BUILDING ON THE PAST: The unique Automotive Restoration Program at McPherson College

May 25, 2018
Posted by Barrett-Jackson

Written by Barbara Toombs

A McPherson College student works on some classic car upholstery. The college is the only one in the United States to offer a four-year bachelor’s degree in Restoration Technology.

More than 130 years ago, in the small town of McPherson, Kansas, about 45 minutes north of Wichita, McPherson College was founded. The liberal arts institution focused on career-oriented education from the start, and the 700 or students on the 27-acre campus today can choose majors from more than 30 areas of study. In 1976, thanks to the generosity and foresight of local businessman Gaines H. “Smokey” Billue, an Automotive Restoration Technology Program became one of those areas of study, getting its start from Billue’s donation of more than 125 antique and classic cars.

Initially, only a two-year associate’s degree was offered, but today McPherson stands as the only college in the United States to offer a four-year bachelor’s degree in Restoration Technology. With a stated mission to be a center of excellence for students serious about automotive restoration and a goal of competing to win at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance by the year 2023, McPherson offers five degree options in the field: Automotive Restoration Technology, Automotive Restoration Management, Historic Automotive Technology, Automotive Restoration Design and Automotive Communications.

Craig Jackson speaks to McPherson students during a roundtable session.

The program is well-known and supported by many in the collector car community, including comedian and car enthusiast Jay Leno, who established two scholarships there back in 1997. In 1999, Barrett-Jackson Chairman and CEO Craig Jackson joined the program’s advisory board, a role he continued for about nine years, and a number of cars McPherson students restored have made their way across the Barrett-Jackson auction block over the years to benefit the college. Jackson also established the Jackson Family Memorial Scholarship at the college to honor his father Russ and brother Brian.

In early May, Jackson was invited back to the college to be the keynote speaker at the sold-out “Evening with Automotive Restoration” dinner event to raise support for student scholarships. The event kicked off the college’s annual car show weekend, which included a cruise-in and car show on campus.

Jackson was impressed by how much the program had grown over the years. “The teachers are people who are passionate about auto restoration,” he noted. “They not only teach all the fundamentals of how to work on a car – including important skills like metal finishing and metal shaping – but also shop management, museum curation and even automotive photography.”

His three-day visit included meeting with the students in their shop, called the “Sheds,” where they all have work spaces. “It reminded me of what I grew up doing,” said Jackson. “I showed them slides of the not-so-glamorous shop that I grew up in, and then contrasted that with my current garage – pointing out that it’s not where you start, it’s where you end up! I hope I provided a little inspiration to them.”

During his speech, Jackson announced he would be establishing another scholarship at the college: this one to be earmarked for female students in the automotive restoration program, to honor his mother Nellie. Considered the matriarch of the Barrett-Jackson Auction Company, Nellie Jackson served as Executive Director for many years. Her passion for automobiles and business acumen were a driving force behind the company’s evolution into the world’s leading collector car auction company, and she would undoubtedly be thrilled to see increasing numbers of females becoming as passionate about the collector car world as she was.

He also urged students choose their electives wisely. “The electives I chose in college served me well,” he said. “I took computer programming and photography, and I still use those skills every day. I told the students to pick an elective they think will be an adjunct to help them in their passion, not just something because it’s easy, just to check a box.”

He also stressed the importance of embracing technology, noting that 20 to 30 years from now, people will need to know how to “talk to” the computers that are in the cars from the 1980s and ’90s, for example, in order to restore them properly. “That skill set of tweaking a car’s body, and having the ability to paint it, do the upholstery and all the other things those students are being taught … just add computer and engineering technology to that, and they will have a long road ahead of them,” said Jackson.

From what Jackson observed during his visit to McPherson, the future of the collector car industry looks bright indeed.

For more information on McPherson College, visit McPherson.edu.

For at look at the collector cars headed for Barrett-Jackson’s upcoming Northeast Auction, click HERE.