In June 7 issue, Russell County News
By Ron Cowell, Columnist

We have covered a lot of Car Guys and their cars over the past several months. So this week I thought we would take a look at one of the people who help us get our cars in the shape they are in, fixing dents and rust and putting new paint on the cars to make them look new again.

Shawn Roeder of Jamestown in one of those guys who not only loves the old cars, but loves working on them. He has been doing bodywork for close to ten years. Over that ten year period, what used to be a hobby for Shawn has now turned into a job. He has in the past and is now attending Somerset Community Collage in the Body Repair Shop Classes learning all the new tricks of the trade.

Shawn told me when he was a boy he liked going to car shows and looking at them and pretty much made up his mind back then that he wanted to get into the automotive repair business.

He has lived in the Jamestown area since he moved here from Florida eight years ago. He is doing his bodywork while he still works with his family helping out at the Jamestown Café.

At this time Shawn has two projects in the works. He is working on his own Chevy S 10 Blazer getting it ready for paint. Along with the body work, he is has also done some mechanical work on his vehicle. He has lowered it several inches and done some work on the engine. He hopes to have his complete by the end of summer.

It’s hard to find someone to work on old vehicles. Most body shops are very busy and only have time to work on them in between other jobs unless all they do is just old cars.

A while back I bought my 2nd classic car. I have a 1960 Chevy that I have been showing and having a good time with but also bought a 1961 Corvair from Don Franklin. He had three of them, one for each of his sons and bought the third one for a parts car to fix up the first two. Don said he had the cars for several years and had not started the restoration yet so he wasn’t sure that he would ever start the project . So he sold me the parts car.

When I was looking for a Corvair, Don had one for a parts car. I saw a car that deserved more than just ending up as a parts car so I bought it. It was a car that needed to be restored and put back on the road for all to enjoy.

When I met Shawn and saw the good work he had done on his own car that little light went off in my head. I ask him if he would like to do the work on my Corvair. I had a small dent in the door and very little rust on the car. He looked at it and a short time later we were working on the car getting it ready for paint. He should have it finished sometime in the next month or so depending on his schedule.

So in a few weeks if you see a gold colored 1961 Corvair running around town, all shiny and nice it will be me, all finished up from Shawn’s hard work.

Since working on my car Shawn has several other cars from other car guys waiting to be worked on and painted. Business is piling up for him. I have a feeling he is going to end up as busy as everyone else in the area and be in demand in a very short time.

If your Car Club is having a Cruise in or a car show that you would like us to tell everyone about, drop me a line at djron47@yahoo.com. All information must be in at least two weeks before the event.

Also if your Church, club or organization will be having an even in the near future and would like to display some Classic Cars at the event just let me know. I am sure one of the clubs if not all of them would be happy to bring their cars to your event for show. This time of year most clubs are very busy with Cruise In’s, Car Shows and other events so get you requests in early.

That’s it for this week, till next time,, Keep Crusin !