Rosemont, Illinois — Southern Ontario automotive restorers, Mauro Brocca and Jeff Cabot recently earned gold for their restoration of a 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda AAR at this year’s Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois.
The event was held over the November 17th weekend at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Centre, in which car enthusiasts from across North America joined to enjoy more than 500 classic muscle cars from every manufacturer.
Brocca and Cabot earned Certified Gold in the OE Concourse class with an overall score of 982 out of 1000, along with two best-Mopar awards presented by MCACN sponsors.
The OE Concourse class is meant for cars restored to original equipment like-new conditions.
Brocca and Cabot employed the same techniques Chrysler factory workers would have used, such as having two painters spray one side of the car each as well as purposefully adding the same sort of imperfections you’d find on the car when originally new.
The pair also added unused parts from the 70s and the car was painted and assembled as if it had come off the assembly line in its original era.
This means that the body was painted with single acrylic enamel for the FE5 Rallye Red, and with now-discontinued textured, lacquer-based Organisol for the blacked-out parts in order to replicate factory finishes.
Removing the interior panels of the restored vehicle also revealed factory-correct looking spot-welds.
In the end, judges were able to find nearly no errors in Brocca and Cabot’s work, marking a well-earned win and an overall win for Canadian automotive restorers.
