THE ARTISAN SPHERE
History on wheels : Angelo Zito & the automotive art of vintage car restoration
When Angelo was 16 , he worked with his dad on an old Alfa Romeo and started doing odd jobs , replacing parts and bits and pieces until he turned it into a proper business in 2014 . He is a mechanic by trade , and learned everything else from his dad and others .
His favourite car : the Lamborghini .
“ It ’ s an underdog with nice styling and very loud ! I would like one in bright green ; you ’ ve got to be seen . Also , my dream car is the Ferrari 250 GTO , which is very rare and worth tens of millions of dollars .”
Angelo only works on one car at a time , which takes around 12 -14 months to complete , making him highly selective in choosing projects he works on . The car must be good , and the owner has to be nice - collaboration is crucial to the project ’ s success . “ I particularly enjoy working with people like Steve from Urbane Projects , who shares my passion and appreciates the detail required to restore an old car .”
Angelo ’ s favourite part of the job is when he has finished a project , the car is on a hoist , he is under it , and he can see everything is shiny and new . No one else sees it except for him .
“ I fall in love with many of the cars I work on because I ’ m not just restoring them but bringing them back to life . The day after a car is picked up , and I open my shed and see it gone , I do feel sad . It ’ s like saying goodbye to a friend .”
Q . The big question , Angelo , is , what car do you drive ?
“ I drive a Toyota Hilux - I like to get to my destination ! I have some Alfas , but I ’ m so busy working on everyone else ’ s cars that I don ’ t get to drive them very often !”
Angelo mainly works on Alfa Romeo , Fiat , Ferrari , and Lancia . There are many types of restorations , such as making a vintage car roadworthy or returning it to its perfect state , but the end goal is always the same : bringing the car as close to its original condition as possible , regardless of age or condition .
Restoring cars that have been poorly repaired over the last 50 or 60 years can be very challenging . Often , they are rusty and have been fixed with band-aid measures , making it difficult to return them to their original state . When Angelo starts working on a car , he strips it right back to its steel body . By the time he has finished , every single part of the car has been overhauled , refurbished , and new , so it ’ s as close to perfect as possible .
Photo supplied by Angelo Zito