Restorations Limited

A restoration shop for classic and antique cars and trucks

Complete repair and restoration of all mechanical and chassis components, including engine, transmission, rear axle and suspension parts. We do NOT do precision machining in-house.

Complete repair and restoration of all body and sheet metal components, including all paint work, damage and rust repair, media blasting and stripping. We do ALL paint & body work in-house.

Custom Fabrication of body panels

Complete repair and restoration of coach built bodies.

Levels of restoration offered

First of all a few words on the terminology commonly used today in the restoration world. There are several
terms meant to describe the extent of a restoration like complete, frame-off, body-off, nut and bolt, rotisserie,
total etc. that in the past meant essentially the same thing, every single piece of the car will be restored. Unfortunately that is no longer the case as terms like complete, fully and total are commonly used to describe
a cheap paint job, seat covers and carpet. This is especially true in the car flipping business, which is being
perpetuated by TV shows, and has trickled down to the rest of the hobby over the past decade or so.
Likewise, terms that describe the quality of a restoration like driver, show, and concours don't mean the
same thing to everyone. I personally don't like the term "Driver Quality Restoration" because I don't believe
any car is too nice to drive and in my mind most people associate that term with what the car flippers are
doing. It's important to know what the restoration shop means when you are deciding which shop to use
or even whether it makes sense to restore your dream car. The number one mistake I see car owners make
is to shop only on price instead of a price to quality comparison. Most owners also begin the process with
very unrealistically low price expectations for an every nut and bolt type restoration.

The following descriptions of the levels of restoration can generally be applied to restorations, restomods and
hot rods:

Our standard restoration is the baseline for work done in our shop. The workmanship is show quality
and the extent of the work is dependent on the customer and their budget. While I prefer to restore or
replace every single piece of the car, the reality of budget does not always allow for that. It's important
to note that while the workmanship is show quality, when the extent of the restoration is limited by budget,
every piece of the car will not have a show quality appearance, I don't give my time away anymore
{sorry but you missed out on that youthful foolishness }. Although they may be cleaned, stripped and
painted, certain parts may show wear or pitting etc. due to the limited budget. Basically, our standard
restoration is very flexible, ranging from body or drive train/chassis only to complete every nut and bolt
restorations. If every single piece is restored the car will be competitive at just about any judged
non-concours show. Standard restorations typically fall in the 800-1300 man hour range for
a complete project car with minimal rust.

Our factory original restoration is for the purist with a bigger budget who wants the car to look like it did the
day it was made, flaws and all. This level of restoration typically involves using only original and NOS parts
and the cost can easily approach, or even exceed, that of a concours restorations. One area where
compromise is usually allowed is with the use of modern urethane paints, although this is up to the owner.
This type of restoration is show quality and typically falls in the 1000-1800 man hour range for a complete
project car with minimal rust.

Our concours level restorations are high end for the perfectionist with the budget to match. They are much
more labor intensive than other levels of restoration because the level of finish work that must be done on
each and every piece of the car is substantial. Like the factory original restorations the use of reproduction
or replacement parts is avoided which drives the price up as well. Concours restorations are generally
considered to be over restored by some purists because the finish work on the car is much better than
when new and factory imperfections are typically corrected in the restoration process. An extreme example
of a concours restoration is a "Pebble Beach" quality restoration which is basically a concours restoration
on steroids. Man hours for concours level restorations vary so much depending on the car and the customer
it doesn't make since to state it here.