Classic car travels sentimental journey

From Rohnert Park Towns Press Democrat.com: Classic car travels sentimental journey
By JOELLE BURNETTE
ROHNERT PARK CORRESPONDENT

You can’t put a price on sentimental value. That is, unless you’re restoring a classic car that represents a family tradition that spans several generations.

The summer of 1965 while Diana Jones and Ross Sutton were engaged, it was love at first sight when Jones saw the 1952 MG TD sitting in a used car lot in Walnut Creek. Sutton purchased the MG for his bride, paying $450 for the sporty, British convertible. They drove away in it after their wedding.

The only catch? In order to pay for his sweetheart’s new love, Sutton had to sell his 1957 Plymouth Fury, a rare model that now brings six figures from discriminating collectors.

“The car was a member of the family about two years before you,” Sutton told his son, Wayne. But after a few years of marriage, the couple found a house in Clayton Valley in the East Bay. They needed money to pay the home’s $750 down payment. This time they sacrificed the MG, but only temporarily.


Ross and Diana Sutton drive away from their wedding in their MG, 1966 (photo courtesy, Wayne Sutton)
They sold it to Sutton’s father to keep it in the family and bought it back in the late 1970s. They paid him $2,000 to cover maintenance costs.

Many years passed before Wayne ­Sutton, a Rohnert Park dentist, bought the car from his father. Continuing a family tradition, he also used it to drive his wife Michele away from their wedding 18 years ago.

“I used to play in the car when I was a little guy,” said Wayne Sutton, 44. “It’s part of our family history.” But because it had been used as the family car and all those years of driving had taken their toll, he decided to restore it to its former glory.


Wayne and Michele Sutton drive away from their wedding in 1993 (photo courtesy, Wayne Sutton)
When Gus Trevena first saw the MG a few years ago, he said, “it was pretty rough.” Trevena owns Downtown Autobody in Rohnert Park and, during the next year and a half, took the lead in restoring the sports car.

He and his team worked hundreds of hours on it, Trevena said. Workers at British European Motors, also in Rohnert Park, clocked more hours rebuilding the engine and transmission.

The MG had been plagued by a long list of problems including mechanical issues and rusting metal. The body’s unusual inner wood frame also was rotting and had to be replaced. (See “before” photos of the car, below)

Still, the one thing the car had in abundance was sentimental value. That emotional tie is what generally motivates owners to invest more in the restoration than the car is actually work, said Trevena. That’s the case with this MG.

Wayne­ Sutton poured more than $70,000 into the family project, as well as devoting a lot of time and effort.

“We pulled the trigger on this right on the cusp of a bad economy, so that wasn’t the best decision in the world, but we made it through,” he said. Sutton’s wife wasn’t as keen to spend the money, he said, “but she has been very tolerant. She knows she married a motorhead.”

In the end, Trevena and his technicians did a flawless job, Sutton said, and Trevena “put his heart and soul into that car.”


The Sutton's restored 1952 MG TD (photo courtesy, Wayne Sutton)
Sutton regrets that his mother died a few years before it was restored and never got to see the car she loved in perfect condition. “I feel like somewhere up there, she’s enjoying it and there’s a smile on her face,” he said.

Looking ahead, Sutton says he plans to pass the car down to a fourth generation, but his sons won’t get the car for free.

“I’ll do the same thing. I’ll make them buy it. I had to, my dad had to, and I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Now that the car is restored, Sutton said his family (and even Trevena on occasion) have started taking the MG to shows, where the British car generally stands out when parked among the more typical American muscle cars.

“People are drawn to it,” said Trevena. The Suttons enjoy the family fun of taking the MG to shows, and it has already won two people’s choice awards.

“Somewhere in our genetic code there’s a gene for cars,” said Sutton. “My kids have it, too. Whenever we have a chance to go see cool cars, we love to go.”

Its next outing will be Sunday, Oct. 9, at the Sonoma Mountain­ Car Show in Rohnert Park.

For others thinking about restoring a classic car, Sutton advised that it’s important to know from the outset what you’re getting into. Based on the cost alone, “it’s not for the faint of heart.”

He suggests asking a lot of questions to find out the extent of the necessary work. Or you could take his father’s advice: “Buy a car that’s already restored.”