SUN VALLEY’S BEST KEPT SECRET UNTIL NOW
By David Concannon Photography by Ray Gadd and Mark Stone
ABOVE: The magic of Bennyz Rod Shop (left to right): Dave Stone, owner of Sun Valley Auto Club with 1963 Porsche 356B Cabriolet with “1600 Super” engine (1,580 cc, 75 hp, 4-cylinder); Benny Hampton, Bennyz Rod Shop with 1940 Ford Coupe; and Keith Thompson, owner of East End Harley, Davidson, Seattle, with his 1957 Ford Thunderbird, F Option supercharged engine (312 cu.in., 300 hp, V-8).
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Benny has worked his way up through the ranks for more than three decades, from fixing cars with his father to detailing and painting pin stripes, and now to owning Bennyz Rod Shop at the end of a row of nondescript buildings in the complex that encompasses the Sun Valley Auto Club. The place is packed with classic cars in various stages of restoration and humming with activity. Benny and his two full-time mechanics, to whom he gives ample credit, have a three-month backlog of work, all of it generated without a single word of advertising. “My business is all word of mouth,” Benny tells me as he shows off a ’67 Mustang convertible beginning restoration. “Most of my clients are ‘car guys’ in the area who send me project after project. I painted and did bodywork on six Ferraris for one customer, and five Porsches for other customers. That truck is for a local farmer, and this ’40 Ford pickup is for a guy who wants me to make it look exactly like that one-off poster up there on the wall.” And so on…
ABOVE: Rebuilding hot rods and other collectible cars, clearly a labor of love. RIGHT: Benny and his highly skilled mechanic team - George Espinoza and Jose Vanuelos.
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