Where Corvettes never go out of style

JOE KNYCHA FOR THE TORONTO STAR

Corvettes get the special treatment at Stingray Auto, where owner Brian Cassells painstakingly restores and maintains models of the sports car. The Mississauga shop helps many owners to customize their rides.

Joe Knycha

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Auto mechanic Brian Cassells apprenticed on Lamborghinis, Morgans, Aston Martins, Jaguars and other high-end Euro marques that he could never afford.

But he always had a thing for Corvettes – which, with some prudent living, he could afford – and accordingly "America's Sports Car" became his automotive passion and life's calling.

The 'Vette, in return, has bestowed on Cassells gainful, creative and rewarding employment as his own boss for more than three decades.

As president of Stingray Auto in Mississauga, an all-purpose shop for everything Corvette – from oil changes to restoration, customizing and sales – Cassells works daily with an ever-changing palette of classic Corvettes.

The receiving/office area at the front of his shop on Sladeview Crescent might be charitably described as, well, busy, but not so; his is actually an elaborate filing system and Cassells says he knows where everything is.

Each wall is bejewelled with detailed scale models of Corvettes through the years, plus pictures of award-winning projects and clients' cars, of Corvette club meets and other memorabilia gathered over 32 years.

Above his office door hangs a huge, bright yellow Corvette track banner signed by Canadian racer Ron Fellows, also of Mississauga and leader of Corvette's stellar factory racing program over much of the last 20 years. The real magic happens in the back shop, however, and on any given day Cassells, with employees Pat Cyr (seven years) and Joe Maria (20 years), restores, repairs, maintains and customizes eight to 10 models of every kind of Corvette imaginable.

Restorations and maintenance make up the bulk of Stingray Auto's business and so far the recession hasn't hurt too much. "We did three body-off restos last year," in addition to regular work.

"A lot of our customers are people who've always wanted a Corvette, but couldn't afford one. Now they can," says Cassells.

And as luck would have it, many of them can also afford to personalize and customize their rides.

Though the day-to-day focus is on Corvettes, an occasional Camaro slips through the doors; not 'Vette work, perhaps, but keeping it "in the family."

Cassells had just agreed to bring in a 2011 Camaro for a supercharging treatment that will add serious horsepower to the V8's output – to 520 horses from 360, and 500 lb.-ft. of torque. "That's getting into Z06 territory."

Stingray Auto has done hundreds of restorations, "resto-mods" (modern chassis, engines, systems and interiors in an original body), Solo 1 (slalom) and high-performance upgrades; everything, says Cassells, from oil changes to full body-off restorations.

Clients come primarily from the GTA but also across Ontario, and when Canada's loon flew lower against the U.S. greenback, "some came from the States, too."

Cyr says that after seven years with Stingray he can blind-pick any Corvette part from a box and know instantly what it is as well as the year and model that it fits.

Some of the more "over the top" Stingray projects used to involve engine output upgrades, when 600 horsepower was considered crazy. "Today we make 600-hp cars all the time."

One client took a full-race 'Vette and had it outfitted to drive on the street; another took a 1968 Mako Shark and planted a big blower (supercharger) on the hood.

"From the driver's seat you couldn't see out, but that was what he wanted," Cassells says.

Corvettes are a family passion. Of his three sons and a daughter, all but one owns and drives a Corvette, with the holdout preferring to drive a truck.

"For my daughter's birthday, we gave her a set of tires and wheels for her '87 convertible. It will look very sharp."

Selling Corvettes is more or less a company sideline, consisting primarily of an occasional shop project car that's done over a number of months.

He's sold about 10 cars overall, all extensively restored or modified to some extent.

Cassells motions to a pristine 1966 numbers-matching convertible that's been getting the full body-off restorative treatment: "That could be for sale ... or not."

He's in no hurry to see it go out the door because "the longer we keep it, the more I get to drive it."

It is in fact for sale for about $90,000, listed on the Stingray Auto web site (www.stingrayauto.com).

A hockey coach for 14 years, Cassells used to ride motorcycles also, but gave that up because, "all I did was give kids rides around the block all the time."

He's content these days to meet his own kids in an empty parking lot on summer Saturday mornings – weather permitting – to put up some pylons and do a few timed runs.

"The slowest one buys breakfast."

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