BUSINESS PROFILE
Russell Jacobs, owner of RJ CARS (below), and his son, Matthew (left).
RJ CARS Still Fresh From The Barn: 30 Years Later
“I started dragging old cars home when I was 14 years old, to my mom’s family farm, working on anything old with a motor.”
At age 16, Russell Jacobs’ car needed a paint job, so he wound up asking for work at the local auto body shop. He spent five years there learning the ropes and developing his passion in restoration. On his 21st birthday, Russell Jacobs Custom Auto Repair Shop, (later incorporated as RJ CARS) was born. “When I first started out, there were some nights I would work all night and into the next day.” Russell started working out of a building on the family’s farm until he moved to his current location in Arkport, NY. The shop has come a long way. One of the larger pieces of equipment purchased was a Nova Verta Spray Booth, an investment about which Russell says, “That was my dream, to build a shop that would allow us to put out high quality work”. The focus has always been to keep building on the quality of the work by investing in training, software and equipment, even if it was only for a single job. Specializing in factory-correct restorations, the shop also provides high quality body and paint work, mechanical repair, and collision repair. The projects can vary from a black ’68 Charger R/T, to a ’59
Gearing up for the 30th anniversary of the successful restoration business Russell Jacobs started in 1989, he looks back on his experiences and plans for the road ahead. Words by BARRY ALT | Photos by DARREN OHARA
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