PLEASANT HILL, Mo. — Just past the train station in downtown Pleasant Hill, you'll find Jeff Wilson's restoration shop, Resto 101 for short.
"I have heard the stories of downtown Pleasant Hill, the glory days, since I was a little kid," he said. "I'm a sucker for a good story, there's a lot of great stories."
Wilson is a storyteller of sorts and those stories are lining the walls of his shops with rusty and restored memorabilia alike. Where you see rust, he sees potential.
"It's kind of like an undiscovered gem, a hidden treasure", he said.
He says he started out working in the automotive auto body industry but has been restoring all kinds of things since 1998.
Wilson says he has a backlog of a year or so of projects. His early days began restoring old gas pumps.
He walked me around his shop showing a wide range of creations like an old popcorn machine and arcade game that had been transformed into display cases or old red coolers that had transformed into patio furniture.
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Out on his patio, you'll find a grill ready to fire up behind the grill and under the hood of an old Impala.
"If a project is too messed up or rusted or whatnot, sometimes we can find another purpose for it," Wilson said. And he's doing it all in the heart of his hometown.
"Fourth generation from Pleasant Hill. My great-great-grandparents, I believe their wagon broke down," he laughed. "It's the best place to do business from. It's a big part of my life."
You can also see dozens of pieces Wilson has restored on display at the Armacost Museum in Grandview. I reached out and they told me they've worked with Wilson for about 25 years.
You can hear Wilson on the radio at 5 p.m. every Friday on 90.1FM where he hosts a show with Rockabilly music too.
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