Sanderson Customs\' owner steers his own course

Tag : pilot suit


PILOT POINT – The shimmering blue Shelby Mustang seemed alittle lost parked on a side street – a sapphire insmall-town dust.

Actually, the car, a six-figure 1967 GT 500 convertible, belongedat a nearby shop, Sanderson Customs and Conversions(www.sandersoncc.com). And it was probably a pretty decent metaphorfor the business.

"That car originally was owned by [actor] Lee Marvin," said DavidHolloway, production manager at the shop. "He gave it to hisgardener, who then proceeded to run it into the ground and laterjunked it. Luckily, a family member rescued the car from ajunkyard, and the current owner restored it."

Like the Mustang, shop owner Steve Sanderson has survived his ownchallenges.

He was once the national sales and marketing director for UniquePerformance, a Carrollton specialty car company that declaredbankruptcy last year after some customers accused it of fraud.

Dozens of buyers of Unique Performance's highly stylized "Eleanor"Mustangs – based loosely on '67 GT 500 Shelbys –contend that the company took huge deposits from them but neverdelivered their cars.

Some also allege that their $150,000 to $200,000 cars were poorlybuilt "Bondo buggies" – a reference to the puttylike fillerused in bodywork.

Mr. Sanderson, 48, left Unique Performance long before its legaltroubles began and filed suit against the company in 2003 forreasons he says he can't discuss. The two reached a private, sealedagreement in March 2006 that involved an undisclosed settlement, hesaid.

He says he takes no satisfaction in Unique Performance's demise,despite his dispute with the company.

"The good that came out of that experience was seeing how thingswere not done right," he said. "I started restoring cars when I was14 because my family could not afford new ones. I knew there was abetter way to do metal fabrication."

About two years ago, Mr. Sanderson and four limited partnersdecided to open their own specialty car shop. They bought 1.5 acresand two buildings with 16,000 square feet of space in Pilot Point,northeast of Dallas in Denton County.

"Our only negative is the drive out here," he said. "But it's kindof hard to put a place like ours in Plano or Richardson."