They’re Rebuilding Their Dreams From the Tires Up : * Hobbies: Members of the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America are driven to perfection when it comes to making their vehicles look and run like new.
Although most people would look at a tin lizzie and see only a metal hulk on wheels, members of the Foothill Region of the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America see a potential work of art in many an old Chevy.
To them, the term “vintage,” which usually implies something like a 1920 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost or a ’25 Model T Ford, means any Chevy 15 or more years old that strikes their fancy.
The urge to own or restore such cars can dominate their lives. Some members have devoted all their spare time to repairing, reassembling and restoring the cars, regardless of the drain on their finances or health.
George Aust of Glendora waited half a lifetime before he could afford such an indulgence. Aust, 55, the owner of a fire protection equipment company, rebuilt a 1941 Special Deluxe five-passenger coupe from scratch.
“I had always wanted that ‘41,” he said. “I saw one when I was a kid and that was the car for me.” But it was a popular car in 1943 and its $880 price tag was more than Aust could afford.
He put off his dream, but he didn’t forget it. After his two daughters were grown, he began searching for a ’41 Special Deluxe, and he joined the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America hoping to get a lead.
He did in 1982. “I found the car on a lawn in San Diego,” he said. “It was in pieces--very rusty pieces. I paid the owner $2,000 for it and brought it home in Baggies.”
Aust had never rebuilt a car, and he thought it would take only a few months. “I wanted to restore it to authenticity and I wanted to do as much of the work myself as I could,” he said.
Six and a half years and $12,000 later, Aust had finished the job, but not before he suffered a heart attack and required open-heart surgery. “The stress (of restoring the car) was enormous,” he said.
Aust has no regrets.
In 1989, the six-cylinder maroon coupe with its prow-shaped hood and all-wool interior took first place at the club’s All California meet in Sacramento.
“I could never have done it without the club,” he said. “Through the club, you can ask a lot of questions and get lots of help. You gain confidence.”
“It doesn’t require confidence,” corrected Aust’s wife, Jeanette, 57, who said she participated in the restoration through osmosis. “You just have to be nuts.”
Two of the club’s biggest devotees live just a couple of blocks from Aust.
Jean and Dennis Fink own eight old cars, six of them Chevys. Dennis Fink, 56, owns a printing company and is on the club’s national board of directors. Jean Fink, 43, is the editor of the club’s monthly magazine, “Generator and Distributor.” She is also director and membership secretary of the Foothill Region.
The club has been in business for 30 years and has more than 7,000 members, she said. The national headquarters, located in Orange, has a big meet once every five years. Last year it was at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn.
The club has 62 regions across the United States and Canada and about nine in Southern California. The Foothill Region, which had 92 member families last year, takes in most of the San Gabriel Valley.
Dues are $25 a year for the national and $7 for the region. There’s an annual swap meet at Pasadena City College--the club was founded in Pasadena--at which members swap parts and, sometimes, cars.
“We have fund-raisers at the swap meets. We sell desert water bags to earn enough money to do things,” Jean Fink said.
Most people join the club to exchange information, she said. But members also are very social and the cars create a bond. They meet once a month in Altadena and go on a tour each month, driving their Chevys convoy style with the oldest cars in front. In March, the tour will go to Death Valley.
The Finks will have to choose which Chevy to take along. Their driver (the car they use daily) is a white ’56 Del Rey, but their pride and joy is a 1928 Imperial Landau that has won many awards and was featured in a recent picture book of vintage Chevys called “Chevrolet Chronicles.”
The car is two shades of green with black fenders and a wood steering wheel. It has an exterior rear trunk and extra storage under the front seat.
Dennis Fink inherited the car from an uncle, who won it in a radio show. He restored it to original condition but uses it mainly as a show car.
It is the only Chevy the Finks own that they could drive before restoring it. “I don’t buy cars that run,” Dennis Fink said. “Normally, it takes me about five years to restore a car in my spare time.”
He is now restoring a 1932 Landau Phaeton two-door convertible with bullet-shaped headlights and spare tires mounted on the running boards.
“It was unusual because the passengers rode inside rather than in a rumble seat. And it had roll-up windows,” Dennis Fink said. “The car was only made for two years.” He said he paid $10,000 for it and expects that it will be worth close to $40,000 when it’s restored.
But he isn’t restoring the car to sell it. As with most members of the club, Chevys are his hobby and parting with one would be heart-rending.
Children of members sometimes benefit from their parents’ hobby. Erica Fink, 22, got a ’56 Chevy Bel Air when she was in high school.
“At first,” she said, “I was really upset to have to drive that hideous-looking tank to school. But then all the kids wanted to pile in, and wherever we went someone commented on the car. It became a real fun experience.”
