Imagine you’re out for an afternoon drive in your vintage beauty without a care in the world. Suddenly, an unidentified driver rear-ends you and disappears in a flash. Your most prized possession is battered and beaten, and to make matters more difficult, it’s a vintage car that requires an exceptional level of restoration, especially if it's been restored once before. You visit shop after shop but find yourself surrounded by so-called “restorers” who solely rely on plastic body-filler: a cheap, lazy, temporary method of restoration akin to putting Band-Aids all over the car. Just when you think all hope is lost, you see the light at the end of the tunnel and find yourself in great hands with the restoration experts at Carolina Coach Crafters.  
This is exactly what happened to Ed and Carolyn Lantz when they were driving their 1938 Ford Standard Coupe. At the beginning of the project, our team found traces of plastic body-filler in the past restoration job from another shop. At Carolina Coach Crafters, "Bondo" is a curse word. We specialize in the art of metal filing and finishing. It takes time for wounds to heal properly. 
One of Ed's greatest strains was his search to find a new fender for his Standard Coupe, but all of the tension and stress melted away when he found us. Our team has the capability of making a buck and producing a completely new fender, if necessary. As the following pictures illustrate, his fender was hammered out and partial pieces were made, welded into place, and hammered and filed. After careful, meticulous craftsmanship, it was finally metal-finished and ready for primer and paint. Our shop maintains the art form of panel-beating: a method that far outlasts the plastic body-filler that all too many restoration shops use. 
Here's a glimpse of the work that our team did on this 1938 Ford Standard Coupe. While we ran into evidence of "Bondo" from a past restoration shop, it didn't deter our efforts towards pure, proper restoration.
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New rear body panel and toolbox supporters had to be custom-fabricated as the original supporters are NLA (no longer available). ​

And here we have the finished product after we custom-matched the unique red exterior paint. Carolina Coach Crafters took the presence of mind to pre-fit all panels before they went into the priming and painting process. ​

Our goal in this shop is for every vintage car to receive the necessary revitalization to grace the roadways for years to come. From minor touch-ups and collision repairs to total restoration jobs, we value and care for each car in our shop as if it is our own. The joy we see from our clients once they're reunited with their vintage beauty is our greatest motivation. Ed and Carolyn are now enjoying their precious vintage beauty as they traverse the countryside of Eastern North Carolina once more. 
When it comes to accidents and collisions, you never know what can happen, but Carolina Coach Crafters is here to alleviate your stress and resurrect your vintage beauty. You can't be certain on whether your car will remain unscathed, but you can be certain that we will go above and beyond to get it back on the road, looking and driving like new.

This beautiful 1966 911 was originally dug out of a storage building in Gastonia, NC after sitting for over 20 years!  Fortunately, the structure had concrete flooring and four walls which forbid any rust to infiltrate the chassis.  Once the car was inventoried and given a good cleanup, it was apparent it had been re-sprayed once previously (crazing/crows feet were visible within a few feet).  Given how original the car was otherwise, the owner's decided to give it the respect it deserved and have the car properly refinished.  This beautiful early 911 has just undergone a bare-metal refinish in its original, lustrous Polo Red lacquer paint here at Carolina Coach Crafters.  The interior, undercarriage, boot, and engine compartment of the vehicle remain as original.  We are proud to be a part of such an amazing piece of Porsche history in one of the most original, well preserved early 1966 911's in the world!  

It has been a very busy year here at Carolina Coach Crafters!  Look for many exciting updates over the next month, unfortunately we suffered a massive data-loss so we are in the process of trying to recover many of our existing and new project photos - they will be added to the site as soon as possible.  Until then, we are proud to present to you our beautiful, freshly restored 1965 Porsche 356 C Cabriolet.  It is the only orange 1965 356 C Cabriolet in existence.  This vehicle was restored from the ground-up here at Carolina Coach Crafters.   This car is the product of almost 18 months worth of effort.  All metal work, paint, upholstery, mechanical, etc was done here at Carolina Coach Crafters.  We are pleased to be showing it this year in California!  

We are once again excited to announce Carolina Coach Crafters has been featured in another great Porsche publication! Our good friend Sean Cridland once again published an excellent article focusing on Tim Lingerfelt's early career and his transition into creating Carolina Coach Crafters.  Full article available on Sean Cridland's website HERE.