Tucson-Based Crown Concepts Leans Into the New Normal in the Car Restoration Industry
Switching Gears in the New Year
During the pandemic, a lot of people dived into new hobbies and habits, or old ones they had abandoned years before. With everyone adjusting to the new normal of spending more time inside, things like streaming movies and ordering everything online got a little old. One hobby that did see a pickup during the pandemic was car restoration, or just motormania in general.
Classic car owners and racecar enthusiasts began to get back behind the wheel of hollowed out shells of their garaged project cars and realized they needed some professional help to move their tasks along. That’s where Tucson-based Crown Concepts came into the picture.
Operating in a 21,000 square feet warehouse filled with clean space and sharp features, Crown Concepts houses almost all its business in one spot. While the building’s front half includes a front lobby and retail area, a showroom, and a hospitality area, the back half hosts Crown’s one-of-a-kind Superperformance inventory, engine room, management offices, service bays, All-wheel dyno, powder coating room, and a machine shop where mechanics tinker on cars with sufficient detail and precision.
It’s in this area where owners Curtis Brown and Joey Martin oversee the restoration house’s projects. Crown Concepts is a perfect spot for auto fanatics to bask in the inventory of mint cars and handcrafted workmanship, including current projects like a ’61 Willie’s Jeep custom off road and a ’69 GS Buick with an LS3 crate engine; cars with owners who are wanting to bring their rides out from the doldrums of the pandemic.
“Most customers come to us with a car already started—we do monthly updates to the customer,” notes Loa. “We have an open-door policy here and we want people to feel welcome to come in and check on our projects. We take them to the assembly side so they can get a good look.”
While the pandemic has been kind to Crown Concepts in keeping business flowing, it has also presented a number of challenges that has made things a little more difficult to work with, but presented a new opportunity to be creative.
Ideally, Loa and crew would like to see these things done in 9-12 months. Over the past year, it’s gotten more difficult because of waiting on getting parts from suppliers due to the supply chain issues born out of the pandemic’s slowing effect.
“The biggest effect is having individual resources on hand. From metal and steel to aluminum, having it available is tough. Something that would’ve usually taken a week can take up to three months now. The project is stalled until we get a specific part, for instance. So, we’ve adapted and worked on other parts of the project while we wait, essentially,” explains Loa.
But while supply chain issues have triggered Crown Concepts into adjusting, it hasn’t affected them customer-wise. “We’re a business that can be successful through something like a worldwide pandemic,” Loa notes.
When it comes to restoration, clients get to lay out their hopes and dreams for what they want their finished product to look like and feel like. From aesthetics to performance to what’s under the hood, Crown Concepts helps visualize those dreams and sets a date to start and finish. The team gets a wide range of inquiries, notes Loa, taking on projects that need new engines to more detailed tasks that see them starting from scratch and rebuilding classic vehicles.
But apart from beefing up muscle cars, Crown Concepts can also be found on the racetrack, especially APEX in Maricopa, where it offers specialized trackside services to help racecar enthusiasts stay ready to roll. From owners looking for an oil change to quick tune-ups to full-service requests that require pickup and drop off for hands-off clients, Crown Concepts does it all.
“We’re doing fuel, tires, maintenance, parts and replacement, etc. Anything we can’t do at the track, we can take care of it back at our shop,” adds Loa. “We do vehicle storage here as well. We can pick up your car wherever you are, take care of the maintenance, then drop it back off.”
As the pandemic begins to slow and more people get back on the road, Crown Concepts will be looking to the future while it continues to do what it does best. With plans to reach more clients and offer more services, Loa and Co. have the potential to extend Arizona’s car culture to more potential future enthusiasts.
“We hope to get more into replica work, like Porsches and Cobras, but we’re really happy where we are right now.”
Crown Concepts is located at 3930 West Costco Drive, Tucson, Arizona 85741. Call them at (520) 900-7586, email sales@crownconceptsusa.com, or visit their website at www.crownconceptsusa.com
