Westworld Saskatchewan

40 W E S T W O R L D | S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 For Neufeld, working on vintage cars is more about museum-quality preservation than it is about building a cool rat-rod. He eschews substitutions and quick fixes. It has to be done right or not at all. "I use old- fashioned techniques," he explains. "Instead of using synthetic fillers, for example, I use lead. It's a more permanent solution to put these vehicles back to the way they were. In my eyes, these things need to be around for when my kids grow up and they can see what a real one actually looked like." Neufeld did another special project for an oilfield executive, refurbishing a 1967 Dodge Coronet over the course of three years. It won top prize at the Western Canadian Nationals car show and was featured on the PPG 2014 national calendar. "He had the finances available and allowed me to take it where it needed to go," says Neufeld. "The result was the first car show it went to, it wound up taking the cake. at's the quality of car that I insist comes out of this shop." at kind of attitude was music to Schad Richea's ears. e assistant athletic therapist for the Calgary Flames was looking for the right person to work on his 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner when he learned of the little shop in small-town Saskatchewan. A native of Dysart, Saskatchewan, Richea was soon collaborating with Neufeld on what promises to be a showstopper of a vintage muscle car. Richea's baby is a numbers-match- ing, 383-cubic-inch four-speed that will glow Barracuda "Vitamin C" Orange when the last daub of wax is worked into it. e car's value will be upwards of $100,000. When he first rolled it off the trailer at the shop, Richea's car had a sun-bleached, ripped interior, a rusted body and it wasn't running. It was, as he puts it, "a piece of junk." Neufeld had to take it down to the naked frame. at was three years ago. "It was pretty much a basket case," says the restorer. "We took it down to the inner struc- ture and started all over again. It's all back together now. e fit and finish are good and everything is lining up nice, so it's actually ready for primer." He says the larger shops with 20-30 guys working on projects can't possibly ensure the quality control he insists upon. "Taking it further is what everyone wants to do, but some guys preach it and some guys do it," says Neufeld. "I'm relatively unknown because I live in an obscure part of the world, and I don't get to a lot of the events. But when I do get to one, it's usually because I have some- thing special to show." Richea already has an impressive collection of classic cars, including a 1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst and a 1972 Plymouth Duster, which have won numerous car show awards. e vet- eran of several previous all-out restorations, he has been left unequivocally impressed by the work he has seen Neufeld do in his mod- est, small-town shop. "e car is coming together way better than I even imagined it would," says Richea. He predicts it will dominate shows in West- ern Canada. He hopes to one day take it down to some of the big Mopar National shows in the U.S. "It's a pedigree car," says Richea. " The detail he's putting into it, like putting the proper colour on the brake drums, for exam- ple, and making sure the transmission hous- ing is the proper colour. He's following the build code to a 'T.' I can't say enough about the meticulous attention to detail that he has. There's a passion there – and an artistr y. ere really is." W (left) Keith Neufeld plans to paint his 1933 Chevrolet Standard Sports Coupe – with wood frame (above) – in its original Baker Blue with cream wheels.

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