SB’s Own Master Craftsman, Peter Economoff, Creates Art for Leno & Lafond’s

After completing his schooling Peter took a road trip with some pals and wound up in Solvang swearing to return someday. He got as far as Santa Barbara where he set up a repair shop of his own and where he was able to create and experiment to his heart’s delight. Somehow, even Peter doesn’t remember how it happened, he became an expert with radiators and the car collectors came to him in droves. We’re not talking about your family car, we’re talking Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Maserati, McClaren.

“The English built beautiful radiators but they weren’t designed properly,” Peter states. “It took imagination to build a new unit that was shaped to look exactly like the real thing but could handle idling all day with the air conditioning on during Southern California summers.”

His reputation spread and he became the go-to-guy to satisfy major car collectors who needed cooling systems which worked but looked exactly like originals and could be presented at Pebble Beach and Paris. Somehow, he was able to satisfy the judges and word got to major collections like Nethercut, Edelbrock and Leno that he could get the job done. Timeless racing cars carry his work at Laguna Seca, Buttonwillow Willow Springs and Sears Point.