On November 18th, somewhere on the far side of twenty Alfisti gathered at the facility of Auto Rust Technicians, Inc. (ART) in Cranston, Rhode Island for a rust restoration tech session organized by AONEr (and RI resident) Tom Letourneau. Since the newest Alfas plying the US roadways are twelve years old now, rust is an issue of interest to all of us.

As is the norm at one of these affairs, one Alfa after another started arriving at the parking lot in Cranston around 10 am (and a few of them were appropriately sporting some various rust issues!). We were greeted by Tom and the three urns of coffee and three dozen donuts he’d picked up for us. These were most welcome, since several of our members had traveled quite some distance (including two who had crossed Long Island Sound to get there!).

After the usual Alfa hobnobbing and kibitzing outside, we assembled in the shop, where we were welcomed by Dave Rathbun, a long-time member of the ART staff. He gave us an interesting talk, explaining the kinds of work their company does (and doesn’t do). They’re not an auto body shop (there isn’t even a spray booth on the premises). And they don’t do collision repair (they don’t have a frame straightening machine). But they do provide services that restore the structural integrity of cars that have suffered the onslaught of rust caused by our climate, the way we treat snowy roads, and just plain old age. These services include rebuilding frames and cross-members with new metal, and cutting out old and welding in new floor and trunk pans, rocker panels, wheel arches, etc., fabricating them from scratch when they aren’t available commercially.

While most of ART’s work is involved with saving American muscle cars (which, believe it or not, seem to rust even faster than Alfas), they do a good deal of work on foreign sports cars as well. Although there were no Alfas currently in the shop, there was a 356 that had recently come in from a barn and was about to undergo extensive surgery.

For the second half of the session, we went back outside where ART had a Dodge Challenger chassis up on its side, with the underside exposed. One half hadn’t been touched, and exhibited an extreme degree of rust damage—frame decomposed, floor pan reduced to lace, pieces missing, etc. The other half had been restored by ART—all of the frame members, pans, and pieces had been replaced or rebuilt, and everything had received a rust-preventative coating. It looked as though it might have come from the factory that way!

As the session was breaking up, we noticed at least a few of our members in consultation with the ART staff about projects they had going, so it was apparently a morning well-spent for all concerned. Our thanks go to the people at Auto Rust Technicians for opening their doors to us and giving us a glimpse of their operation and capabilities.

And then it was off to lunch! The Twin Oaks restaurant was barely a mile from ART, and they had a long table waiting for us. We got to chew over what we’d learned at the morning’s tech session, while chewing on some of the Twin Oaks’ generously-portioned culinary offerings. Mainly, though, we got to hang out with our Alfa friends for what was sure to be one of the last events of the season. Thanks, Tom Letourneau, for arranging the tech session, coffee and donuts, and lunch at the Twin Oaks—‘twas a very fine gathering!

(Click on the thumbnails below for a larger view,
and then use your browser's Back button)

John Meister’s lovely GTV graces the front entrance of the Auto Rust Technicians shop

Rod Burdick’s Sprint Speciale draws attention wherever it goes

ART’s Dave Rathbun listens as one of our members asks a question

The crowd listens to Dave’s presentation, never far from the coffee and donuts

Hobnobbing in front of the facility, admiring the engine bay of Myron Barnett’s sleek black 3-liter GTV6

This is ART’s before-and-after display: The left half of the Dodge Charger a rusted-out mess below, and the restored-better-than-new right half above

The group gathers in front of the before-and-after mule for the second half of our presentation, with Marc Olivier’s Spider in the foreground

Dave discusses ART’s techniques and capabilities with AONErs Peter Walker and Walt Powers

Seated around our table at the Twin Oaks are Mike Poskus, Peter Walker & Meg Anderson, Walter Powers, Gino Evangelista, Marc Olivier, John Torello, Gary Venable, Fred Frey, Rob Rizzo, Tom Lesko, Robert Kirzinger, John Meister, Bill Reed, Lou D’Amore, John Massaro, George Younger, Kevin Murphy, Myron Barnett, Rod Burdick, and Tom Letourneau. Not pictured is cameraman Dave Pratt.

The Twin Oaks is fertile territory for recruiting new members

Home ∙ About AONE ∙ Current Issue ∙ Past Issues ∙ Next Events ∙ Photo Gallery ∙ Our Sponsors
Info Center ∙ Tools For Loan ∙ Classified Ads ∙ Club Store ∙ Search ∙ Forum ∙ Links