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TEMPE COLLISION REPAIR REVIEWS VINTAGE MOTORWORKS

Nobody spends as much hands-on time day-after-day with cars as Tempe collision repair pros do without gaining some reverence for the automobile as a finely engineered work of art – even when severely, tragically accident or weather-damaged.

That’s why aspiring Tempe collision repair technicians across our neck of the woods owe it to themselves to make a road trip to Kory Woodside’s Vintage Motorworks in Beaumont, Texas: to gain a deeper first-hand appreciation for the TLC this Lumberton native pours into every hot rod and classic car he meticulously restores daily.

A former student of advanced engine technologies and diesel mechanics at Lamar University, Woodside’s attention to detail is such an inspiration to our Tempe collision repair professionals in no small part because it stems from what his roots taught him about the benefits of making finer things last.

“Growing up we didn’t have a lot of money, so if something broke, we fixed it,” Woodside explained in a recent interview. “We couldn’t afford to go buy new.

“I have always been good with my hands – I love building and creating things. Being able to point at a beautiful car and say, ‘I did that’ gives me great pride.

Woodside’s love affair with the curvaceous beauties that grace his shop – the ‘67 Chevelles, ‘69 Camaros, and other vixens shaped to make any hot-blooded Tempe collision repair pro’s heart thunder like a Hemi – first came to life under the hood of his dad’s ‘77 Ford truck. The romance of every pristine vintage hot rod’s history written in their welds overtakes him with every weary car he restores – “The sound of a healthy V8 is music,” he says – and whimpers with every classic car he sees bearing the scars of shoddy workmanship or lazy maintenance. It sings to him again, though, when he daydreams of restoring an original ‘66 Shelby Cobra 429.

It isn’t so much pride – OK, maybe a bit – but honesty about his craft that runs through his differentiation between a Tempe collision repair shop and his Church of the Holy Hot Rod. Remember, this is a man whose driveway is now home to a ‘62 Ford Fairlane, a ‘64 Chevy Nova, a ‘66 Mustang and a ‘71 Chevelle SS, in addition to his daily-duty 2000 supercharged Mustang and Ford Super Duty.

“I don’t care about insurance companies,” he said. “I want it correct, like it would have come out of factory. I do custom fabrication and metal work. I hate body filler!”