Happy Summer!

We waited a long time here in Portland, Oregon for summer weather; alas, it’s finally here. Now we can enjoy the touring season, car shows and cruise ins.

I don’t know about you, but the high price of gasoline has had an impact on our touring season. Driving an antique that only gets 3-4 mpg isn’t as enticing as one that gets perhaps 16-20mpg. That’s what we and I’m sure others have encountered this touring season. So we tend to take the 1909 Brush Runabout on lengthy individual tours and the Rolls Royce on shorter distance cruise ins. This summer our odometer will top 1000 miles in the Brush going to Brooks, Oregon for the Great Western Steam Up and Forest Grove, Oregon for the Forest Grove Concours’ D’Elegance. There is just something about traveling at 19mph in an open car in farm country that really gives you a sense of what our grandparents may have experienced. I can either feel rushed to get somewhere and not enjoy the slow pace or I can sit back listen to the one cylinder motor work away and enjoy the beautiful Oregon countryside and race with the birds. The latter is more enticing to me.

            We just finished the Auto Paint Preparation Workshop, a four evening workshop specifically focused on the proper way to prepare your automobile for its final paint finish. It is a very informative yet easy class… a very popular class. Our students leave with a greater level of confidence to work on their own projects safely and efficiently. Check the schedule out on our web site and join us for the next scheduled class.

            The Basic Hands On Bodywork Class has now begun showing our students some good “basics” to get them headed in the right direction in performing their own simple bodywork projects. This is an excellent opportunity to learn from a master in the art of sheet metal bodywork. It, too, is a four evening class in which you can learn to pick and file, heat shrinking bumping and plastic filler. For more intense training Portland Community College offers a 9 week class. You can go to www.pcc.edu for more information. The instructor for both classes is Bob Pence, a master body worker.

Restoring Your Hot Rod and Vintage Auto is a 9- week class, taught by Bill Becker thru Portland Community College in which we explore the safe way to go about finding the car of your dreams and study the many components of restoring it. We are fortunate that many vendors are willing to take time out of their busy schedules to make a visit to our classroom to share their expertise and knowledge about many subjects. Ken Krolikoski shares his experience in researching and buying his Packard and 1912 Cadillac. David Coles, (www.nwenv.com) from Coles Environmental Consulting, Inc. talks about practical safety precautions for the average car restorer. Bruce Anderson, owner of Anderson Towing and Recovery (www.andersontowing.com) always gets us thinking about how to safely transport our dream car to our shop or elsewhere. A new vender this semester has been Senior Account Executive Eric Warren from The Hoffman Group (www.thehoffmangroup.com) showed us many new products on the market such as interchangeable gauges, wiring harnesses and various billet products. They have so many interesting products you may want to check them out for yourself. Other visitors will be Megan Johnston, from Forest Grove Concours D’Elegance (www.forestgroveconcours.org); Bruce Abbott of Abbott Instruments; Martin Model and Pattern (www.martinmodel.com). We also take many field trips to various places such as: Driveline Services (www.driveshafts.com), Ott’s Friction Products (www.ottsfrictionsupply.com) and Finish Line Coatings (www.finishlinecoatings.com) and more.

Our “vendors” do not make visits to our class to “sell” items, but to inform our students about what is available to help make their auto restoration fun and their dream car a reality. We, here at Becker’s are all about doing your antique auto restoration YOURSELF. But the fact is that many people just do not have the skills necessary to do entire restoration themselves. So we offer opportunities and resources to help them along. So, consider taking the “Restoring Your Hot Rod and Vintage Auto” class. It begins Sept 29, 2008 and ends Nov 12th at PCC, Rock Creek Campus.

COMING SOON will be our Carburetor Class, taught by Bart Ouchida, instructor at PCC, Sylvania Campus. Check it out also on the “education” site.

 

RENT A BINKS PROFESSIONAL SIDE DRAFT PAINT BOOTH. Here is another opportunity for the self-restorer to save money by renting our 20’ x 14’ side draft Binks professional AUTO SPRAY BOOTH on a daily basis at reasonable rates.

 

Or perhaps you need a SPACE TO RESTORE YOUR CAR. Call us; perhaps we can help you. Contact Karen at becker_restoration@charjean.com for scheduling.

 

In keeping with the “do-it-yourself” theme at Becker’s we now offer a couple new items in our eBay Store: Becker’s Auto Restoration Supply -  the AirVANTAGE RANDOM ORBITAL PALM SANDER in 5inch or 6 inch sizes. This is a FANTASTIC “quality” tool used for smoothing body surfaces while priming your car or polishing your painted car. We have them available at FAR LESS than the current market. Go to eBay and look for my store as mentioned above or search for “winklezip” as seller.

 

INTRODUCING the TRIMEEZER Abrasive Disc Shaper. Save $$$! Don’t throw money away with your worn discs! TRIMEEZER will enable you to get 4 MORE usable edges. For the month of August you can purchase this fanastic TRIMEEZER tool for $81.99 and pay NO SHIPPING in the Continental USA. Here’s more info:

 

·             Trims 4 multi-sided discs or 4 round discs

·             Superior grinding-cleaning action on metal clean-up prior to using fillers

·             Discs run cooler and dissipate heat

·             Unmatched flexibility for sanding contoured surfaces

·             Perfectly balanced, safe to use

·             Shaped discs resist loading

·             Special Neoprene compound roller

·             Quick simple adjustment

Save $$  Don't throw money away with your worn discs. Trimeezer will enable you to get 4 MORE usable edges on each disc.    $  81.99  

FREE SHIPPING in USA Only til 8/31/08

THIS ITEM IS AVAILABLE DIRECTLY FROM W. J. BECKER, INC. not thru EBAY. Make your check to WJ Becker, Inc. and mail it to PO Box 2088, Beaverton, OR 97075

 

NEW to our website is the “TECH FORUM” in which you can interact with us and others about your projects. We invite questions, answers, comments, & pictures on this site. It will be a great way for people to check out new topics and get other auto restoration tips.

 

So you see, there are many things going on right now.  We encourage you to “enjoy” your restoration project. Go to a tour or cruise-in sometime and continue to feed that antique auto habit.

 

We hope to see or hear from you soon.

 

Happy touring and restoring!

Bill and Karen Becker