Josh Hageman

When Josh Hageman talks about his arrival at auto body work, it sounds like destiny: “I have a God-given talent for mechanical things,” he says. He transformed his childhood hobby into a career, starting out by working in his brother’s tow truck shop, where he mostly did repairs. He eventually bought his own shop in Monterey, which he ran for 27 years until he sold it in 2000.

Now Hageman, 54, runs a body and paint shop located behind the Monterey Regional Airport, where he specializes in Porsche 365s and 911s, among other high-end cars. Business routinely revs up at this time of year as Car Week events roll into town.

During his 30-plus years in the business, he’s built his reputation as a bodyworker, out of strategic necessity; he says he chose body over mechanical work because the starting costs were cheaper, and he remembers a time when bodyworkers were also painters, but those two fields have since specialized.

He spoke to the Weekly about some memorable moments in the industry as Car Week arrives, including his affection for Car Week itself: “There are concours events all over: London, Paris,” he says. “But you will never see the scope of cars that we have anywhere else. You would never see 20 Daytona Ferraris anywhere in the world, except Monterey.”

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Weekly: What’s something you like about the work you do?

Hageman: I like looking at something that looks hopeless and unfixable and then fixing it. Doing a restoration from something really mangled to making it look brand new is what I do.

How does your job change from the usual day-to-day during Car Week?

It’s more emergency fixes.

Are there any major disasters you’ve seen during Car Week?

When I was around 20, I was able to stay up for days and be OK. But now if I stay up I know there are going to be consequences. We did that to fix a Jaguar and a Porsche that had just beat each other to death on the transport [after not being properly strapped down]. The Jag had back damage and the Porsche had the front of it smashed. We were up for three days straight, fixing them. They were both ready in time for the auction.

Wow. Any other disaster, or near-disaster stories, connected to Car Week events?

Once we were working on a Mercedes that we had completely restored. At 3am when we were putting the hood back on, a hood spring came loose and smacked a dent in the hood. We had to figure out how to fix it in five hours, so I fixed the dent by heating it, then sanded and painted the hood and put it back on in time.

Another time, a Mustang came off transport with its hood almost ripped off. We had to fix the hood and find new springs. In three days, we had to get all the materials to fix the car and paint it­. It made it to the show.

You mention Porsches are your favorite make to work on. Why is that?

My first job was working on Porsches, and I said I was never going to work on them because they’re expensive and picky. But now I have the experience with them and they’re not as much of a pain in the ass.

How do you know when you have a true car enthusiast on your hands?

A true car enthusiast is someone who can actually tell me how much he loves his car, when you can see that it’s important to him beyond looks.

He’ll come in and he’ll ask what can be done because he really wants to show the car; he’s not asking how much it’ll be to fix it to see if it’s worth showing it. Like, “What can we do?” instead of “what can I get for this?”

And they’ll tell stories about a car. A person who wants a full restoration and is willing to pay for it because of sentimental reasons, that’s a true car enthusiast.

What’s the best-kept secret of Car Week?

It’s the dynamics of what goes on behind the scenes for a lot of people in the industry.

A lot of people don’t know what it takes to get the cars organized and to the shows, how they’re all put together.

The people who are in the industry and help make it possible to show off these cars are the unsung heroes. Not everyone gets credit for their contributions.