Old Timer Garage

The restoration of this car is part of a bigger project. It is linked to a part of the the story I tell in the road trip part of this website.

If you haven't read it yet, you can find it here (20- Second trip and Dodge Challenger). It will make more more sense for the rest of the story.

1. Preparation of the project

Back in the UK, I put my plan in action.
I have had the whole flight back to prepare what I wanted to do so I just have to execute the plan and hope everything goes as planned.

First of all I need to find a serious workshop in Mexico. Someone I would be able to work with. This is probably going to be the most complicated part of the project because Mexicans don’t have a very good reputation generally speaking about the work ethic and more specifically in the classic car world. They are very good at making a very shiny paintjob but the preparation ahead of the paint sometimes isn’t so good which is the best way to have problems down the line. In my experience, the preparation for a paintjob represents at least 90% of the result so I am going to have to make sure somehow that they work properly before I send them my car.

Contrary to what I was expecting, I find a few people pretty rapidly right next to the border who could be good candidates for my project so I decide to contact them. Now is going to start the critical part of the selection: I need to prove them that I am serious while at the same time making sure that they don’t take me for a “gringo” whom they are going to be able to take advantage from but rather a partner with whom they are going to be able to do interesting business with. I know the latin culture pretty well and speak Spanish fluently with a latin accent but my name is definitely French, my car will come from the US and although my accent is latin, it is not Mexican so I have a few advantages for me but the game is far from won yet.

In total I contacted 6 different workshops in Mexico. 2 of them didn’t answer, 2 were not interested and finally the last 2 were interested in discussing the project further.
I had a few more phone calls with them and I realised that one of them was actually working out of his backyard. I don’t have anything against that specially, that’s how I started myself but in this particular case, I am looking for someone a little more professional than that. Besides, I know how much heavy rain this part of the world receives during monsoon season which, without a roof, means that it is impossible to work in a reliable manner during three months of the year.
I am left with one candidate only. I have lost count of how many conversations I had with this guy over the phone. The number of pictures I asked him to see his workshop, examples of his past work etc…
I am taking a lot of risk on this project so I must control as many parameters as possible to mitigate them. 

Once the technical part locked, I still have to negotiate how much they are going to charge me for the work. And this is where I am going to have to be smart because prices in Mexico are obviously cheaper than in the US but you don’t want to lower them too much because it would cause them to reduce the quality of the work they are doing in order to still make a profit and I can’t afford this sort of problems. The price he gives me is more or less what I was expecting to pay. It is of course lower than what I would have to pay in the US or in Europe so I tell him that I am OK with it providing that the work is perfectly done and done within the timeframe that they have committed to which in latin America is something that can be very hard to get and I know that by experience. And to make sure that this is the case, I suggest a payment plan based on the delivery of the car. It won’t guarantee an on-time delivery of the work but at least I will control the quality of the job because I will only pay if I am happy with the tasks that have been done. He is OK with is so I can now move on to the next phase of the project: find the car that is going to be used as a test for this project.

I had of course already an idea of the car I wanted (in fact, this phase of the project has been done in parallel of the previous one because I needed to know which car I was going to send to Mexico to negotiate the price and timeframe of the project).
I am back to my friend in the US to see with him what cars he would have for sale that could be a good candidate for my project. He has several ones in stock at his workshop and suggest around 10 for me to choose from. Several parameters have to be taken into account in my opinion: the price of course, in which state it is and the amount of work that is going to be required to restore it but also whether or not it is a car I personally like because in the worst case scenario where the car would not be properly restored and couldn’t be sold, I would have to keep it for myself so I want it to be a car that I like.

So these are the cars I can choose from: a 1958 Desoto Station Wagon, a 1959 Cadillac Coupe that needs to be put back together, a 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville and a few others that I didn’t find so interesting.
I am not a big fan of the Station Wagons models generally speaking so the Desoto is off the list and the 1959 Cadillac Coupe is of course a classic and even more so in France but it is pretty much completely dismantled and I need a car that is complete and driving to take it across the border.
So the last one left is the 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. I know a good part of the history of this car, I know where it comes from and I can see that its body is pretty sound. A few points of rust at the bottom of the quarter panels and holes in the floors but apart from that, it is in a very good shape and its price is acceptable so my choice is made.
One international bank transfer later, the car is mine and I just have to organize the launch of the project now and book my flights to go there to do it.

To be continued… here: 1960 Cadillac Coupe de Ville - part 2