MIL-SPEC VEHICLE RESTORATIONS
If not for a series of mostly good jobs, several of the “other kind” and some subtle but insistent prodding from a generous friend, Bob Rubino might not be running Mil-Spec Vehicle Restorations.
“We work on everything from jeeps to tanks,” said Rubino, the owner of the Belvidere, New Jersey, shop that specializes in military vehicles with vintage tanks being the primary focus. “The vehicles come in, we strip them down to a bare hulk or frame. We sandblast every part, rebuild every component and put it back together into complete operating condition and give it to the customer.
“The majority of our work is tanks, probably three-quarters of our billable hours. We’ll do a jeep. A jeep can take six months. Tanks take years, two or three years, sometimes longer than that.”
THE PATH TO OLIVE DRAB
It didn’t seem so at the time, but a chance encounter with a jeep several decades ago while he
