Restoration the right way

Glenn Vaughn Restoration Services sits unobtrusively off a side road, belying the world-class facility within; 10,000 square feet incorporating upholstery, mechanical, body and paint work, all under two tin roofs.

Vaughn restores classic cars – so well that his work has been featured on PBS and by other media. Yet, Vaughn’s calling in restoration work reaches far beyond cars. He’s also in the business of restoring lives.

As a teen, Vaughn’s great-grandmother awarded him a rustic 1929 Model A Ford, which jump-started Vaughn and his father, Ken, into the car-restoration business. Their fine work, combined with integrity, earned awards and an international clientele. Their philosophy hasn’t changed.

“There is only one way to do a restoration,” Vaughn says. “Do it right.”

Since 1972, the father-son team restored such cars as a 1938 Packard dual-cowl Phaeton that once belonged to the boy king of Iran, and a race car built for Adolph Hitler before World War II.

In what the Wall Street Journal called “a shotgun wedding,” Ken Vaughn partnered with Phil Hill, the first American to win the Formula One World Drivers Championship. Their work, as the world-renowned Hill & Vaughn, in Santa Monica, became sought after by collectors around the globe.

It’s the same for Glenn Vaughn Restoration Services today.

Despite such a beginning, the young Vaughn chose to run his own race; soaring on his own as a pilot. After obtaining a liberal arts degree from Santa Barbara’s Westmont College, Vaughn headed to Alaska and became a flight instructor.

On a trip back to Los Angeles, Vaughn met Karen, the woman who would become his wife.

“I fell in love in eight seconds,” he says. “I pursued her until she said, ‘I do.’ “

Vaughn returned to L.A. and car restoration work. When his father retired, he and his wife Ursula (now deceased) moved to Coeur d’Alene. Vaughn and Karen followed suit, desiring a more conducive environment for raising their two young children, Morgan and Lily.

Vaughn’s family and work took solid root in Idaho. He and Karen had another daughter, Alison, and Vaughn opened his own classic car restoration business. But Glenn didn’t plan a future in that when he moved to Idaho.

“I don’t think this is my calling. But it is what I’m good at.”

Then Vaughn’s life course was forever changed, when he became acquainted with Hospice. He volunteered for the nonprofit organization, and took counseling classes. He helped with an HIV-positive group and a battered women’s group, realizing he’d found the true calling his heart longed for.

With his family’s support, Vaughn earned his master’s degree in counseling from North Idaho College. He took more than 10 years to do so, so as not to take time from his family or business. Vaughn’s sole purpose was to volunteer his services.

For more than 10 years now, Vaughn has volunteered as a mental health counselor at Dirne Community Health Center. Dirne, started by Lidwin Dirne, is a nonprofit volunteer operation for people without health insurance.

“I thrive on it. It’s been a major building block in my personal life,” Vaughn says. “I’ve discovered my best self at the center.”

Joel Hughes, CEO of the center, is appreciative.

“Very rarely is an individual so committed to the community,” Hughes said. “He’s made tremendous sacrifices to help low-income people.”

Ginger Seaman, the center’s pharmacy assistance coordinator, agrees.

“The most important thing for him is to see people get better and improve their quality of life – simple as that! He cares very deeply for people.”

A seed to help others was planted early in Vaughn’s life by his parents. Ken volunteered at church, Ursula, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Los Angeles.

Even car restoration work, in Vaughn’s eyes, is more about people than cars.

“I’ll remember the interaction I have with a car’s owner far longer than I’ll recall the car.”

The classic cars Vaughn restores brim with history – Vaughn’s major in college. He’s restored such fabulous cars as a 1924 Hispano-Suiza.

Upon entering any classic car in his shop, such as a 1937 Packard, one’s senses are immediately engaged: the smell of fine wood and upholstery; the fine craftsmanship; a sense of quiet seclusion. Thoughts of the past are stirred. In fact, memories are why many pursue the often lengthy restorations, Vaughn said.

“A normally nondemonstrative man, for whom I restored a car, wept when we finished. He said, ‘You brought back a part of my father for me.’ “

Vaughn involves the owner as much as possible in each project. Also involved, is his wife, Karen.

“I couldn’t do this without my wife’s help. She has a head for numbers; I don’t. We’re a team; in marriage, and in business.”

He also credits his father and talented employees, such as Vaughn’s shop manager of 12 years, Lyndon Haagenson.

“I love the atmosphere, the clientele, and the cars we work on,” Haagenson said.

Haagenson, along with Paul Bel, Vaughn’s upholsterer of six years, show a picture of a car they’re particularly proud of – a stunning, 1926 Hearse Studebaker.

Head mechanic, Mike Alitzer adds, “Working on old cars is what I’ve loved to do since I first held a wrench.”

Vaughn’s restoration work not only boasts happy employees and gratified customers, but also appreciative mental health patients. Yet, Vaughn is humble.

“I get back from everyone,” he insists. “It is selfish.”