Steve Watkins, a friend of Steve Simmons just opened his new shop. He's been doing purely custom stuff for 10 years out of a tiny shop in Denton. He decided to expand his operation to offer his caliber of finish to the collision angle in the automotive work. Apparently, first class has always been the way Steve does business, his new shop is evidence of that! We got a Saturday tour, so things weren't in full swing. But we got a really good idea of what's involved in fixing a car correctly after a wreck. He's got all state of the art equipment, laser frame alignment, laser 4 wheel alignment and the most kick-ass wheel balancer I've seen so far.. all w/ 3D representation of what they're measuring. Coupled with the other half of the huge shop, the actual paint and finish area. All state of the art paint booth and color blending area, extremely clean and top rate. I've been told his old shop is actually just as clean as the new one and he's been in it for the same 10 years. The frame alignment bench is actually portable, so he can facilitate 10 racks worth of alignment/repair at once. It's called 'The Shark', the Green Queen will be riding the Shark for a baseline in the near future. So he's got her measurements in the database if I every *shudder* should happen to cripple her, he can get her back in spec, well, actually back to where I'm used to her being.. hopefully that is in spec.. if not, it can be fixed! The 4 wheel alignment bench is from Hunter. Pretty standard, except the 3D representation part, very cool! The best part was the tire balancer. It applies 750lbs of force on the tire while it spins it, simulating the road. From the measurements it takes, it can determine if the tire or the wheel is out of balance. Then they can be rotated in relation to one another to get optimum balance hopefully without the use of additional weights, just on the natural balance of the assembly! Very cool! His alignment/tire guy, Brian Hicks, did a full balance on a 911 Porsche, replacing the rear tires on the full touchless mounting bench (advanced from the one you find at most tire place, believe me, I pay attention!) with 30 series rubber bands. No problem! They also found one of the wheels on the Porsche was bent based on the balance. Bummer! Check the wheels in the pics. I put the Green Queen on the alignment bench to get my SGP rev2 front tension rods in spec. Found out my OEM camber is -1.4 on both sides. No wonder it corners like it does. OEM is supposed to be -0.83 according to the alignment bench. ;-) Special thanks to Steve Watkins & Brian Hicks for the tour... Streetwerks: 5401 I-35E Corinth Texas, 76205 #940.270.8000

Scenes from the Streetwerks Collision Center Tour:
 

1960 Corvette 1996 AC Cobra in race trim Race ready Mustang 1997 AC Cobra $120k worth! GuyZ in the lobby Pitts Special cowling The collision side Another 'Vette in the shop The paint and finish area GuyZ checking out the paintbooth Porsche on the alignment rack

1967? Porsche Underhood on AC Cobra Carroll Shelby's sig on a Mustang hood Shelby's sig on the silver Cobra radiator Interior on AC Cobra A 'Mystic' Marlin! Pitts Special cowling '96 from the local Nissan house Our host, Steve Watkins Nice airhose holder Porsche with X-drills on backward

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