Bonneville Salt Flats Racecar
”Some folks have the talent to build their dream cars others don’t, but they still have dream cars. I’m one of the latter, I can’t build a car, but I’ve got a lot of cars running around in my head that need to be built. I have had hot rods and drags cars since my teens, basic stuff that can be done in the shop at home. I’ve had two cars that were serious hot rods which I had built. Now this was before I met Chris, but I’m getting to that. Before building the two hot rods I referred to, I always felt that surely there must be many places in the DFW MetroPlex where a person could have fabrication work done in a reasonable time frame at a fair rate. Surely out of 7 million people there must be a dozen people who can take an idea and execute it. Build that car that you have running around in your head. I began building a 1932 Ford 3 Window High Boy back around 1994. It was a project someone had started and I bought it thinking it only needs a little work and it’ll be a fine little ’32. I searched out different shops and learned my lesson real quick. I learned that the most important thing you need when having someone else build a car for you is a trailer. Yes a trailer. You need a trailer so you can pick up that damn dream car and move it to the next shop because that last shop screwed you out of time and money!
Chris didn’t work on either of those two hot rods because he wasn’t around at the time and I hadn’t met him yet. I got bit by the Bonneville salt bug around 2002 and had a salt race car built which hit the flats for the first time in 2006. I returned from the salt flats in 2006 with some paint damage on the race car. By this time Chris and I had become good friends and I contacted him and asked if he would take a look at the damage and let me know if he’d like to fix it for me. He looked at it, “Not a problem” he told me and he got after it. The repair grew and he ended up having to repaint the body and repair the hand painted number on the side of the car. In 2007 I went back to the salt flats with the newly painted car, that looked better than it ever did, and was toeing the car up to the starting line for the first race when an out of control race car collided with my car and tore off the left side of the body. My crew and I patched the car up as best we could and raced it, but it looked pitiful. We got back home and I called Chris, told him what happened and asked him to come over and take a look at it. “Not a problem” he told me and yes, he had to repair, rebuild and repaint the whole car. Only this time he added graphics including a new car number layout. The car now looks better than it ever did. Now you might say, yeah you’re good friends and that’s why he did it for you. No that’s not it, when Chris commits to doing something, he meets or exceeds his deadline. He listens to you and asks questions to eliminate the gray areas and he delivers. That means the project will get done on time and cost you less because it is not being drawn out and there is no rework unless you change your mind.
Chris is working on a shop truck for me right now. It has a lot of sentimental value for me and I know it will be done on time and meet my expectations. And there is a rat rod floating around in my head and a gasser and who knows what else”.
-Greg Rice
”I was frustrated and fed up with the shop that was restoring my Camaro. I learned of Chris from the mechanic working on my car. I asked Chris to go over my car and do an honest and truthful assessment of the work that was done. Chris did a very thorough evaluation of my car and supplied detailed photos and documentations of the flaws and quality of work. What I appreciated about Chris was he did not attempt to talk negatively about the shop that worked on my car, he just presented the facts of the restoration and what it would take to repair the car. He took time to understand what I wanted in the restoration and presented me options to repair the car. Because I wanted to have a car of show quality, he explained patching the car would not give me the quality I would inevitably desire. Chris is now in the process of redoing my car from frame up. I am very happy with the progress and the level of involvement I have had in the restoration. Chris has lived up to all expectations to date.”
-Mark Phillips 67 Camaro Convertible