A Roadster's rags to riches story

Greg Leischer doesn't recall a time when he wasn't tinkering with cars, collecting and selling them.

His most recent finished product is his 1932 Ford Roadster, which was featured on the car-makeover television show "Bitchin' Rides" on the Velocity network, in October. The episode, titled "Clean Up on Isle 32," is episode three of the show's second season. Dave Kindig, head designer on the show, along with his team of designers worked on the car for a solid three months. Leischer's now beautiful Roadster is car show ready.

Leischer is the owner of Green River Auto Sales and has been in business since 1995. He's a collector of old, used and new cars. When he's not working at his shop, he's tinkering with his own cars and showing his prized possessions off at car shows around the country.

Leischer says he's always been this way and hasn't changed.

"I've been playing with them my whole life," Leischer said. "I've been that way since I was in diapers."

Early memories were formed in the garage with his dad while "wrenching" on cars. He bought, fixed up and sold his first car, a 1965 Volkswagen Beatle, at age 14. He owned it a week.

"It's in my blood," he said. "I made it look a lot better than when I bought it," Leischer said. "I did a quick restore on it and sold it."

That was his first dabble at being an entrepreneur. It has been an uphill venture for Leischer ever since that first car to come to where he is today. The hobby hasn't changed, but the cars have.

It's been a long time coming for Leischer's Roadster. He bought the car in 2003 from an estate. He took the car to California, where it stayed for about six years. After a stagnate few years in California, he took the car to Colorado for bodywork and with no luck there, he brought his car, in parts, back to Green River. It sat here until he followed some friends advice and handed it over to Dave Kindig of Kindig it Design in Salt Lake City.

Kindig decided to scrap the plans and work done previously on the car and start fresh. At the time, Kindig had signed a contract for the car-makeover show on Velocity as well.

"After it was down there, he asked me if I would be willing to have it featured on one of the episodes," Leischer said. "I said sure, yah, no problem."

Initially, Leischer and Kindig decided on a blue color for the car and it eventually changed to the copper-like Soreno Ford color it is now, which Leischer describes as a root-beer color.

"You don't see it very often, it's kind of different," he said.

The Roadster's new color isn't the only thing that makes the car stand out. The original body of the car is a spectacle as well. It was made from the last Zipper Motors kit ever made in Colorado, before the company relocated to the West Coast. As a result, this Roadster has a more sleek, streamline appearance than other 1932 Roadsters. Hence, the name zipper. It's built with a Corvette LS2 engine and T56 six speed transmission.

"It flat moves," he said. "It's fun to drive."

The Roadster also has a custom Kugel front and rear end, along with the custom work done by Kindig and his team.

"It's one of a kind, there ain't too many around like it," Leischer said. "It's got a lot of components that most Roadsters don't have. Everything on it is custom."

The feeling of relief has come over Leischer now. The money pit is over, he said. The years of time, money and worries are over for his Roadster. Now he can show it to the world, or those at the car shows. Leischer's Roadster is finished, but his hobby it not.

He plans to work on a muscle car next.