Harbor Auto Restoration

This is going to be my «BEFORE» review! (As the car is there now and being restored to fit our wants).
With that said back around the April/​May time frame my mother, uncle and I decided to track down and purchase my dad’s dream car!
This is something he’s really been looking forward to and talking about for years now. We wanted to surprise him for his June 1^st Birthday.
The car itself the one he wanted is a Cardinal Red 1970 Pontiac Lemans Sport Convertible was an extremely tough car to find. As this particular car can be kitted to become another car of the era and many Pontiac gear heads do just that.
So after searching the net for what seemed like weeks (which it was) and hours (which were many) and visiting car lots around the state of Florida from Orlando to Lakeland to Miami that sells classic cars we finally tracked one down in a barn in Tennessee that was for sale on eBay (we’ll go into that a bit more in a minute)
First off let me say if you can find a Classic Car lot’s of SHADY characters are out there selling them and not always truthful about condition. So be careful on that end especially if you are not a car person other than you know to go to a dealership and buy one. In other words do your research!
Now back to our car for sale on eBay! It’s the proverbial been tucked away in a barn in Tennessee (this is the holy grail type find for those into cars and antiques) and pretty much it’s the same as when it rolled off the assembly line in 1970 except it’s been driven many miles with some wear and tear for many years that it’s been on the road. It does need some work.
What we were able to find what I nicknamed «The Green Hornet» as it was a Pepper Green 1970 Pontiac Lemans Sport Convertible exterior and interior sort of like a poopy diaper green (which I am sure in 1970 looked pretty rockin’). The car was, is, and can be in excellent shape for something of this vintage. Now you may want to refer back to what we were looking for which was a Cardinal Red 1970 Pontiac Lemans Sport Convertible.
So after tracking down the ever elusive car of my dad’s dreams which was now Pepper Green inside and out we set upon the task of having someone restore it.
Well armed with watching every TV Show on the subject of car restorations and doing our homework on the Internet we knew what we wanted and needed and made a list (famous last words I am sure…“MADE A LIST”)
While searching the central Florida area we located about 3 Classic Car Restoration places that peaked our need and visited one here in Orlando (that was a barn with actual chickens pecking around) one in Tampa (if I had a Ford Mustang these might be the guys to work on it) and then finally Harbor Auto Restoration (who came recommended by some car people that I met and I liked a lot of the work they had already done and posted on their website). They’ve pretty much worked on damn near every classic/​custom/​make/​model car you can think of. In other words a big variety of cars not just Mustangs and Corvettes which it seems are the only cars other people restore.
Now mom had done her due diligence and research and with list in hand we made an appointment to see Frank (one of the owners, as this is a family run business) and headed to Rockledge, Fl.
Well Frank gave us the run thru of the shop, which for an auto shop that Rebuilds/​Fixes/​Paints a variety of Classic Cars prior to 1975 this place was extremely clean. Frank took us thru and showed us up close some of the cars that they were currently working on and both my mom and I were very impressed (this is when I should say I thought she would be skeptical as you know moms can be sometime) She was impressed by the shop. Almost all work is done on the premises and in house. A few things need to be worked on by other specialty car folks but with the work we are seeing here I have no problem with that.
So we met with Frank in his office and truly enjoyed the next 1.5 to 2 Hours going over cars and the project we were bringing in. Let’s just say Mom never pulled her list out because Frank covered almost every notation she had written down and it was a two pager that she had researched a lot on before she even had to ask him.
So now The Green Hornet as of June 17^th is in the carefully skilled hands of Frank and his Family. It’s going over a huge inside and out make over and when it’s all said and done The Green Hornet will become The Red Comet!
Thus far I will tell you that these folks know cars and everything they had in the garage and were working on looked SHARP yes all capitals!
So we are very confident that when we get our car back it’ll be a drive able show room classic.
Now if you don’t know full on car restoration takes some time so that’s why as I stated from the get go this was the «BEFORE» review.
So far all I can do is sing the praises as we have been very happy with what we’ve seen and heard up to now. Can’t wait for The Red Comet to be finished!