Speakeasy Custom & Classic Cars
Donation protected
Speakeasy Customs & Classics started out of a mentoring program in Chicago called the Automotive Mentoring Group that teaches auto restoration to inner-city youth. The idea of Speakeasy originated from a 1947 Cadillac Fleetwood that was a gift from the program to Speakeasy's head founder and body welder, Greg Alonzo, for his years of service at the AMG. As the three members of the team - Greg Alonzo, Edgar Lara and Mike Herbert - formed their automotive dreams, they began to conceive a plan for a shop. They found themselves passionate about Cadillacs, taken by the beauty of their aesthetics and the quality of the brand and wanted to create a shop that celebrated them. They found three more cars to work on, and are looking for other fellow Cadillac and car lovers to join them on their journey.
Money will be raised to help start the shop. We currently are sharing a space with the Automotive Mentoring Group, and many of our tools are on loan from them as well. We hope to one day have a space of our own, complete with a spraybooth, metal shop and lift. Of the four Cadillacs we currently have, the the '47 Fleetwood and the '49 Coupe DeVille will be show cars for the Speakeasy shop, and will help sell the brand. The other two cars, the '49 convertible and the second '49 Coupe DeVille will become marketable cars that we are actively looking to find clients for.
We hope to fund the completion of our two show cars this year to be able to put them on tour, as well as purchase much needed tools of our own. Our campaign will run from February 15 - June 1, 2017, and pledge gifts will ship once the campaign ends. Starting this shop means so much to us, and we hope to realize the passion that has grown ever since getting involved with automotive restoration through the Automotive Mentoring Group. We hope to employ future mentees of the program, and join in their mission to reach out to inner-city youth by giving them the opportunity to continue their path into a career.
Sincerely,
Mike, Greg and Edgar of Speakeasy
Speakeasy Website
Automotive Mentoring Group Website
Money will be raised to help start the shop. We currently are sharing a space with the Automotive Mentoring Group, and many of our tools are on loan from them as well. We hope to one day have a space of our own, complete with a spraybooth, metal shop and lift. Of the four Cadillacs we currently have, the the '47 Fleetwood and the '49 Coupe DeVille will be show cars for the Speakeasy shop, and will help sell the brand. The other two cars, the '49 convertible and the second '49 Coupe DeVille will become marketable cars that we are actively looking to find clients for.
We hope to fund the completion of our two show cars this year to be able to put them on tour, as well as purchase much needed tools of our own. Our campaign will run from February 15 - June 1, 2017, and pledge gifts will ship once the campaign ends. Starting this shop means so much to us, and we hope to realize the passion that has grown ever since getting involved with automotive restoration through the Automotive Mentoring Group. We hope to employ future mentees of the program, and join in their mission to reach out to inner-city youth by giving them the opportunity to continue their path into a career.
Sincerely,
Mike, Greg and Edgar of Speakeasy
Speakeasy Website
Automotive Mentoring Group Website
Organizer
Gregory Alonzo
Organizer
Chicago, IL
