Chris Womack was watching “Chop Cut Rebuild,” a Speed channel show that charts the progress of a custom build, when he thought his shop might be great for the show. On a whim, he e-mailed the show’s production company, but didn’t expect a call or e-mail in return.

“I got really lucky because within two hours the host, Dan Woods, called me and it turned out that they were actually in the process of trying to find a shop to build a car,” Womack, owner of CW Restoration Shop in Huntington Beach, California, said. “It just happened to be lucky timing on my part. If I had waited a few more weeks, we would not have been able to do the show.”

At the time he e-mailed the show, Womack had several Corvettes, a 1969 Camaro and a 1955 Nomad in his shop, any of which he believed “Chop Cut Rebuild” would want to document. The show’s producers had other ideas.

“Dan wasn’t necessarily interested in some of the cars we had because this is season eight that we’re filming and over the past seven seasons they’ve done two or three Camaros and last season they did a Corvette, and so all the cars that I had in here, he wasn’t really interested in,” Womack said.

The show had also just signed a deal with General Motors to feature one of its E-Rod LS3 motors in a build, so Womack would need to find a GM vehicle. Luckily, a potential client had just the car.

“I did have two more clients that had cars that they weren’t quite ready to build but they wanted to bring the cars to us,” he said. “I told Dan about the ‘41 Willys coupe that was a potential car to be built and General Motors was really excited to put that motor in that car, so I called the customer and told them what was going on, and they decided to move forward with building the car on TV.”

The car was brought into the shop and the cameras began rolling in February. “Chop Cut Rebuild” is airing 13 episodes this fall, each featuring CW Restoration Shop’s 1941 Willys and a build being completed at another shop. It takes two filming days to get enough content for one episode, according to Womack, and the final tapings will take place at the SEMA Show in November when the completed Willys is unveiled.

Expanding the Opportunity

All of the paint and body work done on the Chevy and MG B shown here was done in-house by the CW team.

The potential exposure the show is offering CW Restoration Shop is huge, and Womack understands that, which is why he submitted his shop in the first place.

“There [are] a lot of great shops out there and I want this shop to be known in those circles as a dependable, reliable shop that can make a car the way a customer wants it,” he said.

Having the Willys at the SEMA Show also offers great marketing opportunities.

“That’s a big thing to have a car there in a booth and so my objective is that the car will be seen by people in the industry and other people that are into cars and, hopefully, we’ll be able to get more business out of that car being at SEMA,” Womack said. “Then we want to take it to the Grand National Roadster Show and, hopefully, the car will have more people looking at it and maybe win some awards for the customer and, hopefully, people [will start to recognize] this shop and our abilities.”

Womack isn’t waiting for the premiere of “Chop Cut Rebuild” or the SEMA Show to take full advantage of the exposure. A story about the filming was in the local Orange County Register. He’s also pitched his story to national magazines and is having T-shirts specially made to tie into the soon-to-be televised build.

Through the featured build, Womack has also developed relationships with suppliers and shops.

“Doing the show has definitely been great because [I was able to call suppliers] up and told them what was going on and what I needed,” he said. “They came on board right away specifically because of the TV show and because of SEMA.”

The walls of CW Restoration Shop are covered in signs and banners for the suppliers and shops that have contributed time and materials to the 1941 Willys. Because of these contributions, what was supposed to be a gasser is now on its way to being a daily driver packed full of all the modern conveniences.

“Originally, [the owners] were looking at having a blower on this and big slick wheels on the back of it,” Womack said. “When General Motors was going to provide a motor for it that’s much more drivable, it’s not going to have a blower on it, it’s not going to have big tubbed wheels, it’ll be much more of a car that she can drive and handle and it should not overheat or break down.”

Division of Labor

In addition to changing the direction of the Willys project, having a camera crew at the shop a few times a week has had an impact on workflow.

“It’s definitely a learning thing for me trying to make sure all the cars are getting the attention that they need and [we’re] not just giving all the attention to the TV car,” he said. “It’s not necessarily a juggling act but it’s just making sure that the cars are done in the order that is needed.”

The Willys is worked on all the time, whether or not filming is going on. When the “Chop Cut Rebuild” crew is filming, host Dan Woods will lend a hand to the project.

“He is an avid car guy but he doesn’t necessarily have the ability to do all the things that are involved in building a car,” Womack said. “He does some hands-on [work] on the car, sometimes if we’re sanding, he’ll come and sand, we’ve done some fiberglass work, he’s done some fiberglassing, welding or just turning a wrench to put something on, he does that as well.”

The majority of work on the Willys is being done by Jason Jones, who has more than 15 years industry experience.

“He can do anything, he can do electrical, he can do body and paint as well,” Womack said. “I just let Jason pick what he’d like to do and then we go from there on how the car is going to move through the shop.”

The majority of Jones’ time is spent in the 2,000-square-foot portion of CW Restoration Shop designated for mechanical, fabrication and welding work. Womack rented out this expansion when he purchased the business three years ago from original ownerRon Eagleton, an experienced paint and body man with a strong reputation in the Corvette community. Eagleton still works for the business, spending the majority of his time in the original 3,500-square-foot shop that has a heated down-draft paint booth and the space and materials to do most body work.

Womack, a retired police officer who purchased the business after 20 years on the Aspen, Colorado, force, specializes in chassis and engine work. His time is also dedicated to all business operations tasks and marketing.

Though his shop is still in the midst of filming for the upcoming of “Chop Cut Rebuild,” Womack looks forward to new opportunities to promote his business, including on another television show.

“If the opportunity came up again, I think we would be a great shop to be on TV,” he said. “I think there would be a lot of good content there for filming and doing another project on TV.”

To read more about this shop and their experience on the show, click here.

Owner Chris Womack (center) stands with his staff, Jason Jones (left) and Ron Eagleton (right).

CW Restoration Shop:

Owner:  Chris Womack

Address:  17671 Metzler Ln., Ste. A1, Huntington Beach, CA 92647

Phone:  (714) 842-0042

Website:  www.cwrestorationshop.com

Services Offered: Turnkey builds, complete restorations and custom builds

Current Projects:  1941 Willys coupe, 1957 Chevy Cameo pickup truck, 1958 Corvette, 1959 MG B, 1963 Corvette and 1966 Mustang

Number of Employees:  3

Years in Business:  3

Tags: Chop Cut Rebuild, Restorer Profile, Television Shows, West Coast Rod Shops, Willys