By Scott Harrison

Saturday - February 24, 1996

      I'm still rubbing my eyes from the impressive display of beautiful and meticulously restored cars that we had the opportunity to be shown privately during this most recent club event. I've since stopped drooling over a line-up of vehicles being reborn in a manner most of us only dream of. And speaking of dreams, it WAS a car restorer's and collector's dream to experience what our lucky club members shared at the Hjeltness Restoration shop (yup, that's the way it's spelled, and it's pronounced jeltness).

     It all started with a great breakfast at Coco's restaurant on Valley Parkway in Escondido. As the 1800's began arriving, the restaurant patrons started taking notice of the sporty little Swedish gems and gathered around them as we ate and shared our stories. We not only had a good turnout of members but also a guest from Fallbrook and even one from as far away as Ossining, N.Y.! All kinds of Volvo information helpful to the enthusiast was discussed over eggs, hotcakes and coffee. With our appetites satisfied and our excitement building, we fired up the caravan and buzzed off to our private showing. As we left the parking lot I heard a pedestrian exclaim to his wife "Wow look at those cars, must be a club of those new kind of sports cars!" (Where's he been for the last 35 years?)

     As we pulled up to the shop we were met by the owner's, Jerry and Sue Hjeltness. Jerry has been doing restoration work since 1960 and they've had this business for the last 12 years working with a staff of 4 employees. Even though he specializes in doing complete ground up restorations on Mercedes 300SL Gullwings and Roadsters, he's willing to restore other models and makes of German cars such as BMW. He even has a few American cars undergoing his special "attention to detail" restoration.

     He started out restoring only engine compartments and by popular demand from his friends and customers, eventually evolved into doing complete cars. Since he hates to have a car come back with a problem or have a customer become disgruntled about anything, he's committed his company to providing only the finest, complete restorations possible. Usually if you're not willing to spend the money to do it right then he's not interested in doing the job for you. It's obvious that with these cars, it's the best policy. This approach pays off in the end with a work of art and about $230,000 less in your wallet! When we saw the extent of the work and the detail that went into "every" car I wondered if Jerry was even charging enough. These vehicles were gorgeous! The cars are "completely" disassembled, every part is brought back to original factory specifications (or better) and then it's carefully and obviously lovingly reassembled. Every part is cleaned, greased, polished, painted, chromed, or annodized and inspected before going back on the car. Even the frame is powder coated!

     He has cars being shipped to him from as far away as Germany.  His volume varies from year to year but they average between land 6 cars per year. Almost all aspects of the restoration are handled on-site including bodywork, paint, upholstery, convertible tops, wiring, and engine work. Even though they have a machine shop to re-manufacture some unobtainable parts, they may send out the block and crankshaft for inspection and critical work.

      I asked Jerry for some advice on finding and working with body shops and restorers on our Volvos. He said before you choose one, make sure you do some research on they're performance and reputation. Ask him to show you examples of his work and refer past customers to you. You should also stay involved with the project but don't bug the shop. A restorer appreciates a customer that's monitoring the job and makes himself available to answer questions as they come up. If you visit your car during the work you'll better understand the cost of labor and materials involved and the final price will not be a surprise. As your car is disassembled and the paint is stripped, sometimes new unknown problems will surface (literally) and the original quote may no longer be valid. Make sure you establish good clear guidelines identifying exactly what's expected to be done and some alternatives if unforseen problems arise (ex: fenders are 50% body filler putty!)

     Well, after listening to many fascinating stories about the cars and their deep pocket owners and shooting many rolls of film of these show cars, we said our goodbyes to Jerry and Sue and moved to the parking lot. The lectures on body work, engine and upholstery restoration and adhering to original specifications inspired conversations about our own cars that lasted almost another hour. Again it was another club event filled with valuable information and fun for everyone. We wish to again express our thanks to Jerry and his wife Sue for giving up their Saturday to share their business', knowledge, experience and entertaining stories with us.

     If you missed it, you really missed out. Hope to see you at the next event! (Note: If you or someone you know is interested in a complete restoration of their Mercedes give Jerry a call: 619-746-7738 Hjeltness Restoration Inc., 630 Alpine Way, Escondido, CA 92029

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