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October 24, 2014
Rodney Huffaker stands on his showroom floor, amid a collection of well-buffed, see-yourself-in-the-paint-job collectable automobiles, trying to explain the passion that provides his livelihood.
A woman who has stopped in with her husband comments on how it’s all very nice, “But I like new cars,” leaving no doubt she is in the wrong place.
The world of Rodney and his team, in the showroom and in the expansive shop area on West Main Street, is populated by these dream machines, which have little in common with today’s computerized, look-alike, globally distributed clones beyond four wheels and steering wheels.
“They were artists, they created works of art,” said Rodney, drawn into a conversation about the auto designers of yesteryear and the legacies they left Detroit, the nation and the world, in eras of high performance and gingerbread flourishes, fastback windows and novel hideaway door-handles.
Restoration was not Rodney’s first business endeavor.
“I used to have an oilfield company, C&H Rental Tools,” Rodney said. He sold that firm in 1999 and then built houses for a while. His son, Scott, got interested in restoration while attending classes at Fletcher Technical Community College. Father and son worked on some project cars together and, in 2007, the new business, Road Hog, was born.
Road Hog is a family operation. Rodney’s wife, Teresa, plays an integral role in the operation.
Scott still works on cars with his father. And there is a team of mechanics and craftsmen they all maintain are the heart and soul of the business and its success.
These days the business is more focused on restoration of other peoples’ cars, or keeping classics in need of service in tip-top shape. But there are still some cars for sale, as well as a limited line of parts and accessories.
Rodney and the crew have learned a lot over the years by doing, and thus accumulated some classic car basics that can be shared.
For one thing, Rodney warns, the mere fact that a car is old doesn’t always translate into market desirability or acceptance as a classic.
“It has got to be desirable to be valuable,” he explained.
But, ultimately, beauty and desirability are in the eye of the beholder, he acknowledged.
Asked if the average Joe who buys a car is capable of completing a restoration, he offers an optimistic view.
“They get that far, they are going to cherish it, keep it in a garage and use it,” he said, noting that a shop like his isn’t necessarily the answer for someone who buys a dream classic in junkyard shape and wants someone else to do restoration of mechanics and body. “That wouldn’t necessarily be cost-effective.”
He and his crew know where to find the right blends for factory paint, how to scout parts and what to do with them once in hand.
“Things have been together 40 or 50 years; they don’t want to come apart,” Rodney said. “It’s hard to make a call on how long it is going to take to disassemble.”
What Rodney has little doubt about is the continued market for classic cars and a need for qualified people to service and restore them.
“There will always be the person who sees a car that was his very first,” Rodney said. “Something that he remembers.”
Rodney Huffaker was just as impressed as any kid with some of the examples of Detroit’s finest that were common while he was attending South Terrebonne High School. Today, he makes a living restoring those same classics.
