By Marc McGowan
OFFICER car nut Dominic Russo admits he went crazy when he did not have a vehicle to work on over a twoyear period after selling his Holden HJ panel van.
“I ended up becoming a vegetable in front of the telly!” Dominic, 32, laughed.
Enter Mario, Dominic’s former boss at car restoration business Cool Customs, who managed to solve his employee’s woes.
Mario found out about Dominic’s love for Ford Mercuries and managed to find him a 1951 model from the United States over the Internet.
“I wasn’t really in a position to buy it, but I ended up getting it anyway,” Dominic said.
The purchase was complete when he organised for one of his friends, Keith, who has extensive experience in the shipping industry, to import the car from the US in a shipping container that was already being organised.
The vintage machine cost $16,500 to buy and Dominic spent a couple of thousand shipping it over.
“There was a bit of rust on it, but overall it was in good condition,” he said.
After sitting on it initially, Dominic has worked hard on the car for the past 18 months, using the skills he has gained through his 12 years in the car industry.
“I got out of school early and had to do something,” he explained.
“So I did an apprenticeship in panel beating.”
Despite having moved out of the car industry, Dominic still works from home on the odd car.
“I’m someone who likes to be able do something with my hands,” he said.
It is a passion which has not been handed down from Dominic’s family, but has more to do with the random cars left in the paddocks, which contained the apple orchards his family has made a business out of.
“A lot of cars were just sitting in the paddocks, so I started off doing some work on them,” he said.