What we do
It's Time to Start Your Adventures
Mechanical Repair & Restoration
Vintage Automotive is equipped to service pre-1975 vehicles performing minor mechanical maintenance such as tune-ups, front-end alignments, water pump or timing chain replacements, or brake work, …up to complete engine removal & replacement. If a replacement component is unavailable, we generally have the capability to rebuild the worn item(s) in-house to a condition that is equal to, --or greater in quality than when it was originally manufactured. As an installing dealer for Vintage Air, we can discreetly install modern air conditioning units into vintage vehicles for climate-controlled comfort and driving enjoyment during those extreme temperatures. Could you use power steering on your large teens or twenties car? We can cleanly retrofit a power-assist unit that is easily reversible yet greatly enhances your driving experience on tours. We also retrofit 6v or 12v electric starting motors to brass-era engines that were originally crank-start only. Our goal is to reliably enhance the operating performance of your vintage vehicle yet retain and respect its integrity as a vintage automobile. Contact us today to discuss your vehicle’s needs.
Concours-level Bodywork & Painting
From the initial stages of panel straightening to the final polishing, we pride ourselves in providing award-winning paint work in Lacquer paint as original, -or single-stage catalyzed Urethane paint that can provide years of durability and shine for your vehicle’s exterior. If it is paint repair that your vehicle needs, feel free to contact us so we can assess your needs and give options available to replicate the rest of your vehicle’s finish. Accidents do happen to collector vehicles too. When they do, insist on using a restoration shop that can provide the level of quality your collector vehicle deserves. At Vintage Automotive, you can be assured your vehicle’s repairs will be done correctly.
Sheetmetal / Panel Fabrication & Repair
he craftsmen at Vintage Automotive use vintage sheetmetal fabrication tools such as a Pullmax P5, a pneumatic planishing hammer, a large wheeling machine, and various powered shrinkers & stretchers to fabricate sheetmetal and alloy panels for vintage automobile restoration. To ensure quality sheet metal repair, our craftsmen use oxy/acetylene torches or a TIG welder to weld the fabricated repair panels into the original sheetmetal to creating a finish that is virtually undetectable in bare metal. From small patch panels to complete hand-formed bodies, let us assist you in doing the job correctly. Although we do not manufacture commercially available patch panels at this time, we do welcome sub-component repair & restoration work on your project’s sheetmetal. The key to longevity of paint finishes is having the proper foundation along with minimal substrates to build upon. We welcome you to visit our facility and inspect our craftsmanship first-hand.
Woodwork & Wooden Body Framing
A critical and often overlooked facet of auto restoration is repairing, -or even remanufacturing the structural wood found inside of many vintage vehicle’s bodies. Our Wood Shop is fully equipped with commercial-quality wood planers, saws, and shapers to provide the highest-level of fit and structural integrity possible. With advanced in-house Computer Aided Drawing capabilities, CNC routing technology or steam-bending capability, we can custom manufacture structural infrastructure wood for almost all vehicles. Let the craftsmen at Vintage Automotive assist you with your project.
Engine Rebuilding including Babbitt work
Vintage Automotive offers a complete automotive machine shop with dedicated equipment such as a wet magnetic particle inspection machine, a crankshaft grinder, a digital balancer, a valve seat & guide machine, a block/head resurfacer, two align-boring machines capable of doing small to large cylinder blocks, along with various specialty machines & tooling to rebuild almost all types of engines & powerplants. We pour & line-bore Babbitt bearings, -or we can convert your block or rods to modern insert bearings should that be your desire. From a two-cylinder Maxwell up to straight-eight Marmon, or an early Ford flathead to a ‘70s Chevrolet V-8, --and those marques in-between, we have the rebuilding capability to meet your needs.
Machine work & subcomponent fabrication
A restoration is not just about the aesthetics but should include the vehicle’s performance too. Worn or sub-standard parts often create an inferior vehicle that is anything but enjoyable. At Vintage Automotive, our in-house machine shop is equipped with machines such as a vertical milling machine and large engine lathes complete with digital controls where we can restore worn mechanical components back within factory tolerances and specifications. We also have a strong working relationship with an area shop that has CNC machining and laser-cutting capability to replicate intricate parts to exacting standards. In addition, we frequently use SolidWorks CAD to sample a missing or damaged part and can use our small foundry capable of casting bronze and alloy parts to replicate those damaged or missing parts for those rarest of vehicles. Our philosophy is not to just ‘Repair & Repaint’ a component, but to restore that worn component to a condition where it functions and performs exactly as it was originally intended when manufactured.