As the title of this article says, picking the right restorer, is probably the most important part of your restoration.

As I have been in the hobby of cars for the least 15 years, and have been involved in two of my own restoration, and about 6 with other owners, I feel I am in a position to give you some important advice on picking a good restoration shop.

In the years that I have been involved with restorations, I have seen some good, and mostly horror stories.

Even myself when I came to do my Austin Healey, all I knew about paint jobs and body work, was what I saw advertised in the Gazette or the La Presse. Total Paint Job for $550.00 and even as low as $350.00.

So that when it came to do my Healey, I was recommended by a friend to bring my car to St. Zotique and have a quote done. $6000.00 was the quote, and I'll tell you, I lost some sleep on that one. My friend convinced me that this was a good price, as a Healey is not like a regular car and many hours of preparation had to be done before the final job of painting it was done.

I agreed to have the work done, and at the same time, another friend of mine, also a Healey owner gave them the job for the total restoration. So they had one complete restoration and body and paint for mine.

At the time of this all happening, I had just sold my business, which gave me the opportunity of going to the shop everyday to see the work in progress. I must admit that I was impressed with all the work that had to be done.

There was one thing that scared me at the time. We seemed to be giving money faster than the car was coming along.

I can tell you, that my being there everyday was a blessing in disguised. I am sure the work would of not gone as fast if I were not there. I did take two weeks of holidays, and when I came back, the first things I was asked was for another $2000.00 payment. I looked at the work, that was supposedly to have been done, and to me I had my doubts. I had no choice but to give the money, as the work had to continue. My friend was asked about $6000.00 that time.

Towards the end, they tried to get more money on top of what they said it would cost, this gave us a feeling of mistrust and we did not have any choice but to come to some agreement on the final cost. The cars where finally finished and delivered to our homes and with great relief we continued to enjoy our Healey's for many years.

The lesson I learnt from this first restoration, was to inquire on owners that had done their cars at this shop. Second, a firm price and delivery date should of been given.

The shop should have pictures of the on going restoration, and a report verbal or written given to you, preferably written.

The length of time that they have been in business is also important. This shop by the way, went bankrupt about 6 months after. We later found out that they had only been in business for about a year.

One of the painters in that shop, who did fine work started a shop of his own, and about 4 car owners that I know brought their cars to him to have the cars restored.

All of them and including myself knew of Richard Grenon, but we felt that he was to expensive for us. So we ended up at this shop.

Well, I can tell you, of all the four cars, three were horror stories, and he worked by the hour. The cost kept climbing and got out of control, we were lucky to get our cars out of there in time, as he went bankrupt and some of the others had a hard time getting their cars or even finding where they were.

Then out of this, another body shop started from a person working at the last shop. And myself and two others brought our cars there to be restored. I was now doing Helen's MGA. Well this situation lasted about 4 months and he went bankrupt. We had to show up one morning and get our stock out of there. I took my MGA out of there and brought it home. Another fellow brought his Healey to another shop and he is now at his third paint shop and the car is still not finished, this has been over 3 and half years and the money that he has spent is more than the quote that Richard Grenon quoted him at the time when he was shopping for a restoration shop. The cheaper price got him and the cheaper price is no longer cheap.

With all this happening and seeing what can happen, I made my decision to have Richard Grenon quote me a price on finishing Helen's MGA. I had done all the rolling chassis and what was left was the body. He quoted me a price, which, at the time, I think I was standing in his large yard, that gave me room to fall on my back, after picking me up, we discussed what had to be done, and I also told him, that I would come evenings and weekends to help in the job.(some shops will not allow this, I feel since I am paying, I can go whenever I want, and a good shop will allow this.) He took this into consideration, and we came to an agreeable price. Which by the way is a lot more than any shop would of quoted me, but for the four or 5 thousand that I would of saved, I will gain in the value of the car as it will be spectacular when finished, as you all know the work that Richard does.

It was a hard decision to make, but putting emotions aside, and taking a realistic look, I am very pleased that I made this decision. I have been watching Richard and Jack work, and I can tell you, they are artist. No question about it. They know what the curves should look like, what and how it was done. The proper way. No short cuts. In the end you end up with a car that you will be proud of.