All over the U.S., there are "holy grail" shops--those hidden oases sheltering a grizzled old mechanic surrounded by rare cars brought to him by those who are "in the know". For every "Bruce Canepa" type, who's famous for their work on vintage cars, there's also a guy plugging away in his one-man outfit refurbishing, rebuilding, and re-invigorating some of the world's most coveted cars without Instagram, Facebook, or a working website. Hell, the guy hardly even checks his email or answers the land line. And if he has a cell phone, I can guarantee you it flips. Every now and then, some lucky enthusiast stumbles upon the shop, and wrestles with the urge to expose this secret to the world of social media, and ruin it.
I was that lucky person when a friend and I stopped to speak to a racer at a NASA event. After discussing local shops for a while, he told us "Hey, there's a guy with a real DTM E30 M3 behind the track. You should go check it out." We immediately headed in the direction we were pointed in and found much more than "just" a DTM E30. Almost at the very end of a quiet row of race shops, we found a small garage with a tiny, but significant collection of old Bavarian work horses. Inside, was a soft-spoken proprietor eager to share his passion with us, and we have since visited this mystery man several times over the last couple of years. A full writeup and gallery is forthcoming in a future issue of Benzin Garage Magazine. But in the meantime, enjoy this little peek...
