ROLLA, Mo. — The body is old and beat up, the external glimmer long faded away, and the internal stress is starting to show through.
It will take a major operation to restore this 1947 Chevy. But supervising surgeon George Carney sees great potential.
"It's going to be a beautiful car," Carney says, envisioning it fine-tuned and shining. "This car will be brand new when it's finished."
Onlookers are invited — in fact, they're encouraged — to watch the transformation. A sign next to the car says, "This is where it all begins," the disassembly of an old car that will once again look new.
At Memoryville USA, where about 40 refurbished vehicles are permanently on display, museum visitors are encouraged to trek to the basement and walk among the mechanics working to restore old cars and trucks.
At any given time, there are 40 to 60 vehicles in various states of repair. Some, like the 1947 Chevy, are just getting under way. Others are stripped to their frames, their parts carefully marked and sent to specialists in various parts of the shop. Still others are nearly complete, perhaps lacking only a vintage hood ornament.
There's a 1924 Model A Ford with a rumble seat in the rear and a luxury 1929 Franklin with an air-cooled engine. Then there's the Porsche, apparently from the 1960s. The owner wants to race to Seattle when the work is done.
Owners pay for the repairs as they progress — one month's bill may cover the bumper, the next the fender or floorboard. For most automobiles, the transformation takes years.
When finished, the vehicles generally are sent back to their owners, like the 1917 Federal truck returned to the late actor John Wayne. A few remain at the museum, among them a 1938 cream-colored Nash that belongs to broadcaster Paul Harvey and his wife, Angel.
The Harveys' car sits not far from a Cadillac owned by actress Donna Douglas, a k a Elly Mae Clampett of "Beverly Hillbillies" fame. Then, too, there's the 10-horsepower 1907 Cadillac bought new for $1,250 by New York Mayor Hiran Edgeton and driven until his death some 15 years later.
Bill Cooper looks at them all. But he's itching to head down the concrete steps, through the dimly lit halls, to the place where the mechanics are making old cars look new.
This 17-year-old from Savannah, Ga., comes to the working museum nearly every summer while visiting his grandfather. Sometimes, they stay and watch the work for half a day.
The Rolla automobile museum is out of the ordinary, Cooper says.
"They let you walk through and see how they restore the cars. All the other ones, they keep it sealed up," he says.
Missouri has about a dozen other museums with automobile displays. The Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, on occasion, also has opened the restoration process to the public view.
Nationwide, there are about 20 automobile museums that double as restoration shops, some of which also let visitors peek in on the work, says Ted Welch, managing editor of the auto enthusiasts Web site ClassicCar.com.
The restoration projects, which easily can run up to $100,000, are what keep the museums going, Welch says. They also keep people interested in old cars.
"I think the restoration shops are a pretty good idea for keeping the hobby going," Welch says.
Carney, 71, had refurbished automobiles as a hobby while running motels and theaters as a career. Then, in 1970, he turned his car collection into a museum and opened the refurbishment shop.
Through the years, Carney has hosted car shows at his business and, for a while, he rented a nearby airport to put on the annual Ozarks Extravaganza, a car show that he hoped would become one of the largest in the nation but ended up attracting more people because of its arts and crafts. Carney later sold the rights to the show, which no longer exists.
He now runs Memoryville USA with his son, Steve, who had occasionally frustrated his father by dismantling cars in his youth. Steve Carney, now accomplished at the craft, handles many of the daily supervisory chores.
The 1947 Chevy, sitting near the sign describing the start of the restoration process, is probably typical of the cars that get sent to the shop, Steve Carney says. The car's rusted body betrays only a trace of its original blue. The canvas convertible top has rotted away. The rear bumper and gas pedal — still attached to the floorboard — have been tossed onto the back seat, where springs are all that remain of the cushions.
In this car, a bit strangely, the keys remain in the ignition. But the engine is gone — already removed for its restoration to begin.
Yes, says George Carney, "this car will be brand new when it's finished."