WNEPThere's an old 1940 Dodge sedan parked outside the former Chubby's Body Shop in Sunbury. It belongs to Justin Smeltzer, Co-owner of R & S Restorations, the business that now occupies the building. Smeltzer is originally from California, and his friend Drew Reich is from Sunbury. The men met at McPherson College in Kansas more than a decade ago and formed a friendship while earning their bachelor's degrees in automotive restoration. Smeltzer says Reich bought this building about five years ago and wanted to make it a shop again."A few years ago, we just started talking about maybe giving it a go. It was something we always talked about, but we're actually trying to make a go of it, service the types of cars that were in here when it was new, even," said Justin Smeltzer, R & S Restorations Co-Owner. Smeltzer says he and his wife decided to move to Sunbury from California to pursue this venture. The shop is working on a couple of cars right now, which include a 1930s Cord and an early 1960s Chevy Corvair.AdvertisementAdvertisement"Well, the stuff we really like is 50's and earlier, but we work on anything pre-emissions era, so that's getting into the late 70s, maybe early 80s, is what we'll work on for the most part," said Smeltzer. There are not many classic car restoration shops around anymore, or even younger people who are interested in doing this as a business. Smeltzer says they love being able to do this unique work. "There are plenty of us who like the antiques and like them for historical purposes. The architecture of it, the style, the engineering, it's a beautiful thing. They are little time capsules you can drive around and experience part of the past and everyday life." Smeltzer says they plan on getting into painting cars at some point, as there is a paint booth in the shop. They are also set to do a lot of mechanical and some upholstery work. There are two lifts as well as a sewing machine.AdvertisementAdvertisement"Ultimately, we would like to be known for doing high-end concours-level restorations as time goes on and we get more customers and do different cars of different vintages," said Smeltzer. R & S Restorations is open by appointment only. To reach out or find more information, you can visit their website by clicking here.
