A man and his toy

Arnold Mitchem was at Daytona Sunday to watch Dale Earnhardt Jr. drive No. 8 around and around the 2.5-mile track. Mitchem was satisfied to sit in the stands and watch his favorite driver, although last April he bought a race car.

Today that car looks as if it belongs in Victory Lane, not because it’s won a race, but because it’s won best in show. In his garage that doubles as an extreme makeover studio, Mitchem is turning his race car into a show car.

“He’s always dreamed of owning that car,” said Sandy, his wife of 35 years. She’s talking about a 1966 Chevelle SS.

“A minister and his son raced the car,” Mitchem said, showing me a photo of it before he took it apart. “Everybody said it was in perfect condition, and I didn’t have to do anything to it.” The only thing the car in the photo has in common with the car in the garage is the shape.

Mitchem bought the car to restore to the state it was in when it came off the assembly line. “Arnold paid $5,000 for the car, “ Sandy said. “He’ll have 3$5,000 in it when it’s finished.” He’s rebuilt the car from scratch; only the windows and hood ornament are original. Even the 396 engine shines with newness.

Mitchem and Tim Scott, who’s a body and fender shop manager, have worked every weekday evening until 10 or later since last April, taking the car apart, putting it back together, then taking it apart again.

“See these joints,” Mitchem said, pointing to the places where the windows fit into the body of the car. “When the new hood came in and we put it on the car, the joints didn’t match.” So the two men took the front of the car apart, lined up all the joints, and put the car back together.

They have also sanded and primed every inch of the car, even the places no one will see, like the undersides of the doors and behind the lights. Not one speck on the car has avoided their touch, not even the undercarriage.

“Arnold wanted this Chevelle because it’s relatively rare,” Sandy said. For his dream car, he used only the best, like the $550 a gallon Sonic Blue Pearl paint that’s replaced the ordinary blue that the car came with. The paint job is a work of art. The Chevelle now looks like a bride in a haute couture gown.

Even in poor light, you can see yourself deep into the paint. But the two men aren’t satisfied with it yet. They spend hours, not speaking, just rubbing their hands along the sides, up and down the fenders, along the hood, and over the trunk, searching for imperfections.

“Do you see that wave in there?” Arnold asked me. I thought I was looking at perfection. “I can feel a dint here,” he said, running his hand along the car’s top. Scott one-upped him: “I can see it,” he said. Then they went to work, filling the spot and sanding it with paper as soft as a baby’s bottom.

Mitchem and Scott work as if they have all the time in the world, unlike the drivers they go to see race. Those drivers have only a few days to put a car together after it gets smashed on the track. Their garages have to be efficient, with everything in its place to save time.

Mitchem’s garage is like that, too. Cardboard boxes line the floor along one wall. In one box is trim for the lights; in another are door locks; another holds tail lights, and on and on. He knows where everything is. He also knows where his makeshift spittoon, a McDonald’s cup, is. Without looking he can shoot a line of juice into the cup and hit it squarely, with never a splatter on the floor or the wall behind it.

Chewing, rubbing, fitting, taking off and putting on are part of the process. “They have patience,” Sandy said.

Mitchem can’t find the words to say why he spends hours each week working on the Chevelle. But Sandy knows,” It’s a challenge,” she said. “He loves to break things down and then bring them back.”

He must have thought he’d died and gone to heaven Sunday imagining putting back together cars like Scott Wimmer’s, which was smashed beyond recognition.