People may think that keeping a restored classic on the road is a relatively easy and inexpensive affair, but that is almost never the case.
While older cars certainly have more space to work under the hood, it takes a special kind of mechanic to work on them. A mechanic can’t just plug a classic car to a diagnostic machine and punch a few buttons to find out what might be malfunctioning.
Working on a classic requires a good ear and thorough knowledge of how pre-computer era cars function. Figuring out what is going wrong with an old car means a lot of trial and error on the part of the mechanic.
Mike Nichols began his career as a mechanic in 1979 and he, along with his wife Laura opened Nichols Automotive 19 years ago near the intersection of Bobby Jones Expressway and Washington Road.
Today, Nichols estimates that 70% of their business is classic autos.
“We discovered a need out there, it takes longer to work on older cars and many auto shops simply don’t want to work on them,” Nichols said.
The Nichols found out the difficulties first-hand while restoring their 1955 Chevy Bel Air.
According to Mike Nichols, the biggest challenge by far is finding parts. In his “Jay Leno’s Garage” videos, Leno often brags about having parts 3-D printed, but Nichols says auto shops do not keep a 3-D printer on hand and ordering 3-D printed parts is much more expensive and may actually devalue the car in the long run.
“I spend a lot of time searching specialty sites looking for parts, but even things as simple as brake pads might take two months or longer to come in,” Nichols said.
Sometimes people bring in cars and Nichols is forced to tell them that unless they have some seriously deep pockets, then the car needs to be hauled off to the junk pile.
‘People buy these project cars and they tend to sit around once the owner discovers they are in over their heads. When they bring them to me, I have to be honest with them. I’m a car guy myself, but I understand that not every old car can be resurrected,” Nichols said.
Word of Nichols’ talents spread, and he says that virtually all of his business comes from referrals.
Among his favorites that he has worked on over the years are the 1912 Model T with the ancient hand-starter and a 1948 fire truck that he helped restore.
Even though Nichols is a master mechanic, he admits that even old school car guys can make a mistake.
Wanting to give his 1972 Chevy Monte Carlo a bit more oomph, Nichols replaced the stock engine and dropped a fuel-injected 496 Stroker under the hood. He was so happy with his replacement that he decided to show off for friends and did a burn-out with the muscle car.
No sooner than he stomped the gas pedal, he realized that he had made a mistake. The 496 had way too much power for the transmission and the burnout stripped the tranny.
“It was the dumbest mistake I ever made. I can laugh about it now, but it wasn’t funny at the time. I’m just glad it happened to my car and not someone else’s,” Nichols said.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
