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Canfield car museum a father-son achievement
CANFIELD
Fred Zwicker and his son Bob – the father and son team behind TP Tools in Canfield – made restoring classic cars their lifelong business.
Now, every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the two open the doors of their private collection of 50 restored, classic vehicles to the public – for free.
The TP Tools Auto Museum opened in 2010 and has grown to span two warehouses within the overall TP Tools complex just west of downtown Canfield on state Route 446.
The museum houses vehicles – most of which were restored by the Zwickers and the TP Tools staff – ranging from the dawn of the automobile through the modern day, but the majority of the collection is from the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s.
The most rare – and expensive – car in the collection is a General Motors 1930 LaSalle Convertible. Fully restored LaSalle convertibles can retail for upwards of $150,000.
Also unique to the Zwicker collection; a 1947 Ford Club convertible that spent decades overseas in the service of a United States ambassador to China and a 1938 Dreyer Midget racer – essentially an engine with wheels and a seat attached.
As for vehicles with a history closer to home, the museum features a 1929 Packard Phaeton manufactured in Warren and restored in Youngstown.
Rich Seaman, a manager at TP Tools who has worked for the Zwickers for 23 years, said the museum is just as much a way for the company to show off the cars as it is a way to thank the car-restoration community that has made the business successful.
“It’s a way for us to give back to our customers who’ve kept coming back all these years,” Seaman said. TP Tools publishes a catalog that includes step-by-step instructions detailing how individual cars in the museum were restored.
Bob Zwicker, president of TP Tools, said the guides have been well received in the restoration community and have helped promote products the shop carries.
“We do the work ourselves and we’re familiar with the tools and products we use in the restoration process, so we put it all in a guide,” Zwicker said. “We get real good feedback.”
Alongside the sleek and sheen of the classic cars, the museum’s second building also features models and staged scenes portraying a busy street in the 1950s. Vintage signs from gas stations and auto stores decorate painted storefronts throughout the museum. Expressive mannequins in period dress greet visitors or toil over an open car engine. Others sit inside a facsimile of a 1950s diner.
There’s even a legitimate slice of Youngstown history inside the museum: The original malt bar from Strouss’ Department Store has been restored and displayed, fully staffed by mannequin soda jerks serving a pair of mannequin teens enjoying malts.
“You couldn’t leave Strouss’ without stopping for a malt,” Zwicker said.
The bar is on loan from a personal friend of the Zwickers.
TP Tools is best known for manufacturing and selling abrasive blast cabinets for use in rust removal from car parts. The company began as Truman’s Dry Cleaners in downtown Youngstown. While working at the shop’s Campbell location in the 1970s, Fred – who is semi-retired today – used abrasive blasts to clean and soften suede. After using the blast to remove rust on his car – and seeing how effective the method was – Fred decided to change the course of his business, focusing instead on selling abrasive blasters to car-restoration enthusiasts.
Today, the company does most of its business through online and catalog sales, but a local contingent of car restoration enthusiasts still frequent the shop and swing by on weekends to visit the museum.
But of all the visitors to the museum, the most excited patron is still its first – Fred Zwicker. “He loves this place,” Seaman said. “It’s like he built himself his own Disneyland that he can share with everyone.”