Automotive Restorations

Automotive Restorations is a restoration shop in Lebanon, New Jersey, that concentrates on pre-war cars, from Brass Era machines to Full Classics. It is owned by Steve Babinsky and works out of a 22,000-square-foot building on US Highway 22. This profile is an independent summary of published information. The shop is not affiliated with Classic Cars Arena.

Who they are and how they started

According to a Vanderbilt Cup Races shop tour, Steve Babinsky started the business in 1981 after buying the equipment of restorer Bob Gassaway in South Amboy, New Jersey, and later moved the operation to Lebanon. The same article says several of Gassaway's original employees still work there. The shop employs about 15 people, some with roughly 40 years of experience. The tour reports that the shop no longer advertises and relies on referrals, with a waiting list of about a year. Those are statements from that article rather than current figures, so anyone planning a project should ask the shop directly.

What they restore

The focus is pre-war American and custom-bodied classics. Marques named in published material include Duesenberg, Packard, Auburn and Marmon. The Vanderbilt Cup tour says Packards became a specialty after the first Full Classic, a Packard, arrived in 1983, and that the shop declines muscle cars. If you own a 1960s pony car or similar, this is not the shop to call.

Work done in-house

The tour describes in-house forging and machining alongside engine rebuilding and metalwork. Staff handle frame-up restorations, which in practice means bodywork, metal fabrication, paint, upholstery and mechanical work, aimed at concours-level results. The shop's own site was showing an under-development placeholder when we checked, so the service list here comes from third-party coverage and directory listings.

Notable projects and awards

• Ray Harroun's 1911 Marmon Wasp, the car now displayed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum, is listed among the shop's projects in the Vanderbilt Cup article.
• A 1932 Packard 905 Twin Six restored here, owned by Ross and Beth Myers of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, won the AACA Zenith Award at the 2026 AACA Grand Nationals in Allentown, Pennsylvania, according to Old Cars Weekly.
• A classiccarjobs.us profile credits the shop with two Best in Show wins at Pebble Beach and lists a 1934 Auburn that took second in class at Pebble Beach and earned an Auburn Cord Duesenberg Award at AACA Nationals in 1991. We could not confirm those from a second source.
• The tour says the shop typically prepares two to three cars a year for the Pebble Beach Concours.

Working with the shop

Nothing about estimates, billing structure or deposits is published in the sources we could open. Given the long lead time the tour describes, buyers should ask early about scheduling, how progress is documented and how scope changes are handled. Our guide on how to choose a restoration shop lists useful questions.

Reputation

The strongest public evidence is the work itself: a current AACA Zenith win in 2026 and decades of documented concours cars. The Better Business Bureau lists the business as Automotive Restoration Inc, not accredited and not rated, with no customer reviews on file. We did not read ratings on Yelp or Google, so none are quoted.

Visiting and contact

The shop is at 1050 US Highway 22, Lebanon, NJ 08833, phone 908-236-6400. No public hours were found, so call ahead. If you are also looking for a pre-war car to restore, browse classic cars for sale in New Jersey.