The love and fascination for restoring classic cars is not just a hobby it’s a passion. The automotive industry is changing, and technological advances have made modern cars a complicated feat of engineering and magic. There is something amazing in the process of restoring the old machines so they look and work like new. This is a story about the power of passing on the passion and skill of restoring old cars to a new generation.

The Automotive Mentoring Group in Chicago is a nonprofit organization founded by Alex Levesque who pulls former gang members from the violent streets of Chicago and teaches them how to restore classic cars. Not only is Levesque passing on important skills to these young men, he is showing them how they can take their lives into their hands and change their future. The program offers three and six month courses, and one-on-one mentorship which allows them to learn the skills they need for employment.

Find out more about this promising nonprofit program at: https://www.amgmentoring.org/

1953 Mercedes-Benz 300S Cabriolet
Photo credit Yahoo Sport

McPherson College Students Nearly Win the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance with a Restored 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300S Cabriolet

The Auto Restoration Program at McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas has the only four-year bachelor’s degree program in automotive restoration technology in the U.S.  A group of McPherson students came in second place in the Postwar Luxury category at the 72nd Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Second place is a high honor and significant accomplishment given that there were 200 cars chosen to participate in this prestigious program. Competing at Pebble Beach was a vision ten years in the making.

According to Motor Trend, students in the program work on cars spanning from 1890 all the way up to 1873, and alumni have gone on to work with major forces in the classic car industry including Hagerty, RM Sotheby’s, Gooding & Company, Brumos Collection and various private collectors. To learn more about the program, visit their website: https://www.mcpherson.edu/programs/auto-restoration/mb300s/

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