The seed for Heritage Woodworks was planted back in the late 1970s, after I let a professional furniture restoration shop refinish the woodwork from my own 1962 Mercedes-Benz 220b. At first it looked great, but within two months the finish had started to peel in the hot Florida sun. This experience taught me a valuable lesson; that products which might work great on home furnishings, tend not to hold up very well in the harsh environment of a car's interior.

Before too long, I was working for an antique furniture restorer myself. So armed with my newly acquired knowledge of wood veneers and finishes, I felt confident that I could do a better job on my car's woodwork on my own. In truth, it took several attempts over a few years using different marine and automotive finishes, but I eventually managed to achieve results that met my own demanding standards.

During this period, my car's woodwork had been getting envious glances from some of my fellow classic Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts, until one day one of them asked how much I would charge to restore the wood from his car. I didn't realize it at the time, but this question had sealed my future career path.

Along with two of my enthusiast friends, I opened a small automotive wood restoration business specializing in European cars. In addition to restorations, we also manufactured after-market wood trim kits for newer cars that didn't come with factory wood, a popular add-on accessory at the time. After five years of building the business in Florida, my partner wanted to return to his home town in North Carolina, so in 1986 we moved north and continued to grow slowly but steadily. Business was good, but I wanted a business that conformed to my own vision, so in 1993 I decided to strike out on my own.

A long time friend had a car restoration shop nestled in the beautiful Smoky Mountains at the far western end of North Carolina. The location seemed so idyllic, that I convinced my young family that we should move to a place a few miles away, and set up shop. Business was good, and continued to grow as we expanded into working on more types of cars.

Eventually, other members of my extended family grew to appreciate this secluded corner of the country, (it's over 75 miles from the nearest Interstate), and before too long, we had an entire enclave of Tibckens in the area . These days both my father and sister work together with me in the shop.

We now restore the woodwork for 300 to 400 cars per year, in addition to putting the finish on hundreds of reproduction dashboards for another manufacturer. Not bad for something that started as a hobby!