Reviving Legends: The Art and Craft of Classic Car Restoration with Dustin Hardin

George Barris Car Restoration Interview

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast . Joining us now is a guy that I swear to God . He looks like Frank Zappa to me . Well , let's put him on there .

Speaker 2 0:10

There you go .

Speaker 1 0:11

Well , so did Mr Mark Mr .

Speaker 2 0:13

Mark , do you have the information here ? Yeah , yeah , this is actually Dustin Harden and we talked to his dad Okay . You're on , previously Got it .

Speaker 1 0:22

Creative Classics and Customs is the shop he's with . Oh , he's our next-door neighbor . No , no , nope , no , where are you ? Do you read ? No , no , we're back by the tennis courts .

Speaker 2 0:35

You're back by the tennis courts We've got the crazy George Barris car back there .

Speaker 1 0:40

The long gold one 30 Love .

Speaker 2 0:42

Oh the .

Speaker 1 0:44

Tornado .

Speaker 2 0:44

Tornado Remember .

Speaker 1 0:46

Yeah , we saw that at Woody's two years ago . Yeah , yeah , yeah .

Speaker 2 0:49

We spent about two years restoring that car .

Speaker 1 0:52

Two years .

Speaker 2 0:54

Not every day . Pretty close , that's a big car . Well , I know it is a big car , but it is a weird-looking car .

Speaker 1 0:59

It is a weird-looking car .

Speaker 2 1:01

It is a weird-looking car , which ?

Speaker 1 1:02

fits in the George Barris world of cars . Oh yeah , it's got George Barris all over it . Did you find anything weird about that car ?

Speaker 2 1:09

Things that were kind of like what did they do this for ? You know , there's a lot of weird stuff underneath the skin of that car , really . Where they needed clearance for something , they just took a sledgehammer and a hatchet instead of a saw Just really strange stuff like that . And then a lot of just weird Home Depot-looking hardware . You know Well , you know it's funny .

Speaker 1 1:32

I have looked at one of the original Batman cars and we have seen some very interesting Mustangs . As a matter of fact , we saw the display Mustang at the 1964 world's fair . Oh wow , uh , very nice guy . And uh , he uh explained to us the car didn't go down an assembly line , it's clear . Uh , the door clearances , the , even the doors themselves had to be lengthened to fit . It's a bizarre thing of building a car , but really , if you stop and think about it , if I were to build a car and I wanted it to look like the Tornado , or if I wanted it to look like the Batmobile , I really wouldn't care what was underneath it , as long as the running gear was okay .

Speaker 1 2:18

Right , because I'm going to change the whole exterior of the car , but I've seen cars where they've peeled pieces of the skin off and you're going oh my God , it's a piece of crap underneath there .

Speaker 2 2:29

Sure , yeah , it looks good for my house when you cover it up .

Speaker 1 2:32

But think about it though George Barris was in the business not only to do his creative thing and show it off , but he was also in the business to make money . Sure , yeah Well , how are you going to make money if you go out and buy yourself a brand new Tornado and then cover it all up ?

Speaker 2 2:49

and make all these modifications that make no sense . Chop it up and put it back together . Yeah .

Speaker 1 2:51

Some of them came out of junkyards .

Speaker 2 2:53

Yeah .

Speaker 1 2:53

Like all of those that were on the Dukes of Hazzard . The majority of those . They were junk heaps when they painted them up . Oh , they're going to use them for a jump . Yeah , smash them up , Destroy them again . There you go . So , other than the holes , the hatchet holes , what else did you find ?

Speaker 2 3:10

Did it have the ?

Speaker 1 3:11

original running gear in it .

Speaker 2 3:12

It does it has the original running gear . It's front-wheel drive . Obviously it's only got about 30,000 miles on it ?

Speaker 1 3:17

What year is ?

Speaker 2 3:18

it 67 .

Speaker 1 3:19

67 .

Speaker 2 3:20

Yep , All of the interior we were able to save . So , like the shag carpet is the original shag carpet that George Barris put in , we tried to source some shag carpet . It's like where are you going to find shag carpet these days ? You know , Some old lady's house is about the only place you're going to find it . Yes , I was going to say , and so we were stuck with trying to clean up the original , or I say the original , but the shag carpet that George .

Speaker 2 3:40

Barrison's team put in there the original install and you know , get it out there , lay it out in the parking lot and pressure wash all the rat turds off . And you know , clean it up the best you can and go with it .

Speaker 1 3:50

How did you get a hold of this car ? Did you buy it or is it a customer car ?

Speaker 2 3:54

No , no actually no , the gentleman that owns it . His dad bought it from the raffle owner raffle winner back in 67 and it's been in his family since he was a kid . Oh my god , we have a book in our shop that was written about that car and there's pictures of the current owner as a kid , sticking his head out the window and standing next to it with george barris and his dad and all that . It's got a really cool .

Speaker 1 4:16

Where does the car live ? Is that the local owner ? Yeah , it lives in uh ultimate garage , okay , so and and , uh , and , and how did you connect with him ?

Speaker 2 4:26

We were behind a mechanic shop in our first building and the owner was a customer of the mechanic shop and he told the mechanic about the car and all that and he's like you guys got to go talk to this body shop back here . They could probably restore it for you . And so he asked us to come look at the car and I believe me and another gentleman went out to his storage to look at it and it was kind of crammed in with all this stuff and it was the most bizarre thing I'd ever seen . And one thing led to another . We got the car on our wait list and when we built our new facility in Kima , it was one of the first cars that came over there and we started on it and , like I said , it took about two years to restore the car . We had to have parts made for it because , I mean , there was some crazy stuff on there that George Barris' team just made .

Speaker 1 5:15

Where do you go to get ?

Speaker 2 5:16

stuff made Anywhere we can . We found a company that does cast molds of industrial valves and things like that and we had them make the tail pieces for the car because they were originally made out of some weird metal that they chromed . When we took it to get it re-chromed it disintegrated in the acid . The chrome shop said , hey man , one of those things is gone .

Speaker 1 5:40

But here's the other one . It melted down in the bottom of the pot .

Speaker 2 5:44

It's like , okay , scrap that , we had the other one still , thankfully , what ?

Speaker 1 5:50

did they use Pot metal or something ? Yeah , they used .

Speaker 2 5:54

It was bizarre . It was like foam wrapped in some kind of thin copper sheeting and then they chromed it somehow . Like I said it disintegrated in the chrome acid . Wow , and so I mean all the little rubber bumperettes that were originally poured in a form . We had 3D printed , some of the little interior medallions that God knows where they came from . You know , we had those 3d printed so we had some of the originals . They were able to match up . I mean , we just sourced anywhere we could you ever done any research on barris's shop ?

Speaker 2 6:25

uh , not a lot , um , not a lot wait I haven't .

Speaker 1 6:29

I'm just curious . Uh , I know that there's a lot written about him , yeah , and a lot of interviews of him before he died , right , and it was kind of sad . Actually , the one of the interviews that I saw was done in this storefront . That was little bitty , tiny stuff that you know t-shirts and stuff that he was selling out of there , I guess to stay in business somehow , right , but uh , very creative guy , especially for the time period .

Speaker 2 6:52

Yes , yes , and and and the owner of the Tornado has been in contact with his daughter . You know she actually sent him the book and sent him some other little stuff medallions and things that were on the car when they cleaned out his shop and storefront and all that and so he's actually spoken with his daughter several times .

Speaker 1 7:09

So let's talk about you and your business . Sure , go ahead , have at it . So how ?

Speaker 2 7:16

did you get started ? Um well , my dad used to paint cars back in 70s and uh , do custom on his own .

Speaker 1 7:22

Yeah , yeah , on his own um .

Speaker 2 7:24

You know , he custom painted striping pasadena deer park yep uh yeah , yeah , he knew milburn , sure , yeah , um , so I , I grew up around it , you know , um I , I took some 80 grit sandpaper to a freshly painted volkswagen one time , just before he , uh , just before he delivered it , you know . So I cut my teeth in real early , yeah and you're hind in too .

Speaker 1 7:43

Yeah , oh yeah big time man .

Speaker 2 7:45

So my first car was a 67 camaro I bought when I was 15 . I've got it out here now .

Speaker 1 7:51

Um , it's been 29 years , this month you still have it 29 years this month . We saw that . Have it 29 years this month . We saw that . Yeah , at Heels and Wheels .

Speaker 2 7:58

It was at Heels and Wheels , so that really got me really into it . My dad and I partnered up in 2016 and built a new facility in Kima , and we've just been rocking along ever since . You down at the boardwalk now no , we're actually on Anders Lane in Keeneland , right off of 96 , running parallel to Lawrence Road . So close to the boardwalk , yeah , yeah .

Classic Car Restoration Shop Conversations

Speaker 1 8:25

All I know is that House of Horrors that doesn't exist anymore . They finally mowed it down where they had all those terrible murders in there .

Speaker 2 8:34

Oh , Toddville Mansion .

Speaker 1 8:35

Yeah , toddville Mansion . Yeah , toddville Mansion . You know that ?

Speaker 2 8:36

Oh , yeah , we used to go sneak around in there when we were teenagers man , oh , yeah , yeah .

Speaker 1 8:43

Because it turned into just a dilapidated thing .

Speaker 2 8:45

Oh yeah , but it was spooky as all get out , man , it really was . If you've never read anything about that , you need to , because it's bizarre . Yeah , and did they ?

Speaker 1 8:57

make a movie over that . You know , I think they did . Yeah , I think they did , but this house was kind of like square , oh yeah in the middle of it , didn't have a pool in the middle of the pool and so the upstairs is a banister all around it and all the bedrooms and the weird oh yeah yeah .

Speaker 2 9:09

People used to say you'd see silhouettes standing in the windows and all that kind of stuff .

Speaker 1 9:12

It was spooky man come for your daughter chuck . Coming for your daughter chuck . Okay , so what do you do at your place of business ?

Speaker 2 9:21

we , we do just about everything full-blown rotisserie restorations . Um , you know , we're pretty much a one-stop shop as far as getting a complete restoration what have you got on a rotisserie today ? Right now currently on the rotisserie . We Right now currently on the rotisserie we have a 73 Challenger . It was actually done by a local shop and put through Mecham , and the owner didn't even make it home with the car before it died and the engine was completely shot . The fresh paint job that it just put on it started peeling off .

Speaker 1 9:48

Did he pay a fortune for it ?

Speaker 2 9:49

The new owner , the new owner . He paid top dollar for it .

Speaker 1 9:53

I'll say hey , I hate to hear that . I'd drive it right back .

Speaker 2 9:57

So over the past few months we've put in full floors , quarters in and out of rockers , roof panel cowl panel firewall .

Speaker 1 10:04

So in other words , you've rebuilt the car completely .

Speaker 2 10:06

Yeah , 100% , yeah , 100% . Now do you have a motor ?

Speaker 1 10:09

that goes in it .

Speaker 2 10:10

It's currently having a 440 built for it . It's a 492 stroker , I think it is .

Speaker 1 10:17

Okay , so a new engine yeah .

Speaker 2 10:20

So it's going to have fuel injection in it ? Yeah , it's going to have a .

Speaker 1 10:22

Holley Sniper II system on it .

Speaker 2 10:23

QA1 suspension , wilwood brakes , you know all that crazy stuff .

Speaker 1 10:26

So you're not going to try to go back original with it .

Speaker 2 10:28

No , no , it's too big of a 73 Challenger . I mean , you know that's a cool car , but it's not exactly a 72 .

Speaker 1 10:35

It's not an AMI car Right exactly . It's not Exactly . What else are you working on ?

Speaker 2 10:40

We've got some odd stuff in there . Right now We've got a 55 Jaguar .

Speaker 1 10:44

I know that guy and he wouldn't appreciate it if he knew that you were calling it .

Speaker 2 10:51

No , you're calling it to you that way Anything .

Speaker 1 10:53

Jaguar is odd to us , anything .

Speaker 2 10:55

Jaguar is odd man .

Speaker 1 10:56

I'm just going to level with you . Believe me , I know yeah , very well .

Speaker 2 11:00

It's a neat car . It's actually a brand-new body that was made in Ukraine Half aluminum , half steel . Like I said , it's odd okay .

Speaker 1 11:07

Yeah , about a 10-millimeter going on in there .

Speaker 2 11:10

Yeah , yeah , you know believe it or not , it's still all standard stuff . Wow , all the bolts are standard fine-thread bolts . I was expecting metric bolts everywhere , but they're not . No metric on it .

Speaker 1 11:19

That's weird , yeah , very weird . Where was it ?

Speaker 2 11:21

originally made the body , the car .

Speaker 1 11:25

Where was it assembled originally ? Assembled originally . You know , I don't know , I'm not big on the Jaguars , so I don't really know a lot of their history and what year is it 55 .

Speaker 2 11:34

Oh God , SK 140 . Okay , so it was originally built in . England . I'm sure it probably was . I'm sure it probably was . The queen probably touched it . Yeah right , blessed , I don't know about that . At least some queen touched it .

Speaker 1 11:46

Yeah , somebody down there at Toddville Mansion , oh man , it's a neat-looking car .

Speaker 2 11:51

I mean it really is . It's a neat-looking car . We're finishing up a 72 Datsun 240Z , which is different for us .

Speaker 1 11:58

That's cool . Yeah , it's a neat little car , it's not ?

Speaker 2 12:00

all rusted through . Yes , not anymore .

Speaker 1 12:03

Yeah , not anymore .

Speaker 2 12:05

Actually the guys had the car since high school and did a bunch of work to it engine , suspension , drivetrain and all that and then brought it to us for paint and body and we discovered the body was so far gone I mean he'd have $60,000 in the body before- he ever got painted .

Speaker 1 12:17

That's why you never see those cars anymore . They've all rusted away . They melted in the ground .

Speaker 2 12:21

He was actually fortunate enough to find a good donor car that had , like a one-paint job , been in a garage for 20 years but didn't run or anything like that . So we bought it , brought it to the shop and we swapped all of the drivetrains , suspension and everything over between the two cars and then started coming back up with that , that fresh body .

Speaker 1 12:39

So it's a good solid . You like what you do , don't you .

Speaker 2 12:42

I love what I do yeah , I really do .

Speaker 1 12:44

Yeah , is your shop air conditioned ? No , you don't like that part of the work , do you ? That's why you're so thin .

Speaker 2 12:49

Yeah , it keeps us healthy man it's okay , if I call you Frank , right , frank , sure , why not ? I've been called worse Zappa .

Speaker 1 12:56

Frank Zappa . Sorry , I mean it's a compliment , it really is , it's a look .

Speaker 2 13:01

I'll take it . Yeah , I'll take it Until he Goog . I'm not quite that young , but I know who Frank Zappa is what do you personally drive beside the shop truck ? And the Camaro . Yeah , the Camaro . Obviously I drive it as often as possible . I've got a car seat in the back of it right now .

Speaker 1 13:20

How old ?

Speaker 2 13:20

I've got a two and five-year-old . They're very good , they love it I bet they do .

Speaker 1 13:24

You never hear kids giggle so hard and you hit the gas on that thing , you know there's a , there's a thing on the internet , some guy and the camera's focused on the kid and he's probably eight , nine years old . He's sitting in the front seat , he'd never been in any kind of a hot rod and I dad's got some exhaust on it and it's some bad to the bone , you know , like a z06 , camaro or whatever it is . He gets on it and the camera's on the kid , the kid's bouncing every time on it and the camera's on the kid and the kid's bouncing every time he shifts gears and all of a sudden , the smile . Oh yeah , can't smile any bigger .

Speaker 1 13:58

And then he has my itches , makes my itch . It is absolutely hysterical . Have you seen it ? No , oh my .

Speaker 2 14:06

God , you'll have to look it up , yeah , it's a great video .

Speaker 1 14:09

I've sent it to all of my friends .

Speaker 2 14:11

My little , ones love it , man . They help me out in the garage . I mean my oldest five-year-old she's been out there in the garage and she was in diapers , helping me put coil springs together and , you know , putting valve springs in the heads .

Speaker 1 14:25

I mean , she's all about it , man .

Speaker 2 14:26

Yeah Well , yeah they get those valve locks right in there .

Speaker 1 14:29

You know it's awesome .

Speaker 2 14:30

Or those 10-millimeter sockets that you drop down in there .

Speaker 1 14:32

Yeah , they can fish them right out , hold them by their feet and find stuff Pulling speaker wires through the interior ?

Speaker 2 14:37

Who ?

Speaker 1 14:37

do ? You got working for you down there at your ?

Speaker 2 14:39

shop . We've got two employees they're full-time my dad and I and then we've got another employee who retired about a year and a half ago and he who retired about a year and a half ago , and he comes and goes kind of .

Speaker 1 14:52

you know , Y'all got something for me to do today , yeah kind of you know , you got any Corvettes in there .

Speaker 2 14:55

Yeah man , come on , we got a Corvette . You know , he was actually the Norman Frady's Corvette specialist for like 30 years , yeah , I mean , this guy knows Corvettes , like you know . So he comes in and does some specialty stuff for us now and then you know he's real good with fiberglass and he just knows Corvettes .

Speaker 1 15:11

Well , I think that Tillman Fertitta just brought the Norman .

Speaker 2 15:14

Frady dealership here on Bay Area Boulevard . Yep , sure did .

Speaker 1 15:17

You know I worked down there when I first got into broadcasting , way back in the dark ages . I grew up in Marconi . You probably don't know who that is , but he was the inventor of the radio . Anyway , I will tell you that that dealership was there when I went to work there . That's when the space industry down there was booming Right and we had an office building right there off of Bay Area Boulevard and El Dorado Boulevard , yep , and those were good times Bought my first new truck , a Norman Frady Chevrolet .

Speaker 1 15:48

Norman Frady Chevy Port , chevy Port , that's what it was originally called .

Speaker 2 15:52

I think Really Huh .

Speaker 1 15:53

Norman Frady , chevy Port .

Speaker 2 15:55

I'll be yeah .

Speaker 1 15:56

It's stuck with me all these years . I never bought anything there , but I drove past it all the time .

Speaker 2 16:00

Right right .

Speaker 1 16:01

Yeah , so do you work in seven days a week in the shop or do you try to keep it too ?

Speaker 2 16:06

Nah , friday 8 to 5, . Man , we like our weekends and Mama likes it that way . Mama likes it too .

Speaker 1 16:10

Yep , she's got to spend the time with the family and I assume that you live kind of down that area .

Speaker 2 16:14

You know , I actually live about three-quarters of a mile from the shop .

Speaker 1 16:17

It's beautiful , it's beautiful .

Speaker 2 16:19

Yeah , yep , nice Engine doesn't even get warm by the time I'm there . I've got to get them out on the highway every once in a while , man , because I don't get them warm enough driving to work .

Speaker 1 16:31

So give us the name of the .

Speaker 2 16:33

It's Creative , classics and Customs . We're on 2325 Anders Lane in Kima .

Speaker 1 16:39

Creative and your name again is Dustin .

Speaker 2 16:42

Dustin .

Speaker 1 16:44

Frank Zappa .

Speaker 2 16:45

Zappa Dustin , it's a pleasure . Yep , Appreciate it guys .

Speaker 1 16:48

Appreciate you . Thanks a pleasure . Yep , appreciate it . Guys . Appreciate you . Thanks a lot . You bet , you bet , thank you . Hey , you can get the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show 24-7 through the iHeartRadio app . Just look for In Wheel Time Car Talk Podcasts from your favorite podcast provider . We also video stream our live three-hour weekly show on Facebook , youtube and InWheelTimecom the In Wheel Time Car Show . I'm Don Armstrong , inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook , youtube , twitch and our InWheelTimecom website . Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts , spotify , stitcher , iheart Podcast , podcast Addict , tunein , pandora and Amazon Music . Keep listening and we'll see you soon .