Old fashioned in a new way

In the history of Top Shop submissions, rarely if ever will you find a restoration/custom shop in the running. This didn’t stop Stephen and Denise Ramsey from putting Ramsey’s Rods and Restoration into the hat, since they have a unique niche market backed up by a strong operational philosophy.

“I didn’t start this to make a profit,” comments Stephen. An avid car collector in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, he tried in vain to find any shop that would work on his cars in a timely and efficient manner, so he opened his own. But word quickly spread through the local collector car community, and soon he had a solid client base. It was this point that Ramsey had an epiphany.

Due to the sheer size of the Dallas/Fort Worth market and a temperate climate that allows nearly year-round cruising, quite a few collector and antique cars are driven on a regular basis. And all those vehicles need maintenance and repairs, particular from someone who’s knowledgeable and caring about these older rides. Ramsey had discovered an untapped market.

“Who repairs the rear end on a Chevelle anymore,” asks Adrian Britton, Ramsey’s lead technician. “Who wants to do a tune up on a ’68 Challenger? How does someone get their ’36 flathead Ford fixed? No one wants to do the basic repairs on these antique and classic cars anymore. We don’t just take a car apart and rebuild it, we’ve got the guy who shows up in his ’55 Skyliner when his power seat doesn’t work.”

“I realized that people are not opposed to paying good money –as long as the work is performed,” Ramsey observes. “Charging a set fee to make a profit was not the goal, it was the end result. I’m now profit driven, but I’m also geared to take care of the customer and the car. We have a unique concept in restoration, and we took it to the next level by giving the customer the benefit of the doubt on all issues; and by making the car the primary focus, paying for labor that was addressed directly to the vehicle, not necessarily to outside expenses.”

Since there’s no estimation program configured for older cars and old rate books would be wildly out of date, projects fees are handled strictly on an hourly rate. “We do not estimate, there are no estimates given,” Ramsey affirms. “The level of trust that’s between a restoration shop and the consumer base is the most important thing. We have a unique policy on parts: customers can put a credit card on file, and we charge the parts directly to their card which eliminates markup on the parts.”

“Our techs understand these automobiles; they grew up fixing them,” Britton states. “My very first tune up was a 421 Pontiac Bonneville. We’re real conscious of what we’re doing. These cars are now so well kept and maintained, you find yourself worrying about the clothes you’re wearing as you lean against the paint. It goes way beyond what‘s normally done with just putting down a paper floor mat or seat cover.”

Britton has two technicians for these projects, one dedicated almost exclusively to repairs, the other assisting off and on as needed. Besides basic maintenance, they also perform upgrades and installs like Freon conversion, drum to disc brakes, modern overdrive transmissions and factory crate motors. Other techs handle body work for full restorations, and have their own section of the shop with a paint booth.

“I would say that 30 to 40 percent of what we do is antiques,” Britton estimates. “The rest probably fall into the muscle car category or are turned into pro touring cars (usually muscle cars with improved handling). Every Thursday evening or Friday morning we send out emails with photographic progression of what’s happening with every customer’s vehicle. The advent of technology like the digital camera has been great. Our digital card gets filled up because we take pictures in the extra large format, 4 to 6 megabytes, so we can blow them up a lot without pixel distortion.”

This technology also aids in locating parts when part numbers are no longer available. “I take digital photos of something that is broken or bent,” Britton explains, “or I go to someone I know has the same vehicle, and I use Adobe to insert arrows pointing to what I need. The Buick museum in Michigan has even contacted us because we have 1400 photographs detailing the dismantling of an original 1953 Skylark.”

Surprisingly parts availability isn’t much of an issue these days; there are many aftermarket manufacturers that cater to classic cars--sometimes even using OEM tooling-- most parts can be obtained new. What can’t be bought new or used may have to be reproduced, and to that end Ramsey’s has a network of machine shops.

“We have a specific belief we give our customers: nothing in this building waits to be worked on,” Britton points out. “If it’s not to be worked on for two weeks, it will sit at you house for that time. We don’t stack cars up; your money doesn’t pay for a car that just sits in the building. We have paperwork which outlines the scope of the work. If the customer wants to change that scope, they sign an amended contract. You need to have accountability and people need to understand that you respect who they are, and more importantly you’ll respect the job that you’re doing and stand up for it.”

This stringent system is the purview of Stephen’s wife Denise. “Our bookkeeping is very extraneous because we don’t use any type of software system,” she explains. “It’s hands-on, lots of paperwork, but the customer can look at their folder—sometimes an entire bin once we get done with a car. But we have every receipt, every time card, everything is documented. Our biggest thing is to make sure that we’re being cost effective with the timeliness of the shop, with the money they’re paying us, and that they’re getting quality workmanship; we don’t undercut anything to lose the integrity of the build or the vehicle.”

The Ramsey’s new take on old fashioned repair might just take them to the top.