"Rocket Restorations" mopar only body shop Olympia WA

Mike and Tom know their stuff, if I lived near the Killer Whale territory I would use them for sure!

They stopped by my shop on the way to Spring Fling and are just great guys. They have also helped broker some deals.

They are highly recommended.

I highly recommend their work! Top notch shop for sure.

I heard good things about them too, but found that you'd better have a Hemi or Six Pack or a drop-top to dangle in front of their nose. They seemed to have stars in their eyes when I talked to them about 4.5 years ago. They just couldn't get excited about restoring "only" a rust-free, numbers-matching 383 4-speed e-body. And even if they did accept it, they couldn't get to it for at least a year and a half and the price was gonna start at $50-$75K. It was apparent they wanted me to go away so they could concentrate on glamour jobs.

I'd bet in this down economy and collector car hobby price downturn, they don't lightly dismiss a lot of paying customers like that anymore.

No funny icons necessary here -- just the plain facts.

After all the glowing reports here, and a couple of good conversations with them, I'm happy to report they said they will take my car around the end of January.

I dont know if my car is classified as a "glamour job" or not but it doesn't need a full restoration, only a long list of minorish things that they can pick at at their leisure.

Thanks for all the good words from everyone. NOrrTH just gave us a call and we are going to get the car in near the end of January, looking forward to getting it in here. He was just looking for detail and finishing work on his GTX which we can get in sooner than a full nut and bolt restoration.

To Iceman01, I do not remember that conversation but it was over 4.5 years ago. As far as us not touching a 383 car here is a list of projects we have done in the last year:

1968 Dodge Charger - Mostly Original Paint, building a stroker motor for it and painted the engine bay, will be fixing some rear window rust as well

1968 Dodge Super Bee 383 4 speed - finished someone else's resto

1969 Plymouth Road Runner 383 4 speed - complete resto

1968 Dodge Dart 2 Door Slant 6 - Did some mechanical work to it

1971 Plymouth Valiant 318 - Did a lot of maintenance work

1969 Plymouth Road Runner A12 - Doing a complete on this one

1969 Dodge Daytona - Just doing paint and body owner will assemble

1967 Dodge Dart - Street/Strip car, just did paint and body

1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 383 - 6bblgt's car

1968 Plymouth Barracuda - 318 car originally, building a 360 stroker for it and paint and body work

1962 Dodge Dart Convertible - Rust repair and converting to right hand drive for a customer in Australia

As you can see we do a huge variety of cars here on all types of budgets. We are known for our OE quality restorations but have the expertise to do other levels of work as a customer requires. To do any full restoration we are probably at least a year out right now, we have a very long waiting list for cars to get in the shop at the moment.

Mike

Iceman01,
Sorry you got that impression from Mike, but 4-5 years ago it was probably the fact that his shop, and mine too, had a 2-3 year waiting list.

More often than not, the guys with the 440, 6bbl & HEMI cars feel they can justify the cost of a professional shop.

Then there are guys like you that want the best, no matter the engine size-which is great-but you are an exception rather than the rule-guess that makes you unique

Take care all,
Paul

I had the guy's at Rocket do the body and paint work on my car about 11 years ago. The finished product was absolutely beautiful, and my car was a 69 Coronet station wagon. Also had Mike do some metal work, body and paint, on a 69 Road Runner, 440, column shift auto, and this was long before he even opened up the shop in Oly. I can attest to the quality of work they do, and the knowledge they have of these cars. My cars were done in a very timely manner, and done to my complete satisfaction. When it comes time to finish the next one, they're the only guy's i'll call on.
2 thumbs up from me, Bill

Yea...but do they have a $25K MAX labour special

Is that CA or US?

Hmmmmm

as of this afternoon, the conversion rate is equal, us to ca dollars.....

Rocket does awesome work! You will be happy with your choice for sure.
Mike

From all the accolades here I cant wait to get my car in there. I bought my car on a whim, sight unseen, off Ebay two years ago and then thought "What have I done?" For the past two years since I've been trying to find a place that I can trust to take it that knows these cars and does quality work.

Thank you all for taking the time to respond.

So many people I know have taken cars to body shops and paid $120/hr or more, and still had attrocious work done. My friend "knows a guy" who will do body work for $10/hr. We drove past his place and I wouldn't leave my car there if HE PAID ME.

Then there's the guy who left his car at a "reputable body shop" and unbenounced to him, the shop was in financial trouble and parted out his car. I'm sure there are far more horror stories than sucess stories in this industry.

Finally, peace of mind

Now whatch it snow like hell when I'm trailering it from Vancouver Island to Olympia WA