Students Present Restoration Award at Hospital's Car Show

Few college students have the luxury of driving a half-million-dollar automobile at age 19, but the hands-on nature of a Penn College education and the credibility of the institution's automotive restoration technology major have allowed just that. Vintage vehicles have been entrusted to the college, vehicles that are generally untouchable and behind velvet ropes on a museum floor, and students are permitted unlimited access to work on them. Respect for the program translated into responsibility for the participants Sunday, as eight students helped judge the Divine Providence Hospital Car, Truck and Motorcycle Show and present a trophy to the owner of one of the cars on display. The college brought three vehicles to augment its own presence at the show (which is in its second year, just like the restoration major): a Rolls-Royce, on which students will restore the exterior for a planned showing at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 2015; a 1909 Chalmers-Detroit roadster on loan to the college; and a car from the Honda PACT program. The students were joined by Brett A Reasner, assistant dean of transportation and natural resources technologies; Roy H. Klinger, collision repair instructor; and Charles F. Probst, Honda PACT instructor.