Restoring the Soul of a Grand Auto : A Vintage Car Purrs Anew at Body Shop in Panorama City
Several years ago, Claus Mees of Palo Alto paid $18,000 for a dismantled 1955 Mercedes gullwing he found in Oklahoma. The two-seat roadster, whose doors open up like gulls’ wings, have become collectors’ items because of their innovative styling and because only 1,400 of the cars were built between 1954 and 1957.
But Mees’ car was a bit short of pristine condition. So, in 1983, he hired Scott Grundfor, whose Scott Restorations in Panorama City specializes in overhauling gullwings and other vintage Mercedes cars.
Mees shipped his car to California in about 50 boxes, and many of its parts were missing. Three years later--Mees said it took that long because he couldn’t afford to have it finished sooner--Mees’ maroon gullwing was done.
Mees won’t say what he paid Grundfor for the repair job, although these days Grundfor charges up to $200,000 per car, except that it was “substantially less than what it costs today.” But Mees has no complaints. He takes his Mercedes-Benz 300SL gullwing out only for car display shows, and has never driven it. “It was perfect, and I wanted to keep it that way,” he said.
Scott Restorations is no slapdash body shop, where they pound out dented fenders and apply a $200 paint job. Cars brought to Grundfor are literally restored from the frame up, so that the cars look exactly the way they did when they left the factory three or four decades ago--or even better.
Top Restorers
Grundfor’s work has made him one of the four or five top restorers of vintage cars--particularly of Mercedes-Benzes--in the nation, said John Olson, editor of SL Market Newsletter, a Minneapolis-based journal for Mercedes SL owners.
“His reputation precedes him even as far as Stuttgart, where the Mercedes people know him,” said David Brice, an Australian hotel developer who has had three 300SLs restored by Grundfor and has two more in his shop.
A 1954 gullwing, which originally cost $6,280, today fetches more than $200,000 even if it’s just in average condition. But when Grundfor and his 37-member staff get done restoring it, the car would sell for more than $400,000.
With Grundfor, you pay for what you get. If he completely restores a Mercedes 300SL gullwing, the job can take up to 18 months and cost more than $150,000.
Despite the cost, his shop--which consists of three single-story buildings, one for painting and parts fabrication, one for assembly engine work and the other for storage--is crammed with two dozen 300SLs and several other makes in various states of restoration.
Overseas Clients
Customers from Japan and Europe ship their valuable autos for him to restore. He also brokers sales of hard-to-find cars, and together the businesses generate about $2.5 million in annual revenue, he said.
Grundfor knows that obsessions carry a big cost, and he’s only too happy to help wealthy car lovers fulfill their desire to own--and often resell for a profit--fully restored rare automobiles. But even though Grundfor acknowledges that his business has nearly made him a millionaire as well, he likens his work more to art than commerce.
“The hard part of the business is the business,” said Grundfor, a lean San Fernando Valley native whose beard and shoulder-length, light red hair makes him look younger than his 42 years. “You have cash flow problems that surface, you have accounting problems.
“I could have a body shop this size and make as much or twice as much money,” he added. “I love the cars. I like to be an artist.”
Grundfor’s canvas is not limited to the Mercedes 300SL. On a recent day, his shop also housed a 1936 Mercedes 540K cabriolet, a 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom 3 and a 1950 Ferrari 166-MM Barchetta, among others.
But he’s best known for the 300SL. Many of the cars’ parts can no longer be bought from the manufacturer--such as an ashtray--so it’s up to Grundfor to either find a used one and refurbish it, or build one from scratch. A Mercedes gullwing ashtray that Grundfor makes costs several hundred dollars; a restored 300SL radio would cost $1,500.
Also, all replacement fenders for the 300SL must be molded by hand. Grundfor’s team can re-upholster seats (cost: about $2,000), and reset wood paneling in the car’s interior. Painting a restored 300SL can range from $4,500 to $15,000, depending on the number of layers of paint required and the type of finish the car’s owner wants.
The 300SL originally had 47 exterior colors and 34 interior colors, but Grundfor generally will paint the car in nearly any color the client desires. Most stick with an original hue, however, because they know that protects the car’s resale value, he said.
Grundfor gives his customers a rough estimate of the cost, but requires no down payment once the work begins. He bills customers much in the way that law firms do: twice a month a detailed computerized invoice is sent out that lists the labor ($45 an hour) and parts “down to the number of screws and washers we use,” Grundfor said.
Raising Value
Although there are other restorers around the country, using Grundfor or another of the top firms can add 10% or more to the car’s selling price compared with the second-tier companies, Olson said. That’s important to some of Grundfor’s customers, who use his work merely to boost the car’s resale value.
Regardless of their intentions, Grundfor’s clients don’t come to him with blank checks, he said.
“Although the car is the love of their lives . . . it has to make financial sense for them,” he said. “I’ve not had one client come in and say, ‘I don’t care what it costs.’ ”
Grundfor is respected by his peers as a perfectionist, a trait that has enabled his cars to win several car shows in California.
“I’m always worried there will be something that isn’t quite perfect on the car” when it leaves his shop, he said. “But I’ve never had a client say something derogatory about our cosmetics.”
Indeed, if there are any differences between Scott Restorations and the other top-tier restorers, Grundfor is known as a favorite of owners who want the cars to be contenders in car display shows.
Hjeltness Restoration in Escondido, meanwhile, appeals to car owners preoccupied with having the car as authentic as the day it left the factory. And a third, Gullwing Service Co. in Essex, Mass., specializes in restoring cars for people who enjoy driving them.
Paul Russell, owner of Gullwing Service, said he often puts a rubberized coating inside the wheel wells of cars to protect them from nicks and cuts as they’re driven around town. “I don’t believe Scott would ever consider putting a protective finish in the underwell of the car,” he said.
Olson, the newsletter editor, said “there are those who feel that Hjeltness restorations are more authentic, and the reason is because Scott over-restores.” Grundfor “would concede he does what the factory would have done if it had had more time,” he said.
But Jerry Hjeltness, owner of Hjeltness, said “everybody in the restoration business over-restores.” For instance, “the paint work is much better than any car was delivered in because the technology has been advanced.”
Infatuated with cars since he was 10, Grundfor painted and fixed cars to earn his way through UCLA, where he got a bachelor’s degree in public service and management in 1969. In his last year there, at age 19, he opened a body shop in his garage.
Began in 1979
He ran the body shop for a decade, but in 1979 decided to restore vintage autos. After selling his body shop, Grundfor had about $30,000 to start the new business. Slowly he generated more jobs by promoting himself--and his restored cars--at car shows and meetings of Mercedes car clubs.
As word of his work spread, so did his net worth. Grundfor owns a rare 1956 Mercedes SLS prototype race car, a 1959 Jaguar XK150 coupe and a 1959 Mercedes 220S cabriolet convertible, the last two having been fully restored. But he often drives a 1988 Ford pickup truck to work.
Grundfor would eventually like to open a training center, where would-be auto craftsmen can learn their trade. “I love to watch people work who are doing something I’m interested in,” he said.
He’s also thinking of building his own version of the famous Mercedes gullwing. The car would have many of its original parts, but Grundfor also would use today’s technology to enhance the engine, chassis and transmission. He is considering building one--only one--at a cost of $500,000.
“It’s like the creative project of a lifetime; it’s like going back in time and being at Stuttgart” where the cars were originally designed, Grundfor said.
