"Automotive restoration" is the whole trade, not one job on a menu. It covers everything from getting a barn-find running again to stripping a body to bare metal and putting back a vehicle that is better than it left the factory. At Texoma Classics in Sherman, Texas, it is what we have done since 2001 — across cars, trucks, tractors, trailers, buses and coaches.
Start With Scope, Not With Price
Almost every restoration conversation that goes badly went badly because scope was never agreed on. Two owners can say "restore my car" and mean projects that differ by a factor of ten. We define the work up front, in writing, at one of four levels:
Mechanical restoration. Make it run, stop and steer the way it should. Engine, brakes, fuel, cooling, electrical and suspension are sorted; the body and interior are left as they are. This is the right first step for a vehicle you want to drive now and refinish later.
Driver-quality restoration. Mechanically sound, cosmetically honest, and built to be used. Rust is repaired properly, paint is refreshed, the interior is made comfortable. It is not a trailer queen and is not priced like one.
Frame-off restoration. The body comes off the chassis, everything is stripped, repaired or replaced, and the vehicle is reassembled from the ground up. Every system is addressed because every system is apart. This is where concours-level and show-level work happens.
Restomod. Period looks, modern mechanicals — modern drivetrain, brakes, suspension, climate control and electronics under original sheet metal. See restomod builds for how we approach that trade-off.
Restoration by Vehicle Type
The principles carry across, but the knowledge does not. A pre-war coachbuilt body and an aluminum travel trailer fail in different ways and are repaired with different methods. We keep separate practices for each:
Classic car restoration · Antique and pre-war cars · Muscle cars · Classic trucks · Vintage tractors · Airstreams · RVs and coaches · Boats · Horse and commercial trailers.
The Trades Under One Roof
A restoration is four or five specialist trades running in sequence, and every hand-off is a place for quality and schedule to slip. We keep the core disciplines in-house so the same shop is accountable end to end: metalwork and rust repair, paint and refinishing, upholstery and interiors, engine and drivetrain work, and mechanical repair and diagnostics.
How the Work Actually Runs
We start with an assessment of the vehicle in front of us, not an estimate over the phone. Disassembly and inspection tell the truth about rust, previous repairs and what is actually salvageable — and that is the point at which a real budget and sequence can be written. Nothing proceeds past an approved work order.
From there you get progress you can actually see. Every project is documented in photos as it moves through the shop, and owners follow along through our client portal rather than waiting on a phone call. Long restorations lose people when they go quiet; ours do not go quiet.
No Vehicle Yet?
You do not need to already own something to start. We work with salvage yards and sellers across the region and can help source a sound donor body worth restoring, which is often a better starting point than a cheap car hiding expensive rust. Tell us what you are after and we will keep an eye out.
Talk to the Shop
We are in Sherman, Texas, and take vehicles from across Texoma, the DFW metroplex, Oklahoma and beyond — long-distance clients are routine, and we will walk you through transport. Tell us the vehicle, the condition, and what you want out of it, and we will tell you honestly what it takes.