Hagerty Magazine May-June 2019 - Lifetime Learner (Michael Krukowski)

T H E M O T O R S P O R T S I S S U E

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MAY | JUNE 2019

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FROM MOONSHINE TO PRIME TIME

T H E S E R V I C E D E P T. RPM: Restoration. Preservation. Mentorship.

T H E S E R V I C E D E P T. RPM: Restoration. Preservation. Mentorship.

SMS is an upholstery lover’s dream, with rack after rack of materials for nearly every domestic under the sun. It’s the perfect place for Peters to spend his days.

LIFETIME LEARNER Boyhood experiences and genuine curiosity are Michael Krukowski’s keys to success.

BY ANY MEASURE, MICHAEL KRUKOWski had a perfect upbringing for a kid who loves cars. His father was a car nut, and the two made regular weekend trips to swap meets and car shows. When Krukowski was Howhisa “quarter changerepair tookshop one 10, dad openedlife” a collision near the family home in Fairfax Station, Virginia, and it wasn’t long before his father began teaching him how to bend panels, weld, SEVEN YEARS AGO, WHILE TAKING IN and refinish. theThese cars and display at the days,motorcycles 20-year-old on Krukowski recogArt ofthat the his Car boyhood Concoursexperiences on the grounds of nizes are the the Kansas City Art Institute, Jason Peters exception rather than the rule among young had a revelation. people aspiring to get into the restoration “I really But didn’t any career profession. he have has some advice:ambition A backin high school,” he remembers. after ground in cars isn’t everything, and“So in some graduating, I got an associate’s degree in nucases, what you know can actually hurt you. trition and wound up working in a local hosAbout half of Krukowski’s classmates in pitalcollision, kitchen.” From to human rethe repair,home-care and refinishing vocasources, a seriesatofChantilly jobs followed St. Luke’s tional program HighatSchool had Hospital in Kansas City.

122Peters loved the work, but he was 30 and

LIFE’S A STITCH

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RPM Foundation never really worked on anything mechanical provides scholbefore. It was the same story after he gradarships, formal uated and enrolled in the two-year automotraining, and tive restoration program mentorship at Pennsylvania to the next generation of College of Technology. and in “At school, I found thatautomotive a background marine restorers cars only gives someone a good base to start and preservationfrom. I had classmates who thought ists. Learn morethey at were farther ahead than rpm.foundation. they really were, and they came off as arrogant. That attitude can impede self-improvement, especially when it comes to learning a new way of doing something.”

In other words, if you’re seeking the education and experience to land a dream job manin from healthcare to upholstery. classic-car restoration, check your ego at the garage door. And, Krukowski adds, get involved with people and organizations that want to see you succeed. felt“The his career ticking.really All this time, the PeRPM clock Foundation helped ters had more than aand casual interest at in Penn clasrestoration program its students sic cars. He with histrips father College,” he grew says. up “It working organized field to on the family’s 1972 Chevelle Malibu, a car area museums and car events and provided theyfunding took tofor local showsaway and from cruise-ins. gap students home.At It 23, he bought a 1969 Ford Galaxie his also helped with transportation and500, roomfirstcosts major while working the ing forpurchase students volunteering at at shows hospital. and concours events.”

“I restored that car byevery the paycheck,” PeKrukowski seized opportunity ters says,by and estimates spentto$30,000 provided RPM, and hishe hunger absorb fixing up the 10 years.

Throughand learn all Galaxie he couldover about a given subject out the process, he had no idea you could get a degree in automotive restoration.

Krukowski is applying the his Then heknowledge saw the McPherson College tent dad gave him, at the Art of the Car. Talking to the school’s the lessons rep, Peterslearned had hisatrevelation.

He stayed on Penn at St. Luke’s and continued his education in College, and the human resources management at Kansas practical skills he’s pickingUniversity. up daily City’s Parkville But in his spare at the Creative time, he looked at job options in the collecWorkshop.

tor-car world.

He also entered his Galaxie at the Art of the Car the following year. There he met RPM Foundation president Diane Fitzgerald. “She encouraged my decision to enroll RPM Foundation at McPherson andscholarfind a career that bridged provides my humanships, resources and recruiting experiformal training, and mentorship ence into something in the car-hobby restoto the next generaration world.” of automotive, At 34, tion Peters headed off to McPherson motorcycle, and and its Automotive Restoration Managemarine restorers ment program, a full-time curriculum that and preservationists. Learnfor more at prepares students running a shop-based RPM.Foundation. business. He landed an RPM scholarship and in the summer of 2015 traveled to Tacoma, Washington, for an RPM internship at LeMay—America’s Car Museum. helped raise his stock in the eyes of his proAt McPherson, Peters quickly realized he fessors. When Jason Wenig, a longtime RPM had a thing for interiors and, specifically, donor and owner of the Creative Workshop, upholstery. from engine compartcame callingAside in 2018 to the fill an entry-level jumenttechnician and paint job, he says, a car’s interior nior position at his prestigious is the in thing thatFlorida, draws the most attention shop Dania, Krukowski’s name at shows. came up first.

“I love theoflook of classic uphol“Because the and earlyfeel work with my dad, stery,” he says.

“I like figuring out patterns I’ve always had a knack for metal fabricawith the gentle hum a sewing machine in tion,” Krukowski says.of“But now I’m learning the background.” about the mechanical end of things and the Peters graduated in 2017 and took a the job intricacies of assembly.

I’ve discovered withofSMS Auto Fabrics in Portland, Oregon. joy taking a box of parts and a bare shell Servicing owners every make and turning it all of into a car thatand canmodel move of domestic car from the 1930s on, SMS has under its own power.”

America’s largest selection autoAs the youngest memberof oforiginal a small restomobile carpet, vinyl, leather, and upholstery. ration team, Krukowski finds that the chal“If of we working don’t have originalexotics in stock,” lenge on the elite-level and he says, “we have the ability to reproduce one-of-a-kind classics continues to inspire cloth “Iinreally any pattern for nearly every Amerhim. don’t believe a background in ican classic.

We even door cars is as critical as aproduce person’scustom motivation panels.” to learn,” he says. “I’m always excited when Now 37, new Peters has found rewarding work something comes through the door bethat pays well.

He has expanded his personcause of my interest in the stories vehicles al collection of the classics, too, involved to three in Edsels can tell. I love research resand a ’78 Thunderbird. toration almost as much as the physical lahopes have his own upholstery and bor.HeFor me, to the fascination in cars is how detailing business in the next five years.

“Inthey’re a link to history and a window into side and out,I never enthusiasts wantButz theireditor@ cars to experiences had.”—Bob be phenomenal,” Peters says. “I find great joy hagerty.com in helping them make their dreams a reality.”—Bob Butz editor@hagerty.com Photo by Albert Manduca

RPM Foundation is the educational arm of America's Automotive Trust.

Toll Free: 855.537.4579 Website: www.rpm.foundation

Photo by Stefan Lombard