Hamilton Journal-News

From the outside, it's a series of five gray buildings in a small industrial park on the outskirts of Covington, Ohio. Inside, at any given time, are 50 to 60 of the most beautiful cars in the world. Welcome to D&D Classics, one of the premier auto-restoration companies in the United States.

"We are one of the few shops that can do it all. We don't subcontract anything. From disassembly, paint, mechanical, metal work, upholstery and final assembly, it all happens here," said Roger James, one of the partners in the 23-year-old company. "We have a full-time staff of 25, and all of them are specialists."

Cars restored by D&D have won many awards at concours across the U.S.; at Pebble Beach they've received the Chairman's Award, Most Elegant Open Automobile and Most Elegant Closed Automobile along with numerous class wins and Best of Show at Meadowbrook. This past year, a 1928 Isotta Fraschini Tipo

LeBaron earned a class win at Pebble Beach, followed by Best of Show in Dayton and Hilton Head.

"We specialize in the classics, the elegant machines of the '30s and '40s, but we work on anything," James said. "Right now we have a '57 Ferrari GT2, an Aston Martin DB2, a '33 Chrysler Imperial and a couple of '40s Lincoln Continentals, all undergoing frame-off restorations. Our goal is to provide the customer exactly what they want. We don't dictate, we guide them through the process. The customer is king."

The tour starts in the mechanical shop, where engine, chassis work and some final assembly are performed. Brian Westcott handles much of that work, currently finishing a chassis for a 1930 Chrysler Model 70, while also getting a Sunbeam Tiger up and running after it's been sitting for 25 years.

Next is the building for disassembly and parts storage, where every item is tagged and bagged and the entire machine is kept in order on shelves.

The body shop has a dozen bodies undergoing metal repair, priming and sanding in preparation for painting before they head to the state-of-the-art paint booth.

The metal shop is loud, as craftsmen shape fenders and other body panels using English wheels and hammers.

"We sometime have to make replacement fenders, doors and such, and we can make them exactly like the original," James said.

A typical frame-off restoration will take about a year and half.

"We determine exactly what the customer wants, then determine a cost estimate which is always subject to change," James said. "But there are no surprises here. Every customer gets an itemized statement every two weeks, along with photos of the progress, so they know what's going on. Communication with the customer is why we succeed. They're happy and so are we."

The client list includes owners from nearly every state in the union and Canada, and D&D is currently working on a car for a woman in Germany.

"We even did a car for a fellow from Australia," he said. "He was shipping the car over here for some shows and decided we should freshen it up for him, which we were glad to do."

For details, go online to www.ddclassic.com.

Next week — D&D Classics also does custom coachwork.