Collision repair students at the Technical Education Center of Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC) recently refurbished a car that’s not necessarily used for transportation, but rather for bringing smiles to people’s faces.
The Abdallah Shrine Clown Car is owned by the Overland Park Shriners, a local chapter of Shriners International. The 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air, which was purchased by the Shriners in 1964, was in desperate need of a fresh paint job as its surface began to show signs of rust and age.
“The car had been painted several times and the paint was cracking and had a lot of surface rust and just looked bad,” Richard Gravelle, a collision repair instructor at KCKCC, told the Kansas City Kansan. “Our students stripped the dead paint and repaired the rust areas along with some body repair.”
The car now sports a fresh, white finish and bright, colorful airbrushed graphics of clowns and balloons. It will visit parades throughout the Kansas City area throughout the summer.
Gravelle said the venture was a win-win for both the school and the Shriners.
"The Shriners do a lot of good things for people, and it provided our students experience in body and rust repair and paint refinishing," he said.
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