Restoration That Honors the Build
Restoring a classic, vintage, or collector vehicle isn't the same job as fixing a daily driver. The materials are different. The repair priorities are different. The painters who can match a 1957 Mercedes 220S's original metallic blue, or duplicate the original lacquer process on a 1960s muscle car, are not the same painters working on a Toyota Camry refinish. The work demands patience, period-correct technique, and a deep commitment to the final outcome.
We've handled a one-of-a-kind 1957 Mercedes 220S with a custom metallic blue, restored after a long sit. We approach every restoration the same way: assess what's there, document what's needed, and quote each phase honestly so you can make decisions with full information.
Project Scope, Full or Partial
Restoration projects come in all sizes. We take them on at any scope:
- Full ground-up restoration. Strip to bare metal, repair or replace every panel, full prep and refinish, reassembly. Multi-month commitment. We coordinate the body and paint scope; mechanical and interior work typically goes to specialty shops we can recommend.
- Body and paint only. The mechanicals are sorted, you want the car painted and the body straightened. This is one of our most common restoration scopes.
- Single-panel restoration. A door, a fender, a hood that needs the same period-correct refinish as the rest of the vehicle, blended invisibly.
- Color change. Restoration to a different color, with full strip-down and proper preparation so the new finish doesn't reveal the old color through doorjambs and trim edges.
- Patina preservation. Some classics are worth more with their original (worn) finish preserved. We can mechanically and structurally restore without disturbing the paint where that's the right choice.
- Hot rod and custom builds. Modified, chopped, channeled, or custom-fabricated. We work with the build vision.
Color Matching for Vintage Paint
Matching the original paint on a 40-, 50-, or 70-year-old vehicle is meaningfully harder than matching a modern factory finish. The original formula may not be commercially available anymore. Pigments fade and shift over decades. Lacquer paint behaves differently than modern urethane. Original colors were sometimes mixed differently across production years or assembly plants.
Our approach:
- Spectrophotometer reading of preserved original paint (often inside a door jamb or under the trunk lid) for an accurate starting point.
- Period-correct formulation using modern paint systems that replicate the original visual character, depth, gloss, and shift in metallics and pearls.
- Color sample-out on a test panel before committing to the full vehicle. You approve the match before any panel is sprayed.
- Blending where appropriate, sometimes the right answer is to refinish certain panels and leave original paint on others, with careful blending at the seams.
Read more about our color matching process →
Bodywork on Old Metal
Pre-modern steel responds differently to bodywork than today's high-strength alloys. Older metal is softer, more easily formed, and more forgiving of careful hammer-and-dolly work, but also more prone to fatigue and rust. Our restoration process accounts for this:
- Strip first, assess second. We always know what we're dealing with before deciding on repair vs. panel replacement. Filler can hide a multitude of sins.
- Hammer-and-dolly first, filler last. Where modern repair sometimes leans on filler, classic restoration leans on shaping the metal itself.
- Rust eradication. Surface rust treated, pitting addressed, perforated panels patched or replaced with period-correct or quality reproduction sheet metal.
- Weld-through primers and seam sealers in cavities to prevent future rust at repair joints.
Pricing and Timeline
Restoration pricing is inherently project-specific, the costs vary by:
- Scope (single-panel vs. full vehicle)
- Condition (clean original vs. heavily damaged or modified)
- Body material (steel, aluminum, fiberglass on some classics)
- Parts availability (reproduction vs. NOS vs. one-off fabrication)
- Color complexity (single-stage solid vs. multi-stage metallic, pearl, candy)
We don't publish flat rates because they would be misleading. We assess the vehicle in person or via detailed photos, talk through your goals, and provide a phased written quote so you understand each step.
Timeline is similarly project-specific: a single-panel restoration may be 2-4 weeks. A full body-and-paint restoration on a clean classic: 3-6 months. A heavy ground-up project: 6-18 months. We give you a realistic timeline at quote and update you at every milestone.
Start the Conversation
If you have a classic or collector vehicle and want to talk about a restoration, reach out. Send photos, share the history, tell us what you want the finished vehicle to look like. We'll come back with an honest assessment and a phased plan, no high-pressure quotes, no rushed scope.
The best restorations start with the right conversation. Get in touch →