Deep in the heart of Garden City, South Carolina, in a row of shops, behind Painters Ice Cream, is Gray’s V Dub Werks. In their shop they take old, dead Volkswagens and breathe new life into them. Most cars they bring back to life, they sell back to the public and put them back into the hands of the people that love them.
It’s a two man show. Graysen McGill finds and buys Volkswagens and sources parts for them. Mick Forrest is the mechanic and is the one who does most of the work on the cars.
“Mick is good at many things,” said McGill. “Especially when it comes to ordering pizza, he ordered four this week.” Both joke constantly as they work, their sense of humor is one of the keys to their success.
For Graysen, his love of Volkswagens started at the age of 12, when he got a 1965 21-window VW bus. For Mick, he always had a neighbor that owned VWs. after years of seeing them and saving up enough money, he decided he wanted a Volkswagen.
Most of the cars they work on look the same cosmetically as when they found them, but the motors have been completely rebuilt, or are brand new. “The best thing about VWs is that they look cool just the way we find them,” said Graysen. “We just get them going again, and put them back on the road.”
“Working on VWs is a passion,” said Mick, “It’s a good feeling getting them to running shape.” Both Graysen and Mick are passionate about what they do, which so many people have gotten away from doing.
“Most people in our generation don’t want to work with their hands,” said Mick. “They’d much rather have somebody else work on their car for them.”
While most guys that work on VWs are well into their 50s and 60s, Graysen and Mick are both in their mid 20s, making them some of the youngest guys in the business. As some of the older guys pass on into the afterlife, younger generations don’t want to carry on the torch of keeping up with fixing classic cars.
“It’s a dying art, and somebody must keep it alive,” said Graysen.
0 comments:
Post a Comment