Walk the Shop: Classic European GTs at Bethlehem Motors

MotorTrend

Gary Kirston has owned Bethlehem Motors for 40 years

Transcript

00:00 (car engine revving)

00:03 I always had this love for cars,

00:07 and I absolutely sucked at school.

00:09 My name's Gary, and I own Bethlehem Motors.

00:13 What do I do?

00:19 Basically, frontline work.

00:22 You know, I do a lot of work for Warner Brothers,

00:25 the people that work there, I pick up, I fetch,

00:27 I do all maintenance and service.

00:29 And then, you know, I restore cars

00:31 when I'm not doing that.

00:34 So for instance, I've tried to make it

00:36 so that at two days a week,

00:37 I don't do anyone's cars, but restorations.

00:40 And some of these cars that you see

00:42 in this place I've restored, you know, basically that's it.

00:46 All I've ever done in my life, period.

00:48 Came here in 1976 from South Africa.

00:50 Here today, and I'm nearly 60 years old,

00:53 and all I've ever done is turn wrenches.

00:56 (drill whirring)

00:59 (upbeat music)

01:04 This over here is that bug eye that I spoke to you about.

01:11 It's got everything new.

01:12 New engine, new drivetrain, new wiring.

01:14 In percentages, we're probably 75% there.

01:18 So this is a press.

01:21 I use it mainly to do bearings.

01:23 The two things that are hanging on there

01:24 are air conditioning gauges.

01:26 So this is an R134 air conditioning gauge, modern,

01:29 and I have one of the only R12s left.

01:32 You know, the Ghibli?

01:34 I'm in the process of finishing this thing up, you know?

01:36 What am I gonna do with it eventually?

01:38 I have no idea.

01:39 I have this theory, and here's the theory.

01:41 You die twice in life.

01:43 You actually physically die when you're in the ground.

01:47 And the second time you die

01:48 is when people stop talking about you.

01:50 So guys like Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy,

01:53 they never die.

01:54 And so the reason I bring that up

01:55 is this is the stuff that I will pass on to my children, okay?

01:59 So that when my children have children,

02:01 they'll say, "Hey, you know, Grandpa did that,"

02:03 and so on and so on, so you can stay alive

02:05 in their thoughts and in their memories

02:07 for as long as possible.

02:09 Oh, they're just a small collection of steering wheels

02:11 that I've acquired over the years, you know?

02:13 My kids call me a hoarder.

02:15 I don't truly believe that.

02:16 I'm very selective of what I hoard, so there you go.

02:23 I'm more proud of my hand tools

02:25 and how I keep my hand tools than anything in this shop.

02:27 You know, everything has its designated spot.

02:30 I believe that efficiency in this business is key,

02:34 so I have it all designated in metric and SAE.

02:36 This is where I feel the most comfortable, you know?

02:40 Is there anything unique?

02:41 No, you know, everything is, I'm so used to this.

02:44 Literally coming here, working on cars,

02:46 it's like going to the bathroom.

02:48 It's just so easy.

02:50 I don't think about it.

02:51 If I have to actually do a math problem,

02:53 my brain will work.

02:54 This, my brain doesn't work.

02:55 It just clicks into place.

02:57 The E-Type belonged to a guy that does music for the movies.

03:02 He called me up and he said,

03:02 "Hey, I heard you're a really good jag mechanic.

03:04 "Never met this guy, okay?"

03:06 And he called me up and he said,

03:08 "Listen, I had a dream last night

03:10 "that you were wearing a white T-shirt driving the E-Type.

03:13 "How much will you give me for the car?"

03:15 So I gave him some crazy number, and he said, "Done."

03:18 I called my wife up and she said,

03:19 "Just give him a credit card."

03:21 And that's how I got the E-Type.

03:23 (car engine revving)

03:26 I would say that I'm proud of what I've done.

03:28 I mean, I'm scaling down.

03:29 I'm 40 years into this business.

03:32 That's nearly half a century.

03:34 But where I am right now is exactly where I wanna be.

03:37 Where I'm going, I don't know.

03:39 Maybe you'll tell me.

03:40 (upbeat music)

03:42 (upbeat music)

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