Ever since he was a child, Thomas Gralak (TG Classics) has been fascinated by everything to do with wheels and, of course, engines. At an early age, he built model boats together with his grandfather and also disassembled old radios and televisions. Even the individual parts such as transistors and resistors were soldered out by little Thomas. Circuits for model boats were built from individual parts and after the model boats, petrol-driven jet ski models and car models were added. At the age of 11, he bought his first 50 cc moped (Simson KR 51), but it was completely disassembled – which worried his mother a lot. But in a few weeks it was completely assembled and Thomas practised riding it. Now began the time of mopeds and motorbikes – by the time he got his driving licence at 16, Thomas already owned 7 different Simsons.
Excellent work and craftsmanship at TG Classics
At the age of 18, he started his apprenticeship as a motor vehicle mechatronics technician at Mercedes-Benz, where everyone had to be able to do everything in the small company and the journeymen paid a lot of attention to good training. There were also vans and lorries to be repaired and things were sometimes rough and had to be improvised. During his apprenticeship, he had a 300 m² hall with metal construction and galvanising shop at his father’s and so Thomas was able to let off steam on his first classic car, a Mercedes W108 280 S, which they restored together and where they were able to gain their first experiences in the field of body construction.
There were other businesses in his father’s halls and so Thomas met someone who restored an Austin Healey MK 3000 and a completely burnt-out Jaguar XK 150 himself at the weekend and they soon got together at the weekends. When Thomas finished his apprenticeship in 2010, he was 21 years young and it was clear to him that he wanted to work on classic cars as well as historic sports cars. Since the technology always excited him the most about a vehicle and he loved to repair the technology, his career choice fell early on historic vehicles, where everything is still built by hand and can also be repaired with his hands.
Through contacts from his father’s halls, Thomas decided to move to the vicinity of Düsseldorf and set up his own business. At the beginning of his self-employment, he first worked as a subcontractor for other bodybuilders who needed someone for additional capacity. So he got into business relatively quickly and had to deal with many different types of vehicles and was able to gain extensive experience.
In one of these companies he had the great fortune to restore the bodywork of an Aston Martin DB 5 and to completely reassemble the already dismantled vehicle. It was through these subcontracting jobs that Thomas met his mentor at the time: he had over 30 years of experience with classic cars, especially Ferraris, and taught him a lot. When he emigrated for retirement, Thomas then took over his customer base. That was the beginning and foundation of TG Classics in 2012. Since then, the focus has been on high-quality Italian sports cars and the business portfolio is constantly being expanded with new projects. Thomas and his team are having a passion for your dreams and they are very professional in all areas of classic Italian automobiles: Engine/Gearbox overhauls, brake/suspension repairs , bodywork and painting, maintenace and service , saddlery, car detailing or custom-made restoration and upgrades. A famous and very rare AMC AMX/3 , known as the Monza car for the aerodynamic testing which had been used by Bizzarrini for the shape and design of his cars, had been restored by Thomas Gralak and was the first AMC to win its class at Pebble Beach in 2016. The color of this beautiful classic is Bittersweet Orange.
You can see more details of his excellent work and craftsmanship at www.tg-classics.de – or you send him a mail with info@tg-classics.de or call him or his wife at +4921545029345
