Bob Bennett and Bennett Coachworks LLC
Automotive Restoration, Custom Design, and Hot Rod and Racing Construction
It would be difficult to find anyone with a more thorough understanding and complete knowledge of the auto-enthusiast world than Bob Bennett. Bob, and his firm, Bennett Coachworks LLC, have one of the most varied and esteemed resumes that you will ever find in the automotive industr
y. To mention just a very few of a very long list:
Bob did the restoration of the most rare, Ferrari “410 Super Fast” the “one off” darling of the 1956 Paris Auto Show, a car now worth millions. There are many other early, rare Ferraris to his credit. 250LM, 250GT Berlinetta Lusso, 250 PF Cabriolet, 275 GTB4, 365 GTB4 . . . There have been a string of Iso Grifos, including another Paris Auto Show car – the 1962 Iso prototype A3L as well as a 1 of 7 series 2 coupe, that he literally performed automotive archeology on to reconstruct the chassis. Add to these a myriad number of other High End Sports Cars, Hot Rods, Customs, Exotics, Pro-Street and Race Cars, COBRAs and of course, there have been countless numbers of Corvettes (Bob drives a prepped C5 Corvette as his “in-season” daily driver). And, he did the prototype and production work for the ZX-1 . . . Along the way, Bob was in-house research and development tech for the first COBRA “replica” company, Arntz Engineering, San Francisco, CA. Bob was the first person to ever show a COBRA Replica at the prestigious SAAC (Shelby American Automobile Club) Convention, with its introduction coming at the 1982 SAAC Convention in Dearborn, MI. He went on to prototype the Excalibur COBRA Replica, including building the Prototype, producing the tooling and fixtures and first 10 sets of steel, all single handedly. And, he was tapped by Concept Coach Builders, Milwaukee, WI, to be their Director of Operations for their Rolls Royce limousine series. Stretching Rolls Royce Silver Shadows and Silver Spurs. Building cars that surpassed Rolls Royce’s factory Limousines. As a driver, and a veteran of a variety of series and classifications, garnering track records and class championships, Bob Bennett has developed a unique understanding of power, performance and handling. This particular skill has given his firm a well deserved reputation for building winning race cars, with a particular strength in the Datsun “Z” car arena. Bob and Bennett Coachworks LLC have been recognized for their work with hundreds of awards. They have visited the esteemed Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance many times. Winning several Best of Class, The President’s Award, Most Elegant Closed Coupe . . . and in a recent World of Wheels, Hot Rod and Custom Auto Show, out of 6 entries, they took 5 firsts and a second, with this sole runner up coming to one of their own cars. He also won Best of Show, Radical, Handbuilt, Custom, 2 years in a row. Bennett Coachworks LLC does extensive prototype modeling for other automotive companies endeavors. They also do tub restorations for other Auto Restoration Firms, having won several Best of Shows and Senior Awards for those companies as well. To top it all off, Bennett Coachworks LLC has been awarded the Kit Car Magazine, “Builder’s Award of Excellence”. In a career that spans over 38 years Bob Bennett and Bennett Coachworks LLC have played a major role in some of the most rare, most revered, most sought after and most exciting examples of automotive history. From antiques, to hi-performance street cars, hot rods, exotics, and race cars built to win, if it’s complex, difficult and needs to be perfect, Bob and Bennett Coachworks LLC has always risen to the challenge. Who else would you want building YOUR car?
