Wednesday, April 15, 2009

A&M Deluxe Customs visit #2


















So, it's been a year and a half since I visited Oregon. I got the opportunity to visit A&M Deluxe Customs in Cornelius. Here are some of my pictures (with my cell phone mind you) that I took of the shop. They had probably twice the number of cars and more employees wrenching and bending metal. They're progressing on the '57 Nomad as you saw on my previous post as well as the coupe (dang, can't remember what year right now). Again, if you didn't see my Visit #1 blog entry in '07, Aaron and Mark (hence A&M) are metal working artists, craftsmen, metallic geniuses, I could go on and on. Seriously, this is top stuff here. I am in awe just walking around this place. You'll see even the machine tools have been pinstriped, powder coated and one even given the tigershark treatment. Awesome! It definitely adds to the professionalism of the shop and the company. Oh, for all you gearheads out there, check out the toilet flush handle...yep, that's a 5 speed shifter swingin' from the porcelain rod. :) ha ha I mostly talked with Mark, as he showed me through the various projects. He would talk me through the various details of what has been changed from the original body lines and design. Even his custom '46 Pickup was getting a new set of wheels and tires. Of course, as a customizer, he is going to smooth out the "American Racing" emblem engraved into the spoke and fill the cap mounting holes. Nice! It will look sweet! Don't worry old schoolers, the black wire wheels and tall rubbers will stick around and be swapped over as needed. ;) I didn't want to leave. But, I'm sure Mark and Aaron and the A&M boys had to get some work done and I had to catch my plane.
Again, I can't thank Mark and Aaron enough for letting me take a couple hours of their busy day to simply talk cars with an obsessed gear head.
Chris "Hechtspeed" Hecht

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