How I Got Into the Classic Car Parts and Restoration Business
When people ask how I got into the classic car parts and restoration business, I tell them “STUPIDITY!” While obviously this is not the only reason, it ranks right up there. There’s an old joke that goes, “You want to know how to become a millionaire in the classic car business?” “I give up. How do you become a millionaire in the classic car business?” “You start off with 2 million dollars, and in a year you’re a millionaire.” While not exactly true, it conveys the essence. If you want to make lots of money and don’t want to work your butt off, this business is definitely not for you. You do it for love, and for the sense that you’ve created something of beauty with your own hands and hard work. It is also hugely gratifying to help people with their projects and find the parts they are looking for or the information they need to succeed. It gives you a sense of history and of preserving that history.
Okay, now I’ll get off the soapbox and tell you about how I didn’t become a millionaire. In 1987, I left my job in the graphic arts industry and decided I needed a mid-life crisis to get me moving in a different direction. Like most young boys at age twelve, I grew up loving cars. I was probably more obsessed than many. I helped pull my first engine, using a block and tackle hooked to an old oak tree (true story). It was a 1958 Desoto Convertible. I helped friends work on their cars, their parents’ cars and basically anyone crazy enough to entrust their car to me. As time went on I went away to school and basically lost whatever minimal skills I had acquired. At age 18, I started working at my girlfriends’ family’s Oldsmobile dealership. On weekends and between school breaks I worked as a lot guy, did make-ready repairs and was a grease monkey. It was a lot of fun, and my skills returned. Frankly it was a blast. I would take some of the cars for rides, clear their throats and generally help check them out for the Used Car department. Remember, these were the days of 442’s, GTO’s, Stingrays etc. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it. Unfortunately, the job ended at the same time as the love affair.
During the later stages of my quest to get through college, I earned my tuition buying, fixing up and reselling motorcycles and cars. Most had mechanical problems so it worked out pretty well. I think they called people like me “Shade Tree Mechanics.”
Spring forward several years: I was married, had a newborn, and I had wanted a Studebaker Avanti since I was a teenager. The opportunity presented itself and I jumped. It was the last production car of the first production month. Number 22 I think. White, Orange (red interior) with a salt and pepper rug. It had a 289 cubic inch (not Ford) supercharged engine, close box 4-speed transmission, power steering, power brakes, and positraction. Boy could that car boogie. Boy did I love that car. As a novice, I did a very respectable amateur restoration. She was actually pretty nice. We were living in New Jersey at the time and then moved to Florida . Living in Florida was always my life’s goal. Once there, we moved into a nice home with a 2-car garage in Clearwater . Unfortunately, my daughter parked her bicycle next to the Avanti and it wasn’t long before the scratches and nicks started appearing on the right quarter panel. My daughter won out and the Avanti had to go. A sad day it was. For the next year I was busy with my new job and really didn’t have time to play with classic cars.
It wasn’t long before I longed for another classic to play with. I thought about it for some time and decided it had to be a big convertible, either a Cadillac or Lincoln. I reasoned that if I bought a muscle car I would probably lose my license almost immediately. The Lincoln appeared first, and that decided it. It was a 1963 white, rusty, shabby suicide door Lincoln Continental convertible; it was a sad sight. In my infinite insanity I actually drove it about 50 miles to my home.
Thankfully I didn’t know then what I know now. Cheated death again. After searching around a bit, I discovered a struggling young company called Lincoln Land and found them helpful in the early days. I think they figured that I was another idiot that had gotten in over his head. In hindsight, they were probably right. At any rate, in a matter of weeks I had acquired three more 1963 suicide door Lincolns ; two sedans and another convertible in black (affectionately referred to as the Preacher’s Car since it was purchased from a minister). I traded the bulk of the sedans parts for storing them at Lincoln Land while I cherry picked the parts I needed from them. I found a storage garage to work in, a one car garage about 12’ X 20’ to use as a workshop. Soon I had two garages, then three, then four. It was about that time that my landlord suggested that it might be time to look for larger quarters.
I found a place up in Oldsmar , FL just north of Clearwater . It was small, just 1500 sq. ft. I managed to move 4 garages, packed full of all these parts I had accumulated over a relatively short period of time, about a year I think, by myself. During these early days I was buying suicide door Lincolns , refurbishing them into drivers to resell and to learn. I also was buying and stripping parts cars on a regular basis. I had some pretty good tutors early on and I was willing to learn and have fun. I was selling odds and ends parts but not actively marketing the parts. All I really wanted to do was build and sell my own cars. It wasn’t long before I was being asked to work on other people’s cars. At first I resisted, but soon it became a growing source of revenue. My projects were profitable but outside work helped pay the rent. Between the parts, projects and outside work, 1,500 sq. ft. became 3,000 sq. ft. and then 4,500 sq. ft. It was during this time that I discovered the 1958 through 1960 Lincolns in the form of a very tired 1959 Lincoln MK IV Convertible, dastardly yellow with a velour interior. I bought the 1959 and with it a load of parts. The owner also had an extremely nice, original 1959 pink and white 2-door, reportedly bought by a dealer to sell to Elvis Presley. Elvis didn’t buy the car. Good story, tall tale or not. In hindsight I should have bought her as well but there just wasn’t enough money. The ‘59 convertible was the beginning of a continuing love affair I have with this era of Lincolns .
It turned out that all the bigger Lincoln parts dealers at the time (you guys know who you are) derided and were not very interested in this era car. In fact the big guys from Dearborn and Wixom would rather forget about these particular cars completely. LCOC was not particularly interested during this period of time either. There were a few who provided some support (Grady Jakaway and Francis Maffucci) doing what they could to support these monsters. Without their support these wonderful beasts might have disappeared into oblivion along with the dinosaurs.
By now, I was working my tail off and enjoying the satisfaction of restoring, thus saving these crazy wonderful beasts. The 4-door convertibles were an incredible challenge and tested me constantly. I was hooked. I am not one to take the easy road. When the project is finished, you know you’ve accomplished something. It was like when one came in for repairs or restoration, it didn’t want to leave. The 50’s era Lincoln cars seemed to be as challenging as the 60’s Lincolns but with more black magic. I can’t quite explain it other than to say that more things happen or misbehave than there are explanations for.
The business kept growing and there was never enough time or money to do anything but work. It was tough but I loved it. The satisfaction was like an aphrodisiac. The more projects I got, the harder I worked. Then once again, as seemed to happen every five or six years, the building we occupied was sold and we were forced to move. When we were within four weeks of having to be out we located a building just about a mile from where we were. By now Barry Hall was working for me. Between the two of us we managed to move 4500 sq.ft. filled with parts and equipment to our new location, set up the racking, electrics, lift, compressor and everything else that needed to be done. In hindsight it nearly killed us. There was very little business lost and we managed to keep shipping parts. We stayed at this location for five years in Tampa ; growing, restoring and helping Lincoln owners keep the beauties on the road.
As things seem to go, five years later the property was sold and we were told it was time to move. I was having some health issues and was about to call it quits. We looked around the area and found property prices and rent had gone crazy. It would have been impossible to operate profitably. We were loading up 40 foot trailers, throwing out parts, consolidating parts with nowhere to go. With two weeks to go before we had to be out, I was driving down Hercules Avenue in Clearwater when I saw a realtor putting up a “For Lease” sign. I pulled over, saw the building and immediately left a deposit. We started moving in within days. The building was 5,000 sq. ft. and way too small. We had five 40’ trailers filled with parts, a 24’ U-Haul that made more trips than I can remember, and our faithful old 1982 Chevy ramp truck carrying all the parts cars, motors, transmissions, and rear ends. It was quite a challenge, but we did it. Barry and I did most of the moving and again almost killed ourselves. Thankfully additional space close by our new shop became available a few months later and I jumped at it. We now occupied almost 15,000 sq. ft., five containers and outdoor storage.
Over the last 8 years we have acquired many inventories, some large some small, and hundreds of parts cars. The largest new parts inventory was from Francis Maffucci. This pushed us into both newer and older Lincolns and 1950’s and 1960’s Mercury’s. The largest purchase of parts cars was the huge Lincoln/Mercury auction of 1940’s through 1970’s restored (?), restorable and parts cars in Pampa , TX , 2003. I made many trips to Texas , Georgia and points north. I think we parted somewhere around 134 cars that year.
Jumping forward, In March 2008 I had a major heart attack and was rushed to the hospital where they implanted two stints to save my life. This was a profound experience that made me look at life differently. The Lincoln/Mercury Old Parts Store was cared for by both employees during my hospital stay. The hardest part was not eating the food I loved the most. The Doctors insisted that I not work for a while, and I’m sure you can all guess how that worked out. I was back to work two days after the second stint was in.
I did the normal that year, like visiting with friends in Hershey , PA. , but without a car for the car corral.
Instead of backing it down like I was supposed to, I had promised a good client to help him with his 1958 Lincoln 4-Door Sedan . The car arrived just after I was out of the hospital. I was supposed to fix the wiring under the dash and engine compartment. Well I’m sure you can figure what kind of job that turned into. That car needed a full restoration. She wouldn’t do anything I wanted her to. She was here for months. Everything I touched in that 1958 Lincoln fell apart. I rewired everything under that damn dash and the engine compartment; I did the brakes properly and more, much, much, more.
In May 2009 I took my wife to NC to purchase a wonderful customer’s widow’s 1956 MK II “parts car.” She was told by her husband that if he ever died to call “Herb Scheffer,” and he would treat her fairly on the purchase of the car and the parts in the barn. I was expecting to pick up a rusty old MK II, and was pleasantly surprised to find a lovely all-original better-than-average MK II. Moving the car from the barn was quite the challenge, but we managed pretty well. It appeared that they had built the barn around the car. After getting her home, there was no way I could part out that car. So I added her to my list of cars to be restored and got to work. (Note: I have two 1960 Lincoln Convertibles on that same list.)
My goal is to showcase this lovely 1956 Lincoln Continental MK II at Hershey this year, 2009. So keep your eyes peeled for this very original black MK II. She has had body work competed, engine rebuilt, the transmission is at the rebuilder now, suspension is already done, gas tank has been relined, undercarriage has been detailed along with the engine compartment, along with any chrome that needed to be done. Most of the chrome was in great shape, so it didn’t need to be re-chromed. I have decided to keep the interior original since it was in beautiful condition. We are also proudly displaying all of our reproduction ornaments on this beautiful car.
In July 2009, I did a huge run up to Michigan and Pennsylvania , where I acquired a large inventory of 1956-1960 NOS, New and Used parts. That was quite a successful run that helped us re-supply on many hard-to-find parts for my pet years. Since then I have agreed to take on one more restoration project for a long-time customer. So as you may be able to tell, we have a ton of projects going on currently. Please check out our link that says “Restorations” on our home page.
The Lincoln/Mercury Old Parts Store has been working on expanding business into different avenues. We now have 3 full-time employees to serve you, and two part-timers (one being myself). Barry has been with our store for around 17 years, Kelly, my daughter has worked here for about 5 years, and Andrea started this year. We consider ourselves to be a family owned and operated business. My wife Ann also does work on the data-entry side for our store. We are improving everyday, working hard to get an online shopping cart filled with goodies going this year, along with improving our website. If you don’t see something online, please call us and we can add your wish to our new Wish List. We offer our technical support line to support your technical needs and a FREE Order-Only line for easy ordering.
As we expand our business into different areas we are offering hard-to-find accessory items, one being the proud introduction of my long-time goal of the Super Maunder set-up. For years, I have envisioned recreating the AC fuel pumps with proper fittings for the 1958/1959/1960 Lincoln & Mercury 430 Engines. This sought-after high-performance fuel pump kit is here after 11+ years of planning and manufacturing. Hand-in-hand with this goal was the Air Cleaner Lid for the Tri Power Super Marauder Tribute Air Cleaner Assembly and Wing Nuts! They’re done, and we are so very happy to be able to offer them to you.
We continue to be very busy thanks to all of the Lincoln and Mercury faithful owners/customer and shops. I admit to getting older and my body is pretty beat-up. I still love what I do and enjoy the customers and the challenges. I hope to retire in a few years and would like to see the business continue. I also hope that younger people will become interested in these old cars and keep them on the road as we old folks drop by the wayside.
By: Herb Scheffer
Owner / Operator
The Lincoln/Mercury Old Parts Store
The Lincoln/ Mercury Old Parts Store
