If you’ve been following us along this wildly terrific ride over the years, you know that here at Innovative Restorations, we come from humble beginnings and that a lot of passion goes into what the entire team does each day at the shop.
In this post, we’re taking a minute to catch up with our owner, Adam Bradley, for a quick 15 question, fun look “behind the scenes” at Innovative Restorations.
- How long have you been in business?
We have been in business for 5 years – since May 2014. - How did you come up with the name “Innovative Restorations”?
I made a list of words that best described the shop and its approach and thought innovative sounded like the best match. - Do you remember what the first car you worked on was?
Yes. A 1970 Buick Skylark. - How many staff members do you currently have?
We have 1 office manager, 2 auto body technicians (including myself), and 2 mechanical technicians. - Did you always want to work on cars or have another profession in mind as a kid?
I always enjoyed fixing old things but didn’t plan on working on cars as a profession. I started general studies and had planned to go into the medical field as a chiropractor.
- If you could have any vehicle (money not a concern) what would you want?
For a cruising vehicle, it would have to be a resto-moded 1941 Chrysler Windsor and for a sports car, a vintage Ferrari. - What’s the most unusual item at your shop?
A giant pair of pliers or the table in the waiting room. Our customers always ask about them. As far as work we have done, I would say DJ booths that we fabricated, or Shriner cars have been most interesting. - What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned when restoring cars? Any “deleted scenes” you care to share?
More work, in the beginning, is less work in the end. When I first started in the trade, I would try to do the easy tasks first and do them out of order. Ultimately, that would lead me to have to re-do repairs or backtrack and I realized I was not actually saving any time at all. Glad I figured that out early! - Why do you think the car restoration world is so big?
I think it is so big because of nostalgia. Customers are getting classic cars because it’s a car they always wanted, it was the cool car when they were in high school, a family member had one. It was their first car… these things are driving the market. - Muscle or Vintage?
Vintage. - Where do you see your business in 5 years? 10 years from now?
In 5 years I would like to be moving to a larger facility and adding more staff. In 10 years I would like to have a large staff and multiple area /departments for upholstery fabricatio 
n, bodywork, mechanical repairs, paint, etc. A second location for modern vehicle repairs, that follows the same standards and policies as the restoration shop would be amazing too.- What’s your most popular service?
Disc brake conversions and mechanical system overhauls. - If you had to think about what car you’ve seen most frequently come through your shop’s doors, what would that be?
A Chevrolet Camaro. - You restore and service cars from local Wallingford residents as well as those who ship their projects across the country. How are you able to reach such a large customer base? I believe I have been able to reach such a large customer base because of word of mouth, people compliment quality, and then our website and presence on social media help us to keep a strong connection with customers.
- What has been your favorite/most memorable project yet?
My favorite has been a pink 1967 Chevy Nova.
Have a car project you need help with? Dreaming of a project you’d rather we handled start to finish? Just need some routine maintenance done? We do it all.
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