Autogeek's Helping in the Heartland

Autogeek Show Car Garage goes to the heartland!

On Thursday December 6th, Yancy, Mike Phillips and his team of helpers went to Lincoln, Nebraska to help make a father's holiday wish become a reality! They met up with their host Wes Collins, aka Proheader on AutogeekOnline.net forum to help Wes with the restoration of a muscle car that was hidden away in a barn for 17 years. This classic example of Detroit Iron was a race car in its former life and is now being restored to be a daily driver for Wes' business partner's son, who is completely unaware of this project. The project is being kept a complete secret until Christmas morning when they will surprise the son with his dream car; a car he thinks was sold years ago.

Autogeek's Role
Our job was to sand the paint flat to remove any orange peel and other surface imperfections and then polish the paint to perfection to give this classic muscle car a true show car finish. We had two full days to do all the sanding, compounding and polishing steps. Mike Phillips wasn't going to do all the work himself; Mike also had the painter of the car, another professional painter, a PPG Rep and a professional car restorer to help him knock this project out within the strict deadline.

Special VIP Guest
We had a special guest join us to really make this project a one-of a kind Christmas present that will be treasured forever, NHRA 2012 Comp Eliminator National Champion - Bruno Massel.

How this all started...

Quote: Originally Posted by Proheader

Official Invitation to
MIKE PHILLIPS!!!!!!

"NOW ON WITH THE STORY...

This car has been in a barn for 17 years. When the son left for college, it was backed in a corner and began to become a Bellagio for mice. There it sat year after year just settling dust on her back for years. So much dust that when we picked it up, we could not tell what color it was initially.

The story begins back at a Thanksgiving about two years ago when the car was brought up at the supper table..... " that ol' thing, I will never be able to get it back, I just can not afford it right now".

A true father looks to help his son in any way he can. Dad lets the dust settle for a few months and then calls me. Hey, I want to do this ol' car for the kid. He put himself through college and knew one day that he maybe could afford the car once he became older. But Dad thought, why not now, we have the resources, and the team to get this done for him and give it to him for Christmas so he would not even suspect this thing is going on.

This is a TOTAL and I mean TOTAL surprise gift. Compare it to your Dad showing up with your first ever bicycle RESTORED!!!!..... just totally AWESOME.

I came to you Mike because of the passion you have for helping all of us. I just thought to ask for your help to the small guy sometimes that is willing to sell his own car to get you here and make this happen for a Dad that is not my father but has treated me like a son for over 8 years. He has seen my business grow from my home garage to a 6k square foot shop in only 14 months with four people now working part time and enough work until April of 2013. Without him I would not be here nor have the space to offer you to come and do this huge favor for us....

This whole thing is about more than a car, and a father and son. It is about helping those who would not have the opportunity to be something without the help of others who put their faith and trust in someone who has the potential but may not the chance to showcase it.......

If this works AWESOME, I think it will bring a feeling that will last forever in all of our minds beyond just those of us involved. It is a win for all of us who spend more than 20 hours awake everyday for 12 years to make a go at a business no one ever saw, except one person....... the kid's Dad saw it in me..... I am going to make this happen no matter what.......

So thanks Mike for even responding, it means the world to me that people even notice....

NOW, for those of you who want to know what the car is..... I can not reveal it yet because it is so different, that if I was to say, it would show up in this thread in a Google search....... lets just say.... its AMERICAN MADE CAR, and it now sports an LS1 and a 6 speed... it will be a daily driver that he can hop in and come home anytime a few hours away...

Proheader" - Click here to view forum thread

Sponsors
To help see this project through to success we have a number of sponsors we would like to thank for their contributions.

• 3M - Dennis Povio, the Senior Account Representative supplied all the sanding products will need including 3M wet/dry sanding papers, backing pads and Trizact Sanding Discs.


• Flex North America - Bob Eichelberg, the President of Flex Power Tools North America supplied Flex Rotary Buffers and Dual Action Polishers to do all the machine cutting and polishing.


• Menzerna USA - Jeff Silvers, President of Menzerna USA supplied all the compounds and polishes for compounding and polishing the paint to perfection. That included the brand new Fast Gloss 400 Compound or FG 400.


• Lake Country Pad Manufacturers - Eric Dunn, the Senior Account Manger for Lake Country Manufacturing supplied all the wool and foam cutting pads needed for each of the compounding and polishing steps all the way through the project.


• Grit Guard - The wonderful family behind the Grit Guard company, Doug, Luan, Chris and Alli supplied a Grit Guard Universal Pad Wash and Detailing Cart.


• Autogeek.net - Max McKee, the President and CEO of Autogeek.net and Palm Beach Motoring Group supplied products from the Pinnacle Natural Brilliance Line for adding all the finishing touches inside and out to create a true, rolling work of art. Max has also waived the traveling and on-location appearance fees for Yancy and Mike Phillips.

Two Part Series!

This is the first part - The Story, Time-lapse & all recorded LIVE Feed videos, stay tuned for the reveal video. Also be sure to read the official forum thread on this amazing experience and be sure to post your own comments about Autogeek's Helping in the Heartland.

Click here to view forum thread