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Hartford’s Best Paint and Body

Located right on Main Street in Hartford, hidden from the busy Western Ave main drag, is one of the best kept secrets in automotive. Hartford’s Best Paint and Body handles more than your usual collision repair. From handling run-ins with wild animals, embankments and even curbs, these guys love to have a little fun bringing your memories back to life.

Owner Bob Lutter opened Hartford’s Best Paint and Body in April of 1978. Lutter has a long history of dealing with all types of vehicles. Beginning at a young age, his uncle and grandfather gave Lutter and his cousin free reign on learning how cars worked. Lutter remembers, “When my cousin and I were kids, there were old cars sitting around my aunt and uncle’s place. My uncle had a 1934 Ford pickup sitting next to his barn. It was a complete truck; he drove it there and parked it. He told me to take the parts off it, so my cousin and I would go out there with screwdrivers and get to work. We would break the glass out, take the fenders off, and pretty soon there was nothing sitting there anymore.”

Later, Lutter found himself working at a tire store in Madison. Through this career he was introduced to his dream car, a 1949 Mercury. He wouldn’t have the opportunity to own this beauty until much later, but Lutter stayed patient, and is in the process of completing his dream rebuild. “The day I walked out of graduation at the Armory in Madison, I saw the lady who owned the car. I had previously done work on it, so I knew the car pretty well, and I told her, ‘The day I have $100, I’m going to buy it from you.’ She told me, ‘No, I can’t sell it to you, because my husband will never buy me another one.’ That was in 1962. She ended up driving it until she passed away, and then it disappeared. Her husband had put it in an old rickety barn on their place. When the 1996 tornado came through, it blew the barn down, but didn’t damage the car. When they pulled it out of the wreckage, they found out it had a flat tire. They jacked it up on a bumper jack, and there it sat. By the time I drove by and saw it in the middle of the yard, the bumper jack had sunk halfway into the ground. I got the bumper jack in the purchase. I’ve known this car for a long time. In 1959, I worked for a tire dealer in Madison, and the previous owner’s husband would always come in for gas, tires, and things. One Christmas Eve, he came in and told me he hadn’t got his wife a Christmas present yet. ‘What do you have here that I could give as a gift?’ he asked. I mentioned a few of the accessories we had, and he decided on floor mats. He had me put them in a box for him to wrap when he got home, and went on his way. When I finally brought the car home in 2000, the floor mats I had sold him that Christmas were on the floor. They will be going back into the car once it’s complete.”

Lutter sees restoring vehicles as shining off memories, and treats projects as such. Using high-quality PPG products, and only handling six to eight restoration projects a year, Hartford’s Best Paint and Body puts quality craftsmanship into each and every project that comes in the shop. “We are not a high volume shop. Where most places push cars in and out, we never developed that type of business style. We take our time, and do the projects right to make sure they are safe for the customer to travel on the road. We listen to what the customer is looking for and are open to their specifications and ideas. And I’m not unhappy with our business style at all. We have four employees that do restorations, rust repair, collision work, and some custom work.” Hartford’s Best Paint and Body is an AMD parts dealer. Lutter started working with AMD after seeing their quality of parts for restorations. “They replicate these classic car parts that you previously had to hunt for at junkyards and hope they were solid. Their business model is: if the part doesn’t fit perfectly, they don’t sell it.”

With his work ethic and team of experienced technicians, Lutter and Hartford’s Best Paint and Body will be celebrating many more years of business restoring memories for customers.

Technicians like Corey Gaddis help Lutter see immense potential in the future of Hartford’s Best Paint and Body. Gaddis joined Lutter right out of Southeast Technical Institute in 1994. Gaddis comes from a family history of car lovers and enjoys working on the different projects that come in the door. Along with Lutter and Gaddis is Lutter’s son, Steve Lutter, who has worked at the shop since he was able to walk through the door. The newest addition to the team is Zach Nothdurft, who started with Hartford’s Best Paint and Body in 2013.

Whether the project is from across the street or across the country, the team at Hartford’s Best Paint and Body have a true passion for any project, big or small. Their quality of craftsmanship and products will make your memories come back to life.

Follow their project process on Facebook! @HartfordsBestPaint

June 2016

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Hartford’s Best Paint and Body

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