The Austin Speed Shop is somewhat of an Austin institution, and renowned within the hot rod and custom car culture scene.

Their passion is apparent in everything they do. From the shop’s reception area which is decorated with original work by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth to the garage with its “Hot Rod Church Of God” sign, these are people who live and breathe their craft.

Rocco, the shop manager, explained why he loves what he does. “We attach such a sentimentality to all these things, to us they aren’t just pieces of metal. I sit in a car and imagine what went on in it. I bought my ’49 Ford and sat in it for an hour just imagining who came home in it, who brought a baby home in it, who took their first date out… We say they have souls, so bringing it back is really our favourite part. But it is cool to see it all done out there after all the months of sweating and fighting. You’re sometimes so close to it that you don’t see it until it’s done and you step back and go ‘Wow.’”

The shop treasure is a blue ’49 Chevy truck, which sits in pride of place in the middle of the garage. Bought new in 1949 by Francis Reissig, it was the work truck for his business South Lamar Automotive. He drove it to work every day, courted his wife-to-be in it, and was the car his children learned to drive in. In 1959, Francis decided to move the location of his shop to 1414 South Lamar Boulevard, the current location of the Austin Speed Shop, and built the shop from the ground up with his own hands.  His initials are still engraved into the concrete. The Austin Speed Shop moved into the space in 2006, when South Lamar Automotive closed, and soon afterward, Francis’ son Skip decided to have the Speed Shop restore the truck. It’s a true testament to the work the Austin Speed Shop does, with electric blue metal flake paint, beautiful pinstriping & immaculate interior. You can see progress shots of the restoration project here.

While all most of us see is the final product, there’s a mammoth amount of work which goes into restoring a car to the Austin Speed Shop standard.

“Every single car is completely different… Sometimes you’re making stuff fit into a car which has no business being in there, and doesn’t want to be in there!  Sometimes you just have really old parts that don’t want to to cooperate anymore. We tried to take a rear end apart that’s 80 years old and had been together for 80 years and did not want to come apart.  After a day of heating and banging it finally did!  We love and hate every one! It’s like a relationship, there are times when everything’s great and there are times when you just want to throw your hands up and walk away. But in the end when it’s out in the parking lot and it’s all shiny and the customer’s grinning ear to ear, it’s all really cool.”

Rocco says custom car culture is changing.  There’s a push towards being really traditional and staying true to the way the cars were in the first place. “The ’90s street rod stuff with all the pastel and fat tires, people are starting to lean away from that & go back to the roots. They want to find cool old motors or try original parts.” This does, of course, mean it’s harder to source these things. Either you know someone who has it, or you spend all your time on eBay or Craigslist or at swap meets. It’s definitely work to find stuff like that.”

When asked what the highlight for the shop had been so far, there were brief allusions to some kind of adventure with a canon, but it was quickly quashed. “We’re not talking about that. Really it’s all about the customers. We’re creating people’s dreams. We did a car for a lady whose husband died — it was her car and he was planning on making it over, she brought it here to have us do it and was crying the whole time.”

Finally, I asked where they got their inspiration from. Their answer really summed up what sets them apart and makes them exceptional. “Purity.  We’re searching for purity.”

Words by Gala Darling, Photos by Dustin Downing