Inside One of the World’s Great Automotive Restoration Shops: Paul Russell & Company
There are some places where you walk through the door and immediately realize, this is special.
Paul Russell & Company in Essex, Massachusetts is one of those places.
Recently, Motorsport Lab had the opportunity to bring together friends from the Aston Martin Owners Club and the Post Exit Founders community for a private visit to one of the most respected automotive restoration facilities in the world.
And the crazy part?
This temple of automotive history isn’t tucked away in Stuttgart, Maranello or somewhere outside Modena. It’s sitting quietly on Boston’s North Shore in Essex, Massachusetts.
From Gullwings to Pebble Beach
Paul Russell’s story is almost as interesting as the cars inside his workshop.
His fascination with cars started early, influenced by a father who was an engineer and former apprentice mechanic and who taught him about craftsmanship, tools and fixing things properly. Eventually, cars pulled Russell away from college and into the automotive world, where he trained as a mechanic and later worked at a Massachusetts restoration shop specializing in 1950s Mercedes-Benz automobiles.
In 1978, when the restoration side of that business became available, Russell took it over and founded Gullwing Service Company. The original idea was refreshingly simple: build a relatively small shop filled with exceptionally talented people, do extraordinary work and create customers for life.
The name was appropriate because Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwings were one of the company's earliest specialties. Over time, however, the work expanded far beyond Mercedes.
Gullwing Service Company eventually became Paul Russell & Company, and today the shop restores, preserves and maintains significant Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Porsche, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo and other important European automobiles.
And when I say “significant,” I don’t mean your neighbor's weekend classic.
I mean significant.
Four Pebble Beach Best of Show Winners
Paul Russell & Company has restored cars that have gone on to win Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Best of Show four times, including:
the 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic Coupe
the 1930 Mercedes-Benz SSK “Count Trossi”
the 1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S Saoutchik Torpedo Roadster
the 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahn-Kurier
Think about that for a second.
Pebble Beach is essentially the Super Bowl, Monaco Grand Prix and Academy Awards of the concours world rolled into one beautifully manicured 18th fairway.
Winning it once puts a restoration house into rare company.
Four times is extraordinary.
And the trophy cabinet extends far beyond Pebble Beach. Cars prepared or restored by Paul Russell & Company have earned major honors at Villa d’Este, Amelia Island, Cavallino Classic, Hampton Court Palace and other important concours events around the world. Their 1958 Ferrari 335 Sport, for example, was named Best of the Best at The Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award after previously taking Best of Show at Villa d’Este.
That history changes the way you look around the workshop.
Suddenly, you're not just looking at old Ferraris, Mercedes and Porsches sitting in various stages of disassembly.
You're looking at future pieces of automotive history.
Restoration at an Almost Ridiculous Level
One of the things I loved most about visiting Paul Russell was seeing what the word restoration actually means at this level.
A typical full body-off restoration of a 1950s sports car can require around 3,000 hours of work. Multiple technicians and specialists may become involved, researching original materials, recreating unavailable components, rebuilding mechanical systems and reproducing tiny construction details exactly as they would have appeared when the automobile was originally built.
That's what struck me walking through the facility.
You see cars stripped down to their bones. Engines on stands. Metal being shaped. Interiors being recreated. Components most people would simply replace being painstakingly rebuilt because preserving the original matters.
Nothing feels rushed.
Nothing feels disposable.
In a world where we're constantly encouraged to buy the newest version of everything, Paul Russell & Company operates with almost the opposite philosophy:
Some things are worth saving.
And if you're going to save them, save them properly.
Cars Are Great. People Make the Experience.
Of course, the cars brought everyone through the door.
But one of the reasons I love organizing experiences like this through Motorsport Lab is watching completely different communities connect through automobiles.
For this visit, we invited members of the Aston Martin Owners Club along with friends from the Post Exit Founderscommunity.
On paper, one group revolves around automobiles and the other around entrepreneurship.
Put everyone together in a room containing historically significant Ferraris, Mercedes, Porsches and Bugattis, however, and those labels disappear pretty quickly.
Suddenly we're all just curious.
Someone wants to know how a body panel was fabricated.
Someone else is studying an engine.
Another person wants to understand the provenance of a particular car.
And inevitably, someone is mentally rearranging their garage while trying to figure out how to explain another automobile purchase when they get home. 😂
Those are my favorite moments.
Motorsport Is Really About Access
At Motorsport Lab, I've always believed the best automotive experiences aren't simply about driving fast cars.
They're about getting closer to the people, places and stories behind them.
It's why we travel to Motor Valley in Italy to experience Ferrari, Lamborghini and Pagani. It's why we explore classic Porsche culture in Spain. It's why we go ice driving and drifting in Austria.
And it's why a place like Paul Russell & Company, right here in Massachusetts, matters.
The automobile becomes the doorway.
On the other side are designers, engineers, craftsmen, collectors, entrepreneurs, restorers and enthusiasts who have spent their lives pursuing something they love.
Walking through Paul Russell & Company reminded me that automotive history isn't sitting frozen inside a museum.
There are still extraordinarily talented people keeping it alive, one bolt, one piece of leather, one hand-shaped body panel and one 3,000-hour restoration at a time.
Sometimes you have to travel halfway around the world to find automotive magic.
And sometimes you just have to drive to Essex, Massachusetts.
That’s what Motorsport Lab is ultimately about: bringing great cars, fascinating places and interesting people together, then seeing what happens.
And judging from this visit, we're going to need to do this again.