Story: Michael Crenshaw Photography: Gary Kessler
Do not label Midwest Custom Paint as a one-stop shop. Their automotive knowledge and expertise is defined by something greater than a cliché, which certain auto-body shops are keen to spit out at the first chance of selling their own services. Midwest Custom Paint doesn’t want to live off a generic claim of what they can do but more so off what their expertise and facilities can accomplish.
“We build our motors in-house—our frames, sub boxes and everything on AutoCAD right here—so I’m looking forward to our future,” explains Matt Sexton of MCP. “I hope the shop grows into the being the most premier place in the Midwest.”
MCP has been open only 11 months, but it has decades of combined experience among its eight staff members. The plan to open a shop was hatched during a late-night bar session with MCP’s resident paint pro, Brett Habig. In February 2011, MCP opened its 12,000-square-foot space, but with setbacks like waiting almost three months for the paint booth to be built, MCP didn’t fully get off the ground until later in the year.
For MCP to really make the automotive realm aware of their presence, they needed a grand entrance at SEMA. Teaming up with Mass Motorsports to build a wicked motor for a customer’s ’65 Chevy pickup, MCP built a one-off frame to house massive 24-by-15-inch Forgiato wheels, completing the project in fewer than 30 days. It eventually showed in the Forgiato booth at SEMA.
Making the show was a crowning achievement for the boys at MCP, and with less than a year in the business and show-quality pieces steadily being built—a ’70 Skylark twin-turbo and a ’69 Cutlass squatting on 26s, among others—we’re looking forward to the future and what Midwest Custom Paint can envision.
Shop Talk:
Shop Name: Midwest Custom Paint
Website: facebook.com/midwestcustomized
Address: 4684 Industry Drive, Fairfield, OH
Owner: Anton Shaef
Years In Business: One
Shop Specialties: Paint; frame-off restoration
Standout Vehicles: ’65 Chevy; “Every car we do is a standout.”
Average Turnaround Time: One to two weeks for a sub box, up to several months for a frame-off
