Automotive passion down to the last details
Fast, powerful and unique: In its Hobbies 2017 calendar, Spies Hecker presents lovingly-restored and refinished vehicles from 12 of its customers’ bodyshops in eight countries. Every calendar page reveals the professional and the personal enthusiasm of the refinishers.
The 2017 Spies Hecker calendar features, amongst others, an Opel Kapitän PL 2600 from 1960 in Denmark, a Porsche 356 in Italy built in 1959, and a Citroën 11 CV Type BL manufactured in 1939 from Germany. But in addition, the images also include the refinishers’ personal hobbies, such as archery, photography or motor racing. Photographer Ramon Wink set the scene for each of the bodyshops individually in the new Hobbies 2017 calendar.
Three brothers and a convertible
In the Swiss town of Schachen, brothers Silvio, Pirmin and Patrik Fuchs – all three managing directors of Fuchs GmbH Carosserie + Spritzwerk – refinished a VW 1303 in a magnificent blue. “When our customer brought in the convertible, it had large areas of rust on the sills, wheel arches and on the front and rear,” Silvio Fuchs recalls. The car was dipped in an immersion bath for degreasing and phosphating. “In order to return the car to its original, perfect condition after repairing the bodywork, we relied on a two-coat finish using Permahyd® Hi-TEC Base Coat 480 and the fast drying Permasolid® HS Speed Clear Coat 8800. Now the convertible from 1975 looks just like new,” says Fuchs. The three brothers are heavily involved with the voluntary fire service, as shown on the calendar image.
June starts with a tractor
Kiss Autolack GmbH in the Austrian town of Münchhof got a very special project and running again. Reinhard Kiss and his team restored a Steyr 280 A. The rear-wheel drive tractor draws on 68hp powered by a 5.4 litre four-cylinder diesel engine and accelerates to a maximum speed of 24km/h. “The Steyr 280 A came to us as a re-import from Hungary. The biggest challenge restoring the tractor was the complete re-build of the side panels and mudguards,” Kiss explains. The tractor was refinished with Spies Hecker’s Permahyd Hi-TEC system. Reinhard, Renate and Tamara Kiss are all fans of old tractors in their spare time.
A Gran Turismo November
The French Gran Turismo Facel Vega Facel II was manufactured for only four years, from 1961 to 1964. Werner Kesseler, owner of Karosseriebau Kesseler, says, “Our customer found the premium coupé in London in the 1980s.” As original spares are very rare and difficult to obtain, the qualified coach builder made the complete underbody and the doors, as well as the parts for the sides and the back. “Now nearly everything on the Facel II is hand-made, which is a real feat. But what finally turned the 1962 sports car into such a gorgeous specimen was the Spies Hecker paint, which offers great hiding power,” Kesseler explains. The family business, which works together even on these unusual projects, is already counting on the next generation, as the calendar image shows; three generations of the Kesseler family are featured.
Applications for the 2018 calendar start now
Joachim Hinz, Spies Hecker Brand Manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says, “Despite how different the vehicles featured in the calendar are, they all have one thing in common: they demonstrate the attention to detail and the passion with which refinishers use Spies Hecker products around the world.”
In 2018, Spies Hecker will once again showcase its customers’ masterpieces in a large format calendar, and Hinz is calling on bodyshops to submit their applications with images of the vehicle, and of the bodyshop, to: joachim.hinz@axaltacs.com.
All 12 calendar images from 2017 can be viewed on the following webpage: www.spieshecker.com/calendar2017.
The calendar can be ordered from the Spies Hecker web shop, www.spiesheckerwebshop.co.uk, in the literature/poster section. Colour Club Advance members will automatically receive their free calendar as part of their colour programme update.