Sensational Mercedes Restored by Students Nearly Wins at Pebble Beach
McPherson College students come from the only four-year bachelor's restoration technology program in the country.
If you're of a certain age then you may remember spending senior year of high school or even freshman year of college trying to figure out what your major would be. Heck, some people make it through half their four-year stints without figuring it out. Others don't struggle so much—and we bet McPherson College students very much into restoring classic cars have no trouble at all.
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Located in McPherson, Kansas, this school has the only four-year bachelor's degree program for "restoration technology" in the country. If you have any concerns in your mind as to how good a bunch of highly motivated college students could be at restoring vehicles on a high level, then let them be put to rest. A group from McPherson College just took home the second place award in the Postwar Luxury category at the 72nd Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. They restored a 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300S Cabriolet entirely in the restoration technology program. It also marks the first time in history that a student-restored vehicle ranked in the top three at Pebble Beach.
Considering that only 200 cars are even chosen to participate among thousands of applicants at the Concours annually, to win second place is a significant accomplishment, a student team or otherwise.
The McPherson automotive restoration technology program originally started in 1976 with funding from a local entrepreneur. The program continues to get support today from the likes of Jay Leno, who provides scholarships and work experience for students. Imagine being a college kid from Kansas getting a summer internship in California to work in Jay Leno's legendary garage. We'd be hard pressed to write a better coming-of-age movie treatment than that.
Students in the program learn to work on cars spanning from 1890 all the way up to 1973, so Prewar and Postwar classic periods are well covered. McPherson College says alumni have gone on to work with major forces in the classic car industry including Hagerty, RM Sotheby's, Gooding & Company, Brumos Collection, and various private collectors. We wouldn't be surprised if several alumni's works crossed the Mecum auction block as well. See what happens when you stay in school?
Andrew Beckford’s passion for cars started as a middle schooler when his friend Richie explained how an internal combustion engine works. He was bitten by the bug and the rest, as they say, is history. He dug deep into the tuner scene and eventually wrote for Turbo Magazine, Import Tuner, Super Street. He covered car shows, feature builds, and reviewed racing games for those magazines in addition to covering motorsports including Formula Drift, Indy Car, and F1 for his personal blog. Eventually Beckford joined MotorTrend to cover the daily automotive news beat. Besides being a gearhead, Beckford has been a gamer since the ’80s and is a huge fan of the arcade racing games of the ’90s like Daytona USA, SEGA Rally, and Ridge Racer. Beckford’s a movie buff as well, especially comic book films from DC and Marvel. When car culture crosses over with gaming and entertainment, rest assured Beckford is aware of it. In addition to serving as a consultant on a “triple A” racing titles, he’s reviewed major racing games such as Forza Motorsport, Need for Speed, Gran Turismo, F1, and more. He’s also interviewed blockbuster directors including Steven Caple Jr. (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and Neill Blomkamp (Gran Turismo). His biggest profile to date was with Robert Downey Jr. on his love affair with cars and his show Downey’s Dream Cars on MAX. Beckford’s profile of Downey Jr. was the first print cover story written by an African American in MotorTrend’s history. Along with KJ Jones, Andrew Beckford also heads up MotorTrend’s celebration of Black History Month by spotlighting diverse voices in the automotive industry and motorsports. Beckford’s first car was a 1982 Nissan Stanza affectionately named “Stanley” by his late mother.
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