River Cities Business Journal: Cover Story

Restoring classic cars is costly; Kingman enthusiast does it for love of the vehicles

Aaron Royster

Kingman Daily Miner

KINGMAN - With shows like “Pimp My Ride” on MTV and “Trick My Truck” on CMT, restoring or revving up classic cars looks like a cinch, but R&R Body Shop owner Rick Rice knows better.

Rice says the process of restoring a classic car can be very time consuming, depending upon the amount of work required.

There is a 1965 Chevy half-ton pick up at the body shop that has been there for the past six years getting restoration work completed on it.

Rice said it should be ready though within the next two months.

Rice said it is possible to fully restore a car in eight months to a year using a crew of three to four people on the vehicle, but Rice doesn't have that resource.

He also works on city vehicles and Arizona Department of Public Safety vehicles, beyond the modern cars that randomly drop in the shop.

The public safety vehicles get priority, but Rice said he treats every other customer the same.

Rice, who has 43 years experience in the automotive industry, said restoring a classic car is also expensive, too.

“Restoration means two zeros,” Rice said. “Take what you expect it to cost and add two zeros.”

Rice said 25 to 30 percent of all his business deals with classic car restoration.

He said he often gets people coming in, especially a month before the Route 66 Fun Run, asking him to restore their cars.

“I will do whatever the customer tells me what to do,” Rice said.

Sometimes that requires him to get clarification as to what aspects of the car the customer wants to restore.

Rice said it could easily cost someone between $60,000 and $70,000 to restore a 1950s Chevy to near original condition.

Rice said he has noticed some people are even transforming the classic cars into hot rods with modern technology. In that case all they really need is the frame and can save money on the often-discontinued classic parts.

Sometimes people who come into his shop looking for work on their car don't realize how much it's going to cost.

“It's like anything,” Rice said. “A lot of people are living back 35 years ago. They think they can do a paint job for $500.”

The reason for the steep price is the sometime limited supply of original parts for classic cars, according to Rice.

Often he has to seek out parts on the Internet and that takes time to find and deliver.

“It's kind of like a labor of love,” Rice said.

Rice got involved in the automotive industry because he had a love of cars, but also wanted to venture out away from his father's business and get experience of his own.

Though Rice added that when he gets home for working, the last thing he wants to do is work on the two classic cars he has there that need to be restored.

Even with all the costs and effort needed, Rice says there are plenty of classic cars roaming around the city.

One of the reasons he believes there is such a strong presence is the pull of Route 66 on people.

Rice said he has noticed a lot of people who are near the retirement age are looking to reconnect with their youth and want a hobby to do once they retire.

“This is one of the cars they had when they were growing up,” Rice said.

When asked what advice he'd give to someone who is thinking about purchasing a classic car to restore, Rice chuckled.

“Do your research before you even buy a car,” Rice said. “Spending $25,000 is no guarantee.”

Rice said he often has people coming in before they buy their cars to get advice on their future purchase.

“But, it's a dying trade,” Rice said. “A lot of kids that get in the business today want to be painters.”

While Rice doesn't shoot down their ambitions, he does feel that their skill is increased with experience.

But with the change in focus, repainting cars isn't the solution to your entire restoration problem Rice added.

“Painting a car doesn't get out the dents.” Rice said.