What does Specializing in Specializing mean?

When a problem comes up on a rare, expensive vehicle, a problem is posed. Where will the information be found when factory manuals have been out of print, and unavailable for years? When parts are unavailable, and the experts on these vehicles are no longer around to work on them, who will fill the gap? You need a specialist that knows era specific systems, how the engineers designed, and how the basics of these systems not only work, but are practically applied and assembled. Someone who has experience in repairing problems they may have never seen, but also has the required patience. This is the home of classic car repair & inspection. Specializing in specializing is the ability to take what you don’t understand, understand it, and from there being able to create a solution that works reliably.

Burton is an experienced mechanic with a demonstrated history of working in the automotive industry. Skilled in business planning, analysis, coaching, and fine craftsmanship. He is a mechanical geek. Always interested in how something that works, works. How and why it was built in the way that it was.

He specializes in rare automobile restoration, repair, and inspection services for classic european cars including, Mercedes, Ferrari, Jaguar, Austin Martin, Austin Healey, Lamborghini, BMW, Alpha Romeo, Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Citroen. He is also experience in both North American, and Japanese Vehicles as well.

History in the making

Burton’s career began with an in-depth year in school where he dedicated himself to learn the first two years of apprenticeship training. This is in comparison to the normal eight weeks of school, for each 1,500 hours of work as an apprentice at a working shop. He graduated top of his class. The subsequent two years also found him winning scholastic awards and finishing with a top mark on the Red Seal exam.

Burton has some unique experience that makes him capable of such specialization. Coming from a small independent shop that worked on and repaired anything from lawn mowers to five tonne trucks, he worked on the ground without a hoist for the start of his career.

Moving from there to be trained at an engine machine shop by one of the best machinists in the area gave him an advantage through-out the rest of his career. He is rare in his class as a technicians who still performs engine building. This has created a skill set that complements building transmissions and differentials, as well as other detailed mechanical assemblies.

Burton worked in a Cadillac dealership which gave him a different perspective on how businesses use resources and people in different ways. He also has learned to work with different styles of teams over the years. Practically, this has also exposed him to the high end luxury clientele and vehicle systems market. During the GM training he received the Master Mechanic certification for every year he worked there.

Moving on to a high output, high flow Honda specialty shop, he honed in on the skills of repeated mechanical operations such as 4 to 5 timing belts a week, as well as major in-shop engine and transition repairs 2 to 3 times a month. His experience ranges from deep understanding of Japanese engine management systems and how they are adapted from European and North American systems. He has also spent dedicated time on AC system diagnosis and repair, becoming the AC technician at the shop.

Good experience is derived from diving deep into specific systems for dedicated amounts of time. This has been Burton’s consistent approach in his career. This propelled him forward to become shop foreman at the age of 24, where he was able to bring new sets of skills in customer relations, and train apprentices.

After the foreman years, Burton applied himself to understanding customer problems and finding the oddities that seemed indeterminable. This is done by listening to customers and asking the correct questions, re-creating the problem and verifying it source. This also led to building research methods to such problems that included real-world, hands-on approach to finding problems, combined with finding the correct information to diagnose problems accurately.

With all of this rich experience, Burton was able to become an expert in classic car repair & inspection.

He has also gone on to teach himself CAD design as he found a need for specialized parts and gasket design and production. Using a CNC cutter he can now build gaskets and diaphragms in house with a quick turn around to your door. He can also design and build previously unavailable parts for almost any application on a classic car.

Specializing in specializing is the ability to take what you don’t understand, understand it, and from there being able to create a solution that works reliably.

Check out a brief portfolio of some of the recent work he has completed.