SMS Auto Fabrics

Attempting to return a decades-old automobile to showroom condition is a quest filled with many challenges, chief among them finding new — or like-new — examples of those parts and pieces unique to that particular model. We’re fortunate today to have the support of a vast network of outfits dedicated to providing those very specific bits long ago abandoned by the original manufacturers. But how did that tapestry of specialty providers come to be, and how did they get to develop such levels of expertise in long-obsolete goods?

For Doug Pollock, it began with a desire to fill an order. Back in the mid-1970s, Doug was a young man with a college degree in economics and an unclear path forward. He and a friend decided to open an automotive repair garage in their native Portland, Oregon, drawing on their mutual interest in cars.

“There were a lot of older guys who were mechanics in our area, and we figured we could get those guys to work with us,” he recalls, pointing out that he and his friend intended to work on older cars as a sort of specialty for the business. Before long, the garage started getting customers from Sweden, of all places.

“Portland, being a major port city, was