Bellevue, Wash. -- Car Nutz, since its spin-off as an enhancement to neighboring specialty and sports car dealership Park Place Ltd. in the mid-90s, has established itself as the go-to place for those on the east side of Lake Washington who want to enhance the look or feel of their car.
"We have a set hourly rate, but everything else is by project," said Joel Staab, general manager, who noted that he started his work experience at age 15 with a tire store and has been with Car Nutz for 10 years. "We do an initial estimate for jobs like something we've done; and beyond that we do progressive billing."
David Bingham, one of the principles of Park Place, started Car Nutz with his son, Scott, in late 1994 as essentially an accessories store for the car dealership, Staab said, and in September 1995, it became a stand-alone business.
Since that time, the operation has grown to 12,000 square feet with a retail storefront that displays a variety of performance-enhancing products such as Tein shock and strut mountings, Brembo, Wilwood, and SSBC (Stop-Tech) brake kits, along side a 1936 custom street rod showcasing what Car Nutz can do, Staab said. The street rod, owned by Scott Bingham, was featured in the JADA Toy booth at a SEMA show, he said, adding that it's through project cars such as that one, that Car Nutz gets the word out about what it can do.
Staab said he has five people working in the shop: Fabricator Jay Tonneslan can redo suspensions. Another fabricator, Adam Nonis, works with wood or fiberglass to build enclosures. Two upholstery craftsmen--Dave Ames and Jeremy Pilgrim--can bring to life a custom interior. A fifth technician, Ben Kurtz, specializes in setting up wheels, tires, and brakes, using a Hunter DSP600 alignment rack or Hunter GSP9200 tire balancer.
Tonneslan's specialty is building air suspension set-ups to raise or lower a vehicle for display at a car show or for performance purposes, Staab said. Pilgrim was working on the interior of a 1965 Cadillac convertible for Seattle Sonics basketball player Chris Wilcox when Parts & People visited, while also putting together the interior of a Jeep Commander whose owner had wanted the interior "blacked out"--all the trim had been painted over.
"Painting over wood trim with piano-style lacquer like they had in the '60s and '70s is the thing," Staab said. "We just redid two brand new Bentleys like that. Rich Little, owner of Bel-Red (Bellevue-Redmond)
Auto Rebuild, does all of our custom paint work."
Custom-built cars represent almost 50 percent of the company's business, according to its Web site. Car Nutz has worked on restoring classic cars, street rods, muscle cars, and the very latest performance sports cars.
"We don't just do the European cars," Staab said. "We'll do everything from a Model T Ford to a 2007 Cadillac Escalade." In addition to him working with customers who want an OEM car made into something special, he said he has two sales associates who assist him: Zak Lee and Dave Fotheringham.
It's an educational process that works both ways, Fotheringham said. "Depending on the level of work the customer is seeking, we walk them through the service area," he said. "Usually, they start out with wheels and tires. I don't like to use the term "high-end" in regards to customers. A Boeing engineer who just took retirement and wants to build a street rod can surprise you (with what he spends).
"We then have a roundtable discussion about how to achieve things and put together an estimate for a customer. Then, the customer puts down a deposit."
Some projects can take up to a year to complete and cost $50,000 to $100,000, Fotheringham said.
"We work to the scale of the job," he said. "A complete custom interior means gutting the car to the floor-pan and rewiring it. That can be a three-month project in itself." 
John Durante said he brought his 2004 BMW M3 coupe into Car Nutz, on the recommendation of a friend, after he noticed a problem with the car's suspension that no one else could seem to solve.
"Someone else had changed the shocks and springs" Durante said. "I went back to the dealership I bought it from and told them that the suspension seemed to be broken; but they wouldn't do anything. So then, I took it to an independent BMW shop, and they adjusted the suspension. Finally, I took it to Car Nutz, and they noticed that it was too bouncy; and so they put it on a hoist and noticed that the springs and shocks were shot.
"They put a coil-over H&R set-up on it; that wasn't too aggressive but a little stiffer and with a lower center of gravity."
Durante, who said he uses his car mainly for BMW car club outings at the racetrack, added, "It's not my daily driver, but it could be. It also gives a good ride on the street."
Since having that work done at Car Nutz a year ago, Durante said, "I've had them do pretty much all the upgrades I need for the track since then: sway bar, intake and exhausts modifications, a safety harness, and different brake pads. Most recently, I had them put on light-weight track wheels."
The ability to bend to the customer's needs is what Staab said is the main selling point of the Car Nutz facility.
"The only thing we can't do is audio/video," he said. Because of a Car Toys facility next door, "We kick it over to them to handle the A/V needs of any of our customers. But people bring us their ideas, and between us all, we can pretty much bring to life anything a person wants."
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