Amanda Gutierrez is Vice President of the Automotive Restoration department at Kansas’ McPherson College.
VR: Can you give us a little bit of background on McPherson College? It’s my understanding that it is the only four-year college program in the country devoted to automotive restoration?
AG: That’s right. In 1972 Gaines “Smokey” Billue was a local entrepreneur here in McPherson, Kansas. He had a large car collection and thought it would be a good idea for young people to learn the skills needed to take care of those cars. So he donated a sizable amount of money and about a hundred cars to help start the program. We had a successful industrial technology program here, and so it was a pretty good fit.
