At European Auto Specialists, we’re proud of the car repairs we do on antique, classic and rare automobiles. Vintage car repair has been a cornerstone of our auto repair business ever since we first opened our Sycamore Road auto repair shop in Cincinnati in 2001. There’s an art to restoring and maintaining a beautiful European vehicle—or really any classic car—and we love reading about what others bring to the craft.
In a Farmers Insurance feature, Josh Pfeiffer details some of his favorite restoration projects. Pfeiffer is a restoration enthusiast who has been rehabbing classic and antique cars all his life.
One of his first attempted restoration projects was a 1966 Volkswagen Baja Bug at the age of 17. He actually bought the fixer upper when he was 14, two years before he could legally drive it. That project proved to be beyond his teenage capabilities but taught him some important lessons in restoring cars—like knowing when it’s time to walk away.
Why A European Auto Repair Specialty is Critical
“The Baja made me realize I should buy vehicles I’m familiar with, like the guy who bought the car from me,” Pfeiffer related. “He knew enough to diagnose the real cause of the Bug’s problems and how to get it running properly. He didn’t waste money on expensive repairs looking for a cure, which is what I did.”
Brand and model familiarity can be critical to understanding the nuts and bolts of a machine. That’s why at European Auto Specialists we always hire car mechanics that live and breathe European cars. It’s a speciality that comes in handy in getting to the bottom of a difficult auto repair.
Money Talks in Vintage Car Repair
One hard lesson we’ve learned restoring classic cars ourselves is to always budget how much you’re willing to invest from the start. Classic car restoration can be a little like Vegas. You walk in with the best intentions—but you can stagger away broke with or without the vintage car in running condition. Always set a cap of how much you’re willing to spend.
Pfeiffer learned that lesson the hard way. He restored a 1969 Ford Mustang Coup he paid $3,000 for. He later sold it for $18,000. On paper, that sounds like a pretty financially rewarding restoration project, right? Until you realize he sank in over $28,000 for repairs. Ouch.
“I’d been on this mission for five years and had a pile of receipts to prove it,” Pfeiffer admitted. “I invested more than I planned to and was feeling the strain on our finances. I loved the car—and might even buy it back some day—but sometimes you just have to recoup what you can and move on. I sold it at a rather painful loss.”
That’s why we always try to be straight with our customers at our auto repair shop in Cincinnati. How much are you willing to invest in a classic car restoration? Our vintage car repair experts will have it looking beautiful by the end, but you may have to spend.