Sunday, January 27, 2019
NEW SPRINGFIELD — The Shelby Mustang – a replica of Eleanor, the car driven by Nicolas Cage in the 2000 version of “Gone in 60 Seconds” – was named Elmo.
It was one of 110 rare vehicles in the collection at Snyder Specialty Cars in New Springfield and one of many that Doug Dunkel spent time restoring and customizing.
Dunkel, a 21-year car restoration specialist working for Don “Doc” Snyder Jr., was proud of the work he’d done on the car to replicate the famous movie vehicle. Though the auto is best known for use as a getaway car on the silver screen, Dunkel’s recent projects have found him working more for cops than robbers.
Last month, Dunkel and Mike Romeo, a technology consultant who works with the Campbell and Struthers police departments, upgraded a Ford Explorer police cruiser bought for the Campbell Police Department last fall.
“We installed a light bar, a ticket printer, the main data terminal,” Romeo said. “Doug even fabricated the data terminal’s arm-mount to reduce rattling and improve safety for the officer in the event of an accident.”
The Campbell cruiser isn’t the first police vehicle built at Snyder Specialty Cars. Over the course of 2018, the duo built eight police cars and tweaked more than 20 others.
Dunkel, a graphic artist in addition to his work as a car restoration specialist, designed and applied the decals for the Campbell cruiser.
“You know, it’s a business for us. We make money on the jobs,” Dunkel said. “But I’m also staking my reputation on the work we do here, so I want to make sure that the cars are driving right and that they’re safe.”
Working on the police vehicles also provides Dunkel with a host of challenges not present when working on antique or vintage vehicles.
“We get to work with some state-of-the-art tech when we do the police cars,” he said. “Mike keeps his ear to the ground for the latest and greatest tech for the cars, and then we’ve got to figure out how to implement them into the vehicles.”
One of Dunkel’s custom projects was installing a ticket printer into the vehicle’s center console. The alternative setup opened up more space in the cruiser for the officer.
While the cost to build the cars at Snyder’s is comparable to having them outfitted elsewhere, Romeo said Dunkel’s skill and the garage’s locality keep him coming back.
“Thanks to Doc Snyder opening his garage to us, we can bring a car here and we never have to worry about having someone cut corners or sacrifice safety for efficiency, and we can actually afford it,” Romeo said.
“It’s local money that stays here in our communities, built by someone who is staking his reputation on these cars’ performance. Overall, I think we’re actually saving money because we don’t have to ship the cars anywhere, we can just drive them out.”
Basic outfitting – or “up-fitting” as Dunkel says is the correct term – for a police car normally costs between $10,000 and $15,000 depending on the needs of the department, and can exceed $30,000 for departments without budgetary restrictions.
“Every department has different needs,” Romeo said. “A Campbell police car is going to be outfitted totally different than a car used by the Mill Creek Park police. K-9 cars are going to look completely different from a patrol car. Luckily for us, no matter what we need, Doug can make it work for us.”