From Joe Amato’s Team, To Restoring your Dream
Photos/Story: T-Bone
There gets to be a point where you have to go out on your own. No matter what dream job you have, an entrepreneur knows they have to strike out on their own. Such is the story of Johnny Parkinson.
Johnny had his dream job working as a member of Joe Amato’s Hot Rod Garage. The experience, friends, camaraderie and all were just as he would have ever hoped.
He and his wife Dana hosted the Classic Chrome Car Show for several years and when it was time to break out and open a shop of their own, the name already had a great following in the Southern California car culture. They have been open in this location for about 6 months and from the looks of it, the shop will be there for years to come.
Classic Chrome is a great neighborhood shop where friends and newcomers alike appreciate the ‘at-home’ atmosphere of the shop. They work on projects from complete restorations to maintenance. As Dana was showing us around, most of the cars in their shop were customers who have had the cars sitting for a dozen years or more. I joked if they have an ad out asking for barn finds.
While we were there, there was a Buick Special. The old 300 engine had the air cleaner and valve covers painted like a Rainbow Trout. Now that the old motor is out, a new 383 Stroker motor is getting buttoned up. Dana found many “Chip Foose” printed zip lock baggies in the car with various parts and fasteners in them. She digs finding treasures in these cars. Something I like to refer to as Carcheology. In one car there were a bunch of buttons under the rear seat. She said the buttons looked like those from girls’ sweaters back in the day. We’ll let the stories run through your head for a moment. Another treasure was a white envelope with photos of a blonde bikini model photo-shoot in various states of undress. Looking at the style of the bikini and hair, had to be late 1980’s.
A signature car in the shop is a ’77 Trans Am. Getting a full concourse restoration to include a fresh coat of bandit black paint and a nice new engine, the one-owner car will soon be enjoying the cruise, “Bandit” style. Another car was the “Dirty Dart” another one-owner car that is not getting a full resto, but cleaned up. The owner found a beat 4-door Dodge truck with a 440 in it as a donor motor. They ripped and pulled and yanked that motor out. Now it’s getting the once over and will be dropped under a new hood on the Dart.
Their shop is in a great neighborhood of other shops, each one helping one another out for various needs. At one time, Johnny was summoned to the muffler shop next door. Up the street is Hennessey Performance and around the corner is a top Trophy Truck racer, Carl Renezeder, who occasionally runs his 1000hp truck up the street.
We invite you to check out the shop on their Facebook page. They are celebrating the shop with a Grand Opening Party at the end of March 2014.