Story and Photos by: Shannon Hammett
Freddie Hafley of Freddie’s Rod Shop was not only able to breathe new life into Jeff and Pam Reardens’ old Bel Air, but also managed to take their disheartening and disappointing journey and turn it into one of enjoyment.
“Freddie stands by his work and by his word,” said Sgt. Rearden. “He is a man of his word, and I’ve come to find out that that’s hard to find in this business. He did exactly what he said he was going to do, for the price he said he was going to do it for and in the time frame he gave us.
“Actually, it was amazing how much work he got done in the time that he did. The guy is just super talented. I would put him up there with the best of the best. Around here, this guy is tops. He turned this whole project completely around and really made it an enjoyable experience. He has taken all the bad out of it and turned it into good.”
“We feel so blessed that we found Freddie and his family because it was smooth sailing from there on out,” said Mrs. Rearden.
All of the glass in the Bel Air had to be replaced. Fortunately, Grant’s Auto Glass stepped up to the plate and installed all new vintage glass. “There is another blessing,” said Sgt Rearden. “The glass is difficult to find, but there’s a fellow right here in Chattanooga that is tops in the business.
“His name is Jerry Grant. His family runs Grant’s Auto Glass. All of the stainless that you see on this car was in a deplorable state. Jerry and Wanda worked on this stainless for- I couldn’t tell you how many- untold hours, polishing it and making it look like brand new. He put all-new felt in, power windows, all-new vintage glass and polished all the stainless. He and his family are just awesome people. The glass in this car is just impeccable.”
The ‘57 Bel Air also got brand new custom interior from Pro Auto Custom Interiors in Knoxville. “We had the interior done by a fellow named Steve Holcomb,” said Sgt. Rearden.
“He runs Pro Auto Custom Interiors. We had a few ideas about what we wanted done with the interior. When we got up there, Steve said, ‘Just let me do the interior.’ So we gave him complete artistic freedom to do what he wanted. He did an outstanding job on it.”
Before beginning the long journey to the Chevy’s restoration, Sgt. Rearden had made a list of all the things he wanted to have done to his Bel Air.
One of the tasks on his wish list was to have the car painted Tangerine or Orange Pearl. As it turned out, neither of these colors were in the cards for the Bel Air. “It got to the point where Freddie said that we were going to have to come up with a color for him to put on this car because the time for painting it was coming soon,” said Sgt. Rearden.
“Pam and I were sitting down at the Sonic one afternoon having lunch. We had just finished having a discussion about the color of the car. We couldn’t reach a decision, so we decided to put in God’s hands.
“Not a minute later, this beautiful blue car pulls up right behind us. It was a brand new ‘08 car, and it had this amazing color of blue on it. We both just looked at each other and said, ‘If that’s not a sign from God, I don’t know what is.’ So, there’s our color. We just call it baby blue.”
“When we saw the color of that car, we both just knew that was it,” said Mrs. Rearden. “When Freddie started painting it he said, ‘I’m not so sure about this color,’ but Jeff and I were.”
. . . To be continued
