top of page
The Howell shop
After moving to Howell, I built a pole barn in my backyard to do my work there. While I certainly miss my firends in Linden, I have a larger place, with more equipment, and room for outside storage. We had a wonderful grand opening party, and then back to work cranking out customs and hot rods!
 1961 DodgeThis Dodge had begun being customized by John P back in the early 80's. Owned by George Wallace, it was never finished. Vic Collins found it rotting away in Linden and rescued it, later to give it to me in trade. I redid all the rust damage, but tried to keep it as George and John had planned. Scooped roof, molded lakes, tube grill and 52 Buick taillights. I painted in in White Abalone Flake, with my own Candy Fuschia mix, done in Larry Watson styled panel painting. |  1956 Ford SunlinerEd Winkleman owned this car for a long time, and wanted a fresh paint job put on it. Trouble was, underneath was so bad, it had to be completely stripped down, floors, body mounts, trunk, lower quarters, rockers, all replaced. It had over 1 inch of bondo in some places. I fixed it all, adding extra reinforcements, as the body sagged a lot, and shot it in my custom mix of pearls to match the factory colors. |  1956 FordRear view of Ed's convertible. |
|---|---|---|
 56 Ford engineNice detailed Y block powers Ed's ragtop. I had the T Bird valve covers chromed, adn I detail painted them. Bontempo Brothers built the engine for it. Notice the firewall has been smoothed out as well...I added Vintage Air AC to the car for Ed. |  1950 FordJim Laga bought this shoebox Ford with extensive collision damage, and a bent frame. Fixed all that, and he had a nice custom to drive. Later I believe it was sold and went to Europe (Finland?) |  HayabusaI painted several Hayabusa for a custom bike builder in VA. This one in checkerboard pattern in Candy Red over silver. |
 Vic's modelsVic Collins is a master model builder, who also makes his won resin cast models of customs and unavailable cars. He did some resins of my 55 Olds, and a "phantom" 56 Olds Nomad. I had the pleasure of painting man of them for him. |  1970 TorinoJim Mack brought this Torino for body resto and paint. It was in decent condition, so lots of time went into paint quality, and detailing. It had a 429 Cobra Jet, and drag pack accessories. |  1954 PlymouthKen Ficari brought this low mileage 54 to me to upgrade it for easier driving. A Camaro subframe was installed, a 350 with a 4 speed stick as well. I also chopped the top and did some other minor alterations. Ken stayed with me, and is learning to do custom metal work himself. He has rechopped the rear of the roof, and installed 53 Lincoln tail lights and a Packard grill. |
 GuitarA flamed guitar I painted for Dina's grandson, Austin. |  1995 CamaroAnother Camaro I painted for Glen Verycruisse. This one in Candy Purple over a dark base, with flip flop graphics on the beltline. |  1969 CamaroThe second version of Bob Scutro's car. This go-round, he used a chromed tubular frame, with chromed rear, springs, driveshaft, etc. The undercarriage was smoothed and painted in Candy Teal to match the body. Peach and silver pearl graphics adorn the body. |
 1969 CamaroShowing the details of Bob Scutro's Camaro. Lots of welding and grinding smooth under the hood and under the floor. |  1934 TerraplaneDanny Forrester brought this stock car to us for upgrading. Lots of chassis work, independent front end, disc brakes, PS, AC, tilt steering, and real chrome & black wire wheels. |  Pedal carAnother 3rd generation build. This one was for Frank Rappetti JR, after building his father a 48 Chevy, and his grandfather a 58 Chevy. |
 1982 Oldsmobile 98Rich Ciubinski is another of John P's old customers who followed me to my own shop. He had John start building him 2 or 3 other customs, a 55 Ford, and a 54 Chevy, I know of. He never finished any, but brought me this late model to customize. He wanted Edsel bumpers, tube grill, Trans Am scoops, Custom tails, and this wild Leopard Flamed paint. |  Rich's OldsRich showing off my newly made crest to put on the customs I've built. Classy, with matching Leopard Fez! |
bottom of page