Three years of my life...

Came to a close yesterday.

Our very happy customer took delivery of his 1934 Packard V12 Coupe Roadster.

I miss her already...

Shawn

I also snapped a couple pics of the last car we did for him. A 1933 Lincoln KA. Also a V12 car.

daym. you got skillz

In the dictionary under elegant, those pictures are shown.

I'll assume you're in the restoration biz? Must be hard to let'm go when they are done.

I would like to join your fan club and subscribe to your newsletter.

Any before/in progress pics?

I am guessing you don't work at Maaco.....

I can't take all the credit, there's three of us in the shop.

The owner, me and our apprentice. I was the primary guy on the Packard and the boss did the Lincoln.

We have a great bunch of folks whom we bring in as needed. Our paint and body guys, upholsterer and chrome shop are all top notch.

We worked with a hand engraver and a woodgrainer on the Packard and are very happy with their work.

We do have some progress shots up on the facebook page, just search for "vintage rod shop".

We are also working on a website, it will be at www.vintagerodshop.com

Thanks for the kind words guys.

We're in the middle of a 1930 Duesenberg Model J LaGrande dual-cowl phaeton at the moment. There are progress pics of it on Facebook as well.

Shawn

wow factor =

Does that Packard have the Startix system? If so, was it hard to sort out?

In reply to JamesMcD:

No Startix on this one. I think I have the service information for Startix around somewhere though.

No radio either.

The only option installed on this car is the reverse lamp.

It's the second 1107 series Packard built out of 19 total.

The Bragg-Kliesrath variable brake booster works great, it's got a lot of braking power for a car with cable-actuated drums.

It also has the high-speed differential, apparently all the coupe roadsters got it.

We also found the track test sticker on the side of the right glovebox when we took the car apart. The sticker is still there with the date the car was tested in 1933 and the testers signature.

In reply to Trans_Maro:

It's good to see another restorer of prewar cars, especially like what you are restoring.

I've been out of the restoration business for a while, but i enjoyed working on brass-era cars and antique Indy Cars.

The first thing I thought when I saw you say three years of your life was "What? You didn't have a unrealistic one month deadline?"

Very nice Shawn! Congrats!

That car is exquisite.

That colour is gorgeous. Was it original, or did the customer pick it out?

We're hoping for a brass era car from this fellow. He has us looking for a 1930's Mercedes first though.

Vintage Indy cars would be awesome, I'd love to get my hands into one of them.

We did have a deadline for the 12th, the last week was a bit hairy. Finally hearing it roar to life was incredible.

The boss wants a steam car to come through the shop.

Yes, the colour was original on the Packard.

The Lincoln was repainted in red and cream when we got it, the owner chose black and silver and I think it works well.

Shawn

Am I the only one here who wouldn't even know where to begin with this sort if thing?

Beautiful work, just amazing.

that is amazing.

WOW. Your a lucky man to do what you love for work.

Very nice.

OK, that's it, I'm not going to restore anything anymore.

If I posted up the fruits of my last three years of labor, all you'd see was a bunch of schematics. I am jealous. Nice work.

Um. Wow. Wondering how many body parts I'd be willing to give up to have either of those cars. It does not suck to be that guy now does it...

4cylndrfury wrote:

This, this is about right. Freakin' amazing.

I am very lucky indeed. When people ask what I do, I tell them that I'm retired.

As for where to start. It's like anything else. Just one piece at a time.

Don't think we don't bugger things up in the process either.

I once kicked a freshly painted 1934 Ford Fender off the panel stand and down the floor by accident.

Shawn

Very nice indeed!