Just yesterday we had a visit from Jonathan Stein of Hagerty Classic Insurance. After lunch at the slice-of-smalltown-life Crystal Cafe in downtown Iola, I took Jon to see one of the best-kept secrets in the old-car hobby. It is a business called Vintage Woodworks that fixes wood-bodied cars (mainly Chrysler Town & Countrys) and soft-trim items like upholstery and convertible tops.
Dennis and Kathy Bickford run this business and they do great work, but the staffers of Old Cars Weekly enjoy visting the shop for another reason - it's relaxing. The world of publishing magazines and books often gets hectic. The world of restoring wood-bodied cars moves a whole lot slower.
Dennis and Kathy live in their shop and decorate it with cool automobilia. They heat with the soothing warmth of a wood pellet stove. Best of all, they work like craftspeople. Their success is judged by the quality of what they accomplish, not the speed they get it done at.
When we need to break away from the headline news, weekly deadlines and glare of the computer screen, we escape to Vintage Woodworks, for an hour of two, to soak in some "Old World" living.