Rebco is open to the public from 8 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.  Then Ross shuts the doors and goes to work. "From 1:30 until I go home, generally around 10p.m., I get my work done," he said. 

 
"As the production work from the dealerships has gone down, I have shifted to high performance," he said. "After I did, I found that I have had to limit access to the shop to get things done.

"When I had more employees and we were running a large volume through here from the local dealerships, I didn't have to worry about people wanting to 'bench race.'  But now that I have gone 80 percent to 85 percent vintage and high-performance work, my customers want to think of this like a hobby shop," Ross said. "Unfortunately, that doesn't pay the bills.

"I say unfortunately because I like standing around talking about engines and high performance as much as they do," Ross said.  "If I didn't like it, I wouldn't have gotten into this business in the first place 30 years ago. And I like the people I do the work for. But I get those reminders at the beginning of every month that it is a business, not a hobby shop.

"So I have cut back.  Now in the morning I have my office manager, Amy Vargo, here to handle the computer, phones, and paperwork.  And I have my apprentice, Rafael Aranda, here to dismantle, clean, and do the prep work.  And the doors are open for people to come in to bench race, plan projects, and get advice, whatever they want to do.  Then after 1:30, the doors close, and I shut out the world and focus on the work. 

 
 "The machine takes the calls, and I don't respond even when people show up and bang on the doors. And they do." 

Rebco Machine is a 3,000-square-foot complete automotive machine shop.  It has the facilities to dismantle, clean, assemble, and test.  The equipment is mostly Sunnen, including a VGS 20 valve guide and seat, an HBS 1300 head and block surfacer, a CH 100 line hone, a CV 616 cylinder hone, a CAW 50 cylinder and work station, and a DCB-computerized 750 engine balancer, Ross said, adding that Rebco is also equipped to do sonic testing, pressure testing, glass beading, and shot peening.

Ross said he uses two Sioux valve grinding machine--one is a 2075 set up with stones for standard work and the other, a 2001, has special stones for his high-performance work.  In addition, the shop contains a mill, a lath, a blasting cabinet, a washer, a press, an engine test stand, and the usual peripherals. 

Ross said he does not stock many parts.  "My customers get the all the catalogs, and to them hunting parts is part of the fun of the hobby," he said.  "And I have to say some of these guys come up with amazing stuff.  I have some Pontiac guys who came in here with parts that I never heard of.  And that Ford 427 under the bench is waiting while the owner hunts up some trick parts he says are rare but authentic to the car it is going into.

"My policy on that is very clear and right up front.  No warranty on anything I use that I didn't supply.  You pay full labor.  You pay for any extra labor that your special parts require to make them fit.  And, I don't want to hear about it if it doesn't work the way you expected it to.

"The motor in the test stand is an example of that," he said. "The customer is restoring a vintage sprint car and wants that injection system on it.  He found one and brought it to me.  That motor runs perfectly on a carburetor, and now he is paying me to dial it in with that injection on it. 

"That points to another problem with this area of specialization," Ross said. "A lot of times, things sit around here for one reason or another, and I have to keep on these guys so they don't take root here.  Once again, that is the difference between hobby and production. 

"But those are just some of my more intense hobby customers," he said.  "I also have customers that just want me to supply the parts to build what I think is best.  The biggest one of those I have got going at this moment is this list I am making for a customer who just called me a couple of days ago and said he now has sponsorship for his alcohol dragster.  And he said, 'I need a new engine, and, Randy, you're building it.' That makes me feel good."

In addition to the high performance, Ross said he works on vintage engines.  "See that flathead in the corner?" he said. "I built that for the man who has the shop across the way.  He has a '32 Ford that he drives everywhere, and he decided that for his 80th birthday he was going to restore it as a present to himself.  So I built the motor as his birthday present.

"We do most any motor except motorcycles and air cooled,"  Ross said.  "In the 28 years I have been in Thousand Oaks, I have done most of them." 

"But I don't see the foreign exotics as much as I used to," he said.  "Now it is mostly muscle-car-era V-8s.  And I expect that to continue, especially since I don't advertise.  Since everything comes from word of mouth, it is reasonable that those guys all hang out with each other, so I get more of that kind of work.  I expect it to continue that way as long as I want to keep the doors open.  But only from 8 to 1:30."