After my visit with Dave Helms, I headed north to Loveland Colorado to visit Jim Stranburg. Jim is a Bugatti mechanic and restorer that has been fixing, restoring, and racing the cars from Molsheim for a long time. His career and love has taken him and his wife Sharon all over the world, and now that he’s semi-retired, he’s still enjoying the hell out of his passion!

Jim has a wonderful little workshop that he goes to everyday to work on private client cars. He chooses what he wants to do, and seems to really be content.

The prewar era of cars really celebrates the handcraft of another era, and it’s neat to see this tradition carried on with Jim’s work. Ferraris are neat, but they sure don’t look like a Bugatti!

Jim was also working on a Bentley engine at his shop, so I had a chance to see inside an engine that very few people get to see. I wouldn’t trade a minute of my time in a shop like this for a day on a concours field because when do you get to see this kind of stuff at a show?