Franz

What a shame. What a tragedy. How can this happen? Recently, during one of my weekend Craigslist quests to save the crumbling orphans out there behind barns and in fields, I stumbled upon a very early W113 Mercedes SL. The Mercedes Pagoda SL's began production in 1964, and this one was a very early 1965 with a manual gear box, European market gauges, and some interesting trim and headlamps not present on US models. After doing a little research I discovered that this was the 458th SL to roll out of the factory. Someone purchased this car overseas and had it shipped to the US a long time ago, back when it was much easier to do so. The gentleman selling the car had purchased it from it's original owner about 10 years ago with the intention to restore it. The car sat in his garage until a couple of years ago when he decided to take the plunge and have the car restored professionally.

Rather than finding a shop that had any type of experience working on a car like this, it was sent to a chop shop in the crumbling industrial district of Benton Harbor, Michigan. The patchwork of buildings were filled with ex-convicts spraying cars in open rooms without respirators on. They apparently specialized in putting 22 inch rims on Chevy Monte Carlos, their pallet of choice included jolly rancher green and metallic purple. When they got their hands on this unlucky SL they ripped the seats out, tore the trim off, and quickly realized they had no business working on a car like this. It was rolled out into an open field behind their shop and left there for over a year. The elements quickly reduced it to a crumbling shell. Most people know that these are very special cars, and to kick one to the curb like this is such a shame.

With difficulty and a heavy heart, I loaded SL #458 onto my trailer and brought it to a place where it can spend it's last days amongst friends. Just out of curiosity, I put a warm battery in it and turned the key. Would you believe it almost started? Perhaps this is not the end of the line for SL #458... only time will tell.

Decimo Anniversario!

In a couple months we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary. How cool is that? Who would have thought that a restoration shop could survive and prosper in Fennville, and during a recession to boot. It certainly blows my mind!

Ten years ago I started this business in a cold, dimly lit shed that barely fit two cars. I started working on old cars because I had to do something, I was young, idealistic, passionate, and I had just lost my job as a designer. I needed to work on something that inspired me, something that I loved. And I absolutely loved working on those old cars, something about it just excited me gave me energy. With a handful of tools from my college days, and some rusty ones I found on the floor of the shed, European Auto Restoration was born.

A decade later I am amazed that my original idea was actually a kernel that slowly grew into a business which now supports my passion and my family. How wonderful! Currently, we are perfecting our craft. With each project, we improve upon the past. We are doing what we set out to do and finding people who value and support us and our vision.

This winter we are rebuilding a 1750 Alfa Romeo engine, working on a couple of Mercedes-Benz SL's, completely restoring a lovely BMW 2002 and a 1961 finback Mercedes. I couldn't be more proud of the work we are doing and of this unlikely business concept that I have been nurturing for the past ten years.

For me, one of the great lessons I have learned is that a business idea that looks good on paper has no more guarantee of success than an idea that is based on intuition. As an idea, European Auto would have made absolutely no sense on paper, yet here we are. Passion alone is one of the most important ingredients to the survival and success of this business. I have deep reserves of passion and love for the work that I do here and there is nothing else I'd rather be doing. Here's to the next 10 years.

What happened to July & August?

This summer time is simply flying by and so is our vintage race car! This August at Grattan Raceway our best lap time was 1:32.8 and we came home with a nice 3^rd place finish in the Trans Am B sedan race. After Dyno tuning the newly designed race header, we are finally seeing the kind of power expected from #64. Great!

Isabella & Stella came out to visit dad at the track on Saturday

Steve, who has been painting our cars for a few years now, finally took a vacation. Steve is an intense perfectionist and a very particular craftsperson. We had so much going on in the body shop this summer I could see he needed to take a nice break to recharge his batteries. If I didn’t push him out he’d probably muscle through the work load. But, good work happens in a clear and calm state of mind, and everybody needs time off.

And in the shop... the Adenauer is undergoing extensive road testing after it’s re-awakening and we are getting close to sending ‘the Chancellor’ home. A bunch of sheet metal just showed up here from Stuttgart for Molly, our current rotisserie project. The little Fiat 128 is back on the hoist for more assembly. What a beautiful car, I can’t keep from staring at it. We are planning on hosting our 3^rd annual driving tour on Saturday, October 15th. Here’s hoping time will slow down a bit for us to enjoy all the great cars that roll through here.

The birthday present

My father is a soft-spoken man of very few words. Growing up, my mother did most of the talking in our household, while Pop taught my siblings and I by example. He worked hard, sent us all to college, built us each a beautiful kitchen, along with numerous bedroom sets, bookcases and bathroom armoires. He never asked for anything in return, and usually adamantly insisted that we give him nothing. This selfless part of his character was a hard pill to swallow, we all felt a bit guilty taking from the man over and over again.

Two years ago I spoke with my Mother about my Fathers upcoming 60th birthday and his retirement plans. They had recently talked about what he wanted to do to celebrate the end of a lifetime of working hard every day. He replied that he wanted to build and race a vintage race car, specifically he wanted a 1750 Alfa Romeo GTV and he wanted to build it at our shop here in Michigan. My mother wanted to make his dream a reality, so along with giving the whole idea her blessing she gave me a budget and told me to start looking for the perfect car to surprise him with on his 60th birthday. In the end, I didn’t find a run of the mill, tattered Alfa GTV. I found a 1971 GTV 1750, one of the most collectable GTV’s on the market. It was for sale right here in Grand Rapids, and I picked it up for a little less than we had discussed spending.

This June, we celebrated Pop’s 60th birthday with the entire Michele family, here in Michigan. We closed the shop early that day, and assembled with appetizers and birthday cheer on the patio. Everyone followed me down to the body shop, where I was supposedly headed to show off our latest restoration projects and new paint system. Pop was right at my heels, unaware of what awaited him in the shop but truly excited to spend the evening amongst old cars and family.



I swung open the large overhead door revealing the GTV sitting under a banner that read “Happy 60th Birthday!” Pop looked at the car, looked back at his entire family gathered together and then buried his face in his hands and wept. My family and I looked at each other nervously while the children excitedly chased each other around the shop. After a few long minutes Pop cleared his throat and quietly said, “It’s so beautiful”.

It was one of the greatest moments of my life. I have been looking for a way to show Pop my gratitude for a very long time.

Exciting times in the month of May

On May 1^st our Alfetta finished 10^th out of 39 in the first vintage race of the season at Gingerman Raceway in South Haven. First would have been better, but all in good time.

Our second daughter, Stella, was born on May 14^th at 1:46 am. She came along so quickly I almost had to deliver her myself in the front seat of our old Mercedes. We made it to the hospital just in time, thanks to a bit of adrenaline fueled, spirited driving.

Cars keep piling up around the shop… we certainly have our work cut out for us this spring. I just finished installing a clutch in a lovely original owner Fiat Spider. A great looking 560 SL from Florida with a sunbaked interior awaits interior restoration. A late Alfa spider is hiding some elusive Motronic issues. The INKA BMW is being prepared for the season. The 52’ Mercedes Adenauer is under going extensive mechanical restoration, what a beast! Then there’s the Mercedes Sprinter in need of a replacement piston (#2). An S class needs a head gasket, and an old W108 chassis showed up last week on a flat bed. That poor car has the saddest look on her face, but I told her “don’t worry old girl, you’re amongst friends here”. The Fiat 128 just came off the rotisserie, and the 61’ Benz is a day away from mounting up. Sprinkled in the mix are a super low mileage BMW Z3, an 82’ Mercedes diesel wagon, a Rover county that just arrived here from NYC and a 67’ Mercedes SL hiding in the body shop somewhere. My god, Stella will be in high school before I clear up all these projects.

The Parrot

Folks, we have Glasurit!

Early this spring we had a complete Glasurit 90 line installed in our body shop. This is the next step towards having complete artistic control over the work that comes through here. Now we make all of our paint right here. We make the primers, sealers, bases and clears that adorn these rolling works of art.

Gone are the days of chasing down an obscure paint code for a car few remember. Gone are the days of convincing a paint supply store to give a damn about perfectly matching the color that was on a car. Gone are the days of using paint that, quite frankly, is second best.

Glasurit was formed in Hamburg, Germany by Max Winklemann in 1888, marking this year as their 123^rd anniversary.  They are and have always been known for making the best tints in the world. Glasurit is the absolute best automotive paint on the market and is almost exclusively used on most of the European brands that we work on.

Your BMW came from the factory with Glasurit.

Your Ferrari came out of the factory with Glasurit.

Your Mercedes emerged from Stuttgart with Glasurit paint.

Your Porsche, your Fiat, your Alfa, your Saab, your Volvo, your Bently, your Volkswagen…

Glasurit’s new 90 line is also the most eco friendly automotive paint currently on the market. Basically, the 90 line sandwiches urethane with water based color pigments, greatly reducing the heavy metals that were once standard in all automotive paint.

We love using only the best ingredients, and we spray Glasurit.

Carlo's Pipe Organ

I am building a pipe organ. A collection of tubes, created with a specific length and diameter. Pipes designed to direct sound pulses from one place to another in a most pleasant way. The sound pulses must move quickly from the cylinder head of our race engine to the exit on the left side of the car.

If done properly we will be deliciously rewarded with increased power and a sound that only a purebred can produce. If done improperly I will be thoroughly depressed and probably never return to this terrible place. I wouldn’t be able to stomach the smell of oil burning off mild steel as the TIG welder migrates in a zig zag pattern across the seams. Too many hours spent reading boring engineering journals. Too many hours drawing full scale sketches. To many hours cutting and welding, cutting and welding again.

But, on paper this should work. It should be great. In theory these pipes should be a great improvement over what once was, a pipe organ that sounded like an out-of-tune bat. And that tone def bat was robbing horsepower from our small Italian heart.

Austrian born Carlo Abarth got his start hand building race headers for tiny Fiats decades ago. He sensitively manipulated steel pipes until they were able to sing a song so beautiful that everyone had to have one of his headers. It seems that he had a talent for romancing exhaust gasses away from the minature race engines that he tuned. I feel as though there may be a little bit of Carlo at work right here in Fennville. We’ll find out in May.