Grease, Grit & Glory

Detroit Iron started the way most great shops do — with one stubborn person who couldn't leave a good car for dead. In 1988, Hank Vasco rented a single bay off Gratiot Avenue, hung a hand-painted sign, and started rebuilding engines for the neighbourhood's street racers. The work was honest, the prices were fair, and the word got around.

Nearly forty years later, not much about that philosophy has changed. We've grown into a twelve-strong crew of master craftsmen with fabrication, machining, paint and trim all under our own roof — but we still build the way Hank did: one car at a time, to a standard we'd be proud to put our own name on. Because we do.

We Build Cars That Get Driven

There's a kind of restoration that lives under a cover, too precious to start. That's not us. We believe a car is meant to be heard at idle, felt through the seat, and shown off on a Sunday morning. Whether we're preserving a numbers-matching survivor or dropping modern muscle into a classic body, the goal is always the same: a machine you can't wait to drive.

That means we sweat the things you'll never see — the straightness of the metal under the paint, the cleanliness of an engine assembly, the routing of a wiring loom. Craftsmanship isn't what shows. It's what lasts.

Heritage Is A Responsibility

Every classic that rolls onto our rotisserie carries fifty years of story — the people who built it, drove it, raced it and loved it. We take that seriously. We document every build photographically, keep every receipt, and hand the whole history back to you when the car goes home. You're not just buying labour; you're buying a chapter in your car's life, written honestly.