most likely started by the movie “The Wizard of Oz,” of a horrible dust bowl environment. That is not what Kansas is like at all.
McPherson looks just like any other small town. Sure, there are plains and farms around the town, but McPherson could be in North Carolina, Massachusetts or anywhere else in the eastern U.S.
While the male/female ratio of students is probably 80/20, everyone is welcome. Most of the people we talked to have come more than once and love the camaraderie the program offers. Nighttime activities, like visits to automotive museums, lectures on automotive design and an automotive trivia game, ensure plenty of social time.
While McPherson College may be a small school in the middle of the country, Amanda Guiterrez, VP of the automotive restoration program, has plans to make McPherson the epicenter of the car hobby.
Things helping to realize this dream: a student-driven show in May that draws more than 500 cars; a second-place finish at Pebble by a car restored by McPherson students; and high-profile school board members like “Barn Find Hunter” Tom Cotter.
After spending the better part of a week here, we are on board. We loved the school’s energy, the down-home feel, and the education we received in this short time. McPherson College will have us coming back year after year.
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