Brothers Jim and Gary Kakuska of JK Restorations in Oswego, claim it all started when they were kids. “I really can’t remember a time when we weren’t playing around with tools,” begins Gary. “We were taking apart bikes as kids and it just went on from there.” Bicycles led to cars. “My parents never were able to put cars in their two-car garage because we always had a project going,” says Jim. “I guess that really hasn’t changed much. We still have cars we are working on in our garages,” he adds with a grin.

The brothers’ uncle, Bob Kakuska, lived a half a block from the Naperville home where they grew up. Uncle Bob worked in a body shop and later went on to work for General Motors. “We were always in his garage helping him pound out dents or sanding,” Jim says. “Gary was painting cars when he was in high school.”

Restoration specialty
Both brothers enrolled in automotive training classes. Jim attended three months of classes run by General Motors and Gary spent a year at an automotive college. But most of their knowledge has come from hours spent pouring over cars. Both had jobs in body shops when Jim began to see a unique niche in his field. “I blame my wife Cathy,” explains Jim. “After we got married, we wanted a sports car. I wanted a Corvette and she wanted something else. We finally settled on a 1958 Jaguar that we bought in 1973.” Jim quickly learned that very few people knew how to work on the unique car. Soon, Jim was working in a body shop during the day and restoring antique cars for clients during the evening and weekends at his home. “It was like having two full-time jobs,” he says.

In June of 1981, Jim with the support of Cathy, was able to open his own antique car restoration shop in Oswego. “I would work on any antique car that people would bring to me. It was a very slow start. It is hard to get people’s trust. I didn’t make much the first few years, but then I began to get some referrals.” Jim steadily built a reputation for being an expert in the restoration field. His shop began to fill, so he was able to bring his brother Gary into the business by 1985.

(Continued on page 7)