|
A little bit about me. Life does not always go the way you plan. Through my younger years till my senior year in high school, I was going to be an architect. It was what I loved and studied for. Then, as a senior in high school, I got a job as a gopher at Crown Valley Body Shop in Laguna Niguel, Ca in 1977 working for my then girlfriend’s father Bob Burke for $3/hr, the big-time! Bob took a liking to me and came to treat me like a son. And I looked to him as a father. He taught me a lot about the buisness. And to his credit, when his daughter and I split up, he encouraged me to stay at the shop and continue to learn the trade.
Before long the painter there, Mike Klassen took me under his wing and taught me to spray lacquer. He was a great guy and the best painter I have ever run across. I realized before long that this was what I really wanted to do. And so I dove into this profession headfirst, loving every minute.
Over the subsequent years, I learned everything I could to be as good a painter as I could be. I did production painting, custom painting, restoration work, you name it. All the while I became a car guy. And living in Southern California, that was easy. I drove all kinds of great old cars year round.
As the years progressed, I got involved in restoring vintage vending machines, gas pumps, motorcycles, vintage pressed steel trucks and more, trying to put my “stamp” on my work in hopes of turning out a product that the owner could be proud of. |
Now, all these years after that wanabe architect picked up a spray gun, I guess not much has really changed when it comes to my work. I still want to turn out a product you can be proud of at a fair price. Your satisfaction is extremely important to me. I just don’t know what I would do with myself if I could not paint.
But in 2005, frustrated with the autobody industry and the stranglehold they allowed the insurance companies to have over them, I stopped working in body shops and started my own eBay business, buying and selling collectibles, vintage toys and more. I sell under the username "vintage-vendor". Then in March of '07, I went back to my painting roots, initially offering vintage motorcycle painting on eBay, then through this website, Access Norton, several vintage motorcycle forums and word of mouth. I am a one-man-show here in my shop. I handle every phase of the process, from initial inspection of the parts, all body work, prep, basecoat/clearcoat paint phases, final buffing and careful packing and shipping back to you. If you are within driving distance, I'm always glad to meet customers in person. But 90% of my jobs come from all over the place, so far as west as Hawaii and as east as England and many points in between. I also personally handle all phone calls and e-mails. Now in 2013, I have painted a large number of vintage motorcycles that I can show examples of, including Norton, Triumph, BSA, BMW, Harley Davidson as well as many Japanese and other brand bikes. I currently do the paint work for "The Classic Bike Experience", here in Essex, Vermont. I painted the Norton Commando featured in the youtube video, "The Norton Project" as well as the Norton done for "The Hot Rod Hotel" in NYC, featured in an episode of "Cafe Racer". I also do the paint work for AHRMA vintage racing champion, Kenny Cummings, owner of NYC Norton. If you copy and paste this link - ( http://www.accessnorton.com/quality-motorcycle-painting-reasonable-prices-t4085.html ), you will find over 90 testimonials from satisfied customers of mine from the Access Norton website, including Jerry Doe, who runs the website. I don’t claim to be the best, but I will do everything I can to make you happy and give you a paint job you can be proud of.
Thanks,
Brent |
