UP FROM THE ASHES

WITH LATER BABY BOOMERS and earlier Generation Xers in their fifties, there’s a distinctive and undeniable shift in the vehicles being restored and restomodded these days. Vintage SUVs are all the rage and even the so-called “malaise-era” cars are finding more attention from those who grew up in the post-factory-supercar years. Fifty-something auto upholsterer Chuck Yee is part of that movement. His ride in high school was a silver 1977 Cutlass Supreme, a car that was as popular in the Seventies as fondue pots and brown leather jackets. He planned to keep it forever and build it into a proper street machine, as soon as he earned enough money. A couple of stupid guys playing with matches and gasoline, however, changed the plan. While the Cutlass was under wraps in Detroit, at Michigan Car Storage, a large warehouse used for secure classic car storage, the reckless firebugs accidently burned the place