Hello, My Name Is: Fred Gittins

Name: Fred Gittins
Occupation: Automotive all-star: from design and auto restoration, to purchasing, selling, and transportation
Current Hometown: Englewood, IN
Custom Shop Location: Falkville, AL

How did you get into cars?

My father loved cars. He raced cars, he restored cars, he collected cars. When I was born my mother said once the diaper-changing stage was over, whenever he looked at cars, I’d go with him. One of my favorite pictures is me standing in the driveway, he is taping up a big 1950s, early 1960s Cadillac and I’m standing there, handing him the tape and helping him tape the car up. There was no way I wouldn’t fall in love with cars.

March 10th marks a year since his passing. I miss him. I would not know how to do any of this without my father. He took the time to teach me and show me all of this. I can attribute everything automotive to him.

What was your first car?

When I was 10, my father gave me a 1948 Ford. It’s one of the cars he used to race, but it wasn’t a race car with no windows – nothing like that. He used to race in the drag strips. I converted it back to a daily driver. I drove it in high school. When I went off to college, it sat around. I always kept it stored inside. Then in the early 2000s, I got back in the car and put a Corvette engine in it, chopped the top. I put in ’59 Cadillac taillights in, the bullets. I put a late model front in so it’s a ’48 but it drives like a 2008. All the suspension is high tech. I’ll never sell it. It’ll be in the family the rest of my life.

What’s your favorite part of customization?

I like everything about customizing a car done back in the 50s. Back then cars were big and kind of bulky, some had too much chrome on them. Customizing, we usually chop the top, take four inches out of the height, and then lower the car, to get it closer to the ground. We nose the front and deck the rear — which is taking the chrome off the hood and the trunk — and shave the door handles and use push buttons, making the cars look a lot cleaner. If you notice, manufacturers follow the customizers in a lot of their work. Over the years, cars started getting lower, having less chrome on them. Manufacturers have always followed customizers’ leads.

How has customizing changed in the years you have been working in the industry?

The new cars and new customizers are so different. I respect those guys. They’re doing their own thing. When you customize a car and you do the work yourself, that’s your trademark. You do it the way you want to do it – that’s what customizing means, when you change something so it is the way you want it. I’m into the old school customs. But I have a lot of respect for new customizers because they are the ones who are keeping the hobby going.

You place a strong focus on classic cars – where does this romance originate?

Just think if you were in a coma for thirty years and you woke up from the 50s and laid your eyes on a hybrid. Compared to a ’57 Chevy? The new cars, yes, are good for the economy, the environment, they’re green – but they have no class compared to the old cars. None.

What are some of the limitations of catering to a classic market?

I just sold a Model T Ford about three years ago, for $12,500. That car used to get $25,000 to $30,000. But the guys who know how to drive those cars and how to work on those cars are dying off. Most people my age don’t want a Model T Ford. They want a ’67 Camaro or a ’65 Mustang. The only ones who’d want a Model T Ford now – unless they were an old guy – want to turn it into a street rider.

What is something you look for when you’re looking to buy a car to restore?

Most anything can be fixed, but rusty cars will always be rusty cars. If there is a small rust hole, you can cut the rust out and put a patch panel in with metal. But if the car has rust in the frame, unless it’s a very rare car, you’re better off getting another. You’re better off to pay a little more to start on a car that is rust free or has very minimal rust.

Surface rust, that’s not problem. That will shine right off. But holes in the frame and quarter panels that need replaced – there are people who will do it, but I never liked to do it because you can never get it as perfect as the factory had it and people can always tell when panels have been changed.

What are some things you can suggest to people to better preserve their cars?

Any state that puts salt on the roads when it snows, that’s when you have to watch for rust. Also the states that border the ocean, those tend to rust cars on the topside because of the saltwater air. I’ve seen roofs rust off cars, hoods and trunks, but the cars are fine underneath. But the worst is the salt on the road.

That salt and even now the liquid stuff they use for the snow and ice, you have to watch out for that stuff. It’s terrible for your car. And the worst thing people do is go get their cars cleaned up right away. When the heat and water mix with the salt, that’s what starts the process of rust. You’d probably be better off not to wash your car all winter long.

When I was a kid in Ohio, my father always had what he called a “winter beater.” He would buy the car in the fall, put a good motor in it, have it be something dependable, and he’d drive that all winter. We never, ever drove our nice cars in the winter salt.

What’s your most exciting show you’ve ever attended?

It was maybe 1990. I drove a 1951 Ford truck up to the F100 Nationals held in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I didn’t have much money – I was still in college! I took my pillow and a blanket and slept in the truck. I was by myself. I had a friend I was supposed to go with who bailed out at the last minute. My dad was on another trip, working. So I drove my truck there, and there were all kinds of trucks that were trailered in, beautiful vehicles.

I didn’t think I had a shot at winning the trophy. I stayed there Friday and Saturday and then came right back to Alabama. About a year later, a friend of mine was reading the F100 magazine and it had a picture of my truck. I had won first place in the radical custom category. I called the car show headquarters and they mailed me the trophy. That was pretty cool. That was an honor. I’ve still got the trophy.

What are you working on right now?

I’m building a private museum at my house in Indiana. It has some 60 cars in there; I haven’t restored all the cars. Some are original and some need restoring. I have another 30 cars in Alabama. But I’ve been selling cars. I’m looking to really fine-tune my collection.

Right now, I’m building the displays. People build museums one of two ways: a nice big building with just cars in it is boring. But if you go to a museum with scenes, it makes the cars more memorable. They just look better. So I’m working on a diner, a hotel room and a gas station scene – because along with the cars, I’ve collected the old gas pumps and jukeboxes and all that nostalgic stuff. It’s a lot of work — I’m looking to have the private museum open October 15, 2011. I’ll be 45 years old on that day.