Mopar restoration parts approved and licensed by the factory

https://www.mopar.com/en-us/store/parts/restoration-parts.html

The before and after photos of the sinkhole Corvette

the slide image is from the original images on the GM website, where you can see the before and after by clicking on the slide feature and slipping from side to side.

After recovery from the sinkhole, the 1 millionth Corvette was moved from the museum to the Design Center on GM’s Technical Center campus in Warren, Mich., for restoration.

“As the one and only 1 millionth Corvette, its preservation was important to us as the designers of the vehicle – and as Corvette enthusiasts,” said Ed Welburn, former vice president of GM Global Design.

“One of the most highly skilled specialty shops, a team of 30 people, and GM focused enthusiasts, craftspeople and technicians from GM Design’s Mechanical Assembly group, along with GM Service Operations, took on the project. Mechanical Assembly and the Fabrication Shops at GM Design build concept vehicles and maintain GM’s historic vehicle collection, so they were fully prepared to take on the challenge.”

Despite extensive damage, the team, represented by UAW locals 160 and 1869, vowed to preserve and repair as many original components as possible – a decision that involved posterity as much as history. That’s because under the skin, the 1 millionth Corvette carried all those signatures from the Bowling Green Assembly workers who built the car.

http://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2015/sep/0903-corvette.html

there it is in the above image on the left in the deep pit under the floor

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/travel/gallery/one-millionth-corvette-restoration/index.html

If you know Duesenbergs, you probably have heard of Ema. Obviously, I'm still learning, as this is all new to me

Ema has restored 52 Duesenbergs in his 30 years in business; six Model Js restored by him have scored first places at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. He reckons he has 28,000 original drawings and 1,000 patterns to make Duesenberg parts. "We can make exact reproductions, as opposed to those which look okay and are a testament to the success of guesswork," he says.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2006-05-31/lenos-latest-duesie

Ming's, the well known Honda restoration shop, scored some 1967 N600s, one happened to be serial #1

http://www.serialone.com/

When Honda's first fleet of 50 prototype N600s finished winter testing in 1967, they were sold for scrap to a junkyard, a few days later a Honda employee saw one heading down the road—it turns out the enterprising scrapyard owner decided to make a little money on the side as America's first bootleg Honda dealer. Honda made sure the remaining 47 cars were crushed, but three N600s had already escaped into the wild.

"They took 50 [Japanese market] N360s off the assembly line," Tim Mings says, speaking from his shop in California, "And installed these hot-rod 600cc engines. You can see how many of the parts are early prototypes, lots of sand-cast metal."

Mings found one of the three escapee '67 prototypes sitting on a trailer in Pomona, and made an offer. As it turned out, the owner had another N600 in his garage and asked if Mings wanted that one, too. He bought the car sight unseen and took it back to his garage where it sat for several years. Until one day he scraped off some of the debris covering the VIN, and there it was: N600-1000001.



http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/03/coming-america-first-ever-honda-n600-gets-restoration-video-series/

If you want your own chance to see the first Honda in America, jot the Long Beach Japanese Classic Car Show on your calendar. Now in its 12th year, Mings calls the show a must-see event. After that, serial number one will be tucked away in Honda's private museum in Torrance, which isn't open to the public.

http://www.thedrive.com/article/2634/the-first-ever-honda-in-the-us-gets-a-second-chance-at-life

Followup, Apr 2017:
http://www.automobilemag.com/news/honda-n600-serial-one-restoration

I just learned of a prestigious antique car restoration business near Pasadena, Tired Iron Works

the blue car in the middle above is the million franc 1937 Delahaye, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-car-hitler-had-personal-vendetta.html

https://www.facebook.com/Tired-Iron-Works-104201099745298/

Academy of Art University in San Francisco just launched its Automotive Restoration program, which teaches students traditional restoration techniques

Tom Matano, who heads Academy of Art’s auto design programs created the legendary Miata and held executive design positions at Mazda, GM and BMW.

Mr. Matano has almost 30 years of experience in the automotive industry, holding design positions at General Motors in Detroit, Michigan, GM Holden’s Ltd. in Melbourne, Australia, and BMW in Munich, Germany. In 1983, he joined Mazda’s North American studio as a Chief Designer.
The Academy of Art University has been there, to enable students to create since 1929.

The industry demand  has alerted colleges to the need for entry level college grad restorers with the skills, historical knowledge, and research ability required for replicating historically authentic classic cars.

Vehicle restoration requires parts to be repaired or reproduced because many cannot be purchased, so training in hands-on skills and machining or repairing parts in historically accurate authentic appearance.

The vintage Automotive Restoration program prepares students for a career in a preservation field by focusing on techniques in woodwork and machine work, sheet metal work, upholstery work, systems knowledge, and process of disassembly and assembly, coupled with historical studies and research skills needed to restore vintage vehicles.

 Our students will receive training on how to evaluate a component and determine if it must be fabricated or if it can be repaired.

 The School of Industrial Design has the facilities and a Automobile Museum where a significant number of cars have already been fully restored to the highest standard where students can closely examine and work on many aesthetically remarkable examples, and is now ranked #4 in the Red Dot World Ranking of Industrial Design schools.

Students will gain hands-on skills in making accurate technical drawings; duplicating automotive woodwork; repairing, replicating, and sculpting auto body panels to factory specifications; painting auto body panels using industry standard equipment; and reassembling restored components back to a superb and visually correct functioning automobile, ready for shows.

ONLINE AT: academyart.edu
BY PHONE: 1.800.544.2787
IN PERSON (Monday-Saturday)
79 New Montgomery St.
San Francisco, CA 94501

The ingenuity and boundless vision of 13 Academy of Art University students—from the schools of Industrial Design, Fashion and Web Design and New Media—was recently displayed in the Academy’s Automobile Museum for a group of executives from Jaguar.

Led by Jaguar Design Director Ian Callum, the group arrived in San Francisco to review the work of these students, who spent their summer semester designing and creating concepts for year 2030 Jaguar automobile interior designs. The Academy was one of the two universities Jaguar selected for corporate sponsorship in America.

a small restoration shop I've never heard of, but only 30 miles away, is so good an Alaskan museum send vehicles to it

Allen Schmidt's Horseless Carriage Restoration http://www.restorationstuff.com/news.html  in Escondido in Southern California, just 30 miles north of San Diego

http://fountainheadauto.blogspot.com/2015/01/on-road-scottsdale-and-escondido.html

The gas station B 17 of Art Lacey, near Portland Oregon is getting restored to fly again... it's going to take about 7 years

full post of how a B 17 came from WW2 surplus to be a gas station tourist draw at http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/01/i-love-b-17-bomber-story-here-is-good.html

For info about its restoration: http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/bullet-news/b-17-lacey-lady-update.html

in the 1990's the fuselage was removed and restored, and that was all the funding they had put together.

So, in 2012 someone got fed up with the lack of interest and lack of give a damn, and fired up the troops, and pulled the engines down for a rebuild

The engines are so flippin rare... and these are the rarest of them all... unless you know of a quartet still in the crates. These ones are only 37 hours of run time used. The lowest run time 1820-97s that exist.

In the summer of 2013 they sent the cockpit roof and tail turret to a master craftsman repairman in Atlanta

In the fall of 2013 the pulled the rudder and elevators.

Individuals, groups, or organizations interested in providing sponsorship for the B-17 Alliance Group project please contact:   
AllianceMuseum@B17AllianceGroup.org

A lot of people have asked why don’t you just get a crane and bring it down? It is not quite that simple. We have done our homework. Besides hiring a crane company, there is the 2 months of security fence rental so that once the airplane is down people don’t just show up in the middle of the night armed with a battery powered sawzall and help themselves to a piece of the plane as a souvenir. Then you have equipment rental. Transport costs, etc. Add it all up and it gets expensive fast. We are currently launching a fundraising campaign in order to cover these costs so that we may not only get the Lacey Lady out of the elements before there is nothing left to save, but to also continue the restoration.

Once inside she will not just be tucked away and forgotten about. The bomb bay and radio room will join the cockpit in the jig. The rear fuselage will be also placed in a jig. Once placed in the jigs, the work will continue. Even though we are picking up momentum, it is still going to take 5-7 yrs to complete this restoration. One thing we have going for us is that our airplane has not been crushed or burned, but with the corrosion and missing components from theft and vandals, we have our work cut out for us. But we believe this is a very doable restoration. All the work that has been done so far has been done to airworthy condition. When we are finished with the restoration we plan to fly her as a tribute to the men and women who served in WW2.”

info from http://www.warbirdsnews.com/category/warbird-restorations/b-17g-lacey-lady

the bad work that is revealed through media blasting the paint off

found on http://hotrodscustomstuff.com/latest-stuff/inside-the-blasting-booth.html

1924 Cadillac 20 passenger bus, from a barely recognizeable frame to a near perfect restored Cadillac

this is the largest add on trunk I've come across

if you are the type that helps students out, and loves car restoration projects, I've got the right people you ought to know about. MacPherson College students

above is the 1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S Saoutchik Torpedo that was restored at Paul Russell & Co (who seeked out and employs several grads of the MacPherson College Auto Restoration program...) and won the prestigious 2012 International Historic Motoring Awards (IHMA) Restoration of the Year http://historicmotoringawards.com/winners.php as well as the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Best of Show award.

Just you so understand that the MacPherson College students and programs are of the highest quality, and not wasting time or money raised in the annual January equipment and tools benefit fundraiser. http://theoldmotor.com/?page_id=64551&preview=true/ has the list of tools and equipment they need to acquire or replace (if only modern equipment lasted as long as the cars they restore!)

Any amount towards any needed item, no matter how small will be more than welcome. You can also buy any particular tool or piece of equipment and contribute the full amount for it also if you would prefer. All contributions will go 100% directly to the program http://www.mcpherson.edu/giving/

Paul Russell and Company, the automotive restoration and preservation specialists  brought the double award winning Mercedes back east November 3rd to an eager crowd of enthusiasts, http://www.autoweek.com/article/20121106/carnews01/121109886 raising funds for McPherson College’s Automotive Restoration Program, the country’s only four-year Bachelor of Arts program devoted to the craft. The event hosted over 200 avid auto enthusiasts, sponsors, and supporters who were treated to a first-hand explanation of the custom coach builder’s art from the restoration team, several of whom are McPherson College Graduates.

"McPherson sets the standard and their graduates can be found at some of the world’s leading restoration shops and winning prestigious awards at events around the country.” McKeel Hagerty, President and CEO said.

the Paul Russell and Company site http://paulrussell.com/portfolio-retrospective/D-mercedes-benz/28_680s/ about the 1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S, its history and its restoration.

A far better and more thorough gallery here http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/2863/Mercedes-Benz-680-S-Saoutchik-Torpedo-Roadster.html

Getting back to the students and tools, http://www.mcpherson.edu/autorestoration/AR-newsletter-fall-2012.pdf is a cool newsletter that is focused on the restoration program, and the students activities like the Great Race entrants. The college is entering a '57 Fairlane in the 2013 Great Race.

 Amanda Gutierrez, vice president for automotive restoration, said the race would give students great experience as well as an opportunity to show their skills and talent. At the same time, people across the nation who might never have heard of McPherson College before will see what the program has to offer.

In the 2012 Great Race a model A was enjoyed by 365daysofA.com blogger and college alumni Jonathan http://www.mcpherson.edu/autorestoration/AR-newsletter-summer-2012.pdf , plus a '62 IH truck was enjoyed by restorer program alumni Kacy and Tabetha who now work for Hagerty Ins http://www.mcpherson.edu/autorestoration/career.php http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/two-for-the-road-in-a-62-travelette/

photo by Mike Drilling and is in the New York Times article

For previous newsletters filled with incredible stories (terminal cancer dyno shop owner donates drag racing duster to Leno's collection, and a scholarship for his hometown's MacPherson College students, plus the students car show travelling to retirement/nursing homes for those seasoned citizens that can't make it to the car shows) read http://www.mcpherson.edu/autorestoration/AR-newsletter-fall-2011.pdf

Those funds will accumulate and allow the automotive restoration department to purchase needed tools and equipment in order of priority – such as louver dies for a bead roller, a complete work station set, a tire machine for the motorcycle lab or an Iwata paint gun



read about the above Model T assembly on page 5 of http://www.mcpherson.edu/autorestoration/AR-newsletter-summer-2012.pdf

and if you prefer real time updates and inside info, like the Lyn St James ( http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/09/lyn-st-james-icon-race-car-driver-and-i.html ) symposium, check their facebook page http://www.facebook.com/MCautorestoration

Don't misunderstand about the fundraiser, the alumni of the program have been incredible in their donations too! A deep shrinker stretcher was given to the program at the 10year class reunion of the '02 class. Way cool!