Kalamazoo Gazette, April 1997
This feature article appeared in the Kalamazoo Gazette, the local newspaper in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where Scott Grundfor Co. was located until October, 2001.
Scott Grundfor’s love affair with cars dates back to his days as a curious youth who tinkered with an old lawn mower engine, a few wooden slabs and a pair of used wheels to make his first low-powered go-cart.
The 52 year old Kalamazoo resident carries a wallet size picture of that complishment, a reminder of his humble beginnings. Now he handles parts that are a bit more glamorous.
Now a days it’s the chassis of a vintage Mercedes, Ferrari or Porsche that captures Grundfor’s attention.
His business, Scott Grundfor Co., near downtown Kalamazoo is a virtual showroom of classic cars that are undergoing preservation amd restoration efforts for collectors around the globe.
‘lt’s Iike a fine painting,” Grundfor says as he walks past a dozen mainly foreign classic cars that sit buffed and polished in his 4,000 square-foot garage.
“I call it conservation. You clean it and you take care of some of the ravages of time without disturbing the essentials.”
Grundford’s handiwork in the classic car world has caught the attention of buyers who hail from Europe, South America amd Japan. It’s also been featured in national media such as The Los Angeles Times.
Mercedes-Benz is the apple of Grundfor’s eye. Under his roof – he also has an additional 3,OOO square foot warehouse nearby – are several Mercedes-Benz models that are extremely rare or among the best existing cars of their kind.
“I think Scott has built a long and strong reputation as one of the finest restorers of exotic sports cars in the world,” said Frank Barrett, editor and publisher of The Star, a publication put out by the Mercedes-Benz Club of America.
The vlntage autos don’t come cheap for car ethusiasts. Their pricetags range anywhere from $250,000 to more than $1 million, and their restoration can cost owners anywhere from $1,000 up to $200,000.
An example is the 1955 300 SLS Roadster, a convertible based on a 1952 Mercedes-Benz race car.
Mercedes designers used the chassis of the racer as a platform for the roadster’s body. When Grundfor purchased the metallic blue car. once featured in Collier’s magazine, from an owner in Long Beach, California, it literally was a “basket case.”
“It was all there and not rusted or damaged, but it was in pieces.” he said.
Another project, a silver 1953 300 SL Gullwing, was one of Grundfor’s most difficult restoration efforts. The first of its kind, the prototype Gullwing was used as a racer and captured the World Rally Championship of 1955.
lts condition was extremely poor when Grundfor purchased the vehicle. “It was rusted to death, and we had to make half the body for it,” he said.
Meanwhile, one of Grundfor’s more recently completed projects was the restoration of a 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 Sc Cabriolet. Only 49 of the vintage cars were produced – all carefully handmade.
The car, purchased for a client in North Carolina, has a value of $400,000. It was damaged during an accident while fairly new.
“It’s old-world craftsmanship,” said Grundfor as employees hoisted the car, a maroon model with tan interior, for a few finishing touches.
That car won a blue ribbon earlier this month at the Meadow Brook Hall Concours d’Elegance in Rochester, one of the country’s most prestigious classic auto shows.
Tucked away in a corner of Grundfor’s garage is a vintage car in the making. He and car craftsmen are using Mercedes blueprints to construct from scratch a 1952 W194 300 SL prototype race car.
A skilled workman crafted a wooden styling buck in the shape of the car’s body and then used sheets of aluminum to hand-form various curves and shapes before welding the pieces together.
Grundfor says the highly prized Mercedes grabbed his attention back in the late 1960s while he was a student at the University of California at Los Angeles. Around that time his father purchased an old Mercedes limousine.
“I was amazed at how it was designed,” said Grundfor, who grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Southern California where American Fords and Chevys were the mainstay. “It was almost like a piece of jewelry.”
His admiration for the vehicle inspired him to open his own car detail and repair shop while still in college. He continued to operate that business and other auto shops after graduation.
“I didn’t want a white collar job,” says Grundfor.
In 1979, he opened Scott Restorations, an auto business in Panorama City, California, that specialized in restoring vintage Mercedes cars. The 30,000square-foot shop employed 50 people
Grundfor found a steady supply, of well-to-do customers who could shell out top currency for classic car restorations, which can easily reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
California’s booming ’80s economy, spurred in part by growth in Silicon Valley, helped create what Grundfor calls the world’s “auto epicenter.”
“There are probably more vintage Mercedes-Benzes in Southern California than anywhere on the globe, and that includes Germany,” said Grundfor, who has restored cars for Hollywood stars Elizabeth Taylor, Vincent Price, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby and Steve McQueen.
Barrett, who has known Grundfor for nearly 17 years, says the car enthusiast built his reputation in the classic auto world while operating Soott Restorations. “That was a big operation. It was well-known.”
With a reputation firmly established, Grundfor and his wife, Kathleen Redmond, a former attorney, moved to Kalamazoo back in 1991, about a year afler selling Scott Restorations.
They desired the slower pace of life in southwestern Michigan afler coping with the years of explosive growth that transformed Southern California from an oasis to a congested, fast paced metropolitan area.
Grundfor and Redmond have five children, two still at home. Their son Drew, a recent high school graduate, was a top soccer player at Hackett Catholic Central High School
The couple’s transition from shady palm trees to blustery midwestern vinters has gone rather smoothly, they say. The area doesn’t have the same number of foreign classic car ethusiasts as Southern California, but that’s OK with Grundfor.
“Classic cars at this level are considered an artform,” he said. “The business revolves around the energy of one person.”
