In its Hobbies 2017 calendar, Spies Hecker is presenting lovingly-restored and refinished vehicles from 12 of its customers’ bodyshops in eight countries, with every calendar page revealing the professional and the personal enthusiasm of the refinishers.

The 2017 Spies Hecker calendar features, amongst others, an Opel Kapitän PL 2600 from 1960 in Denmark, a Porsche 356 in Italy built in 1959, and a Citroën 11 CV Type BL manufactured in 1939 from Germany. But in addition, the images also include the refinishers’ personal hobbies, such as archery, photography or motor racing. Photographer Ramon Wink set the scene for each of the bodyshops individually in the new Hobbies 2017 calendar.

In the Swiss town of Schachen, brothers Silvio, Pirmin and Patrik Fuchs, all three managing directors of Fuchs GmbH Carosserie + Spritzwerk, refinished a VW 1303 in a magnificent blue. "When our customer brought in the convertible, it had large areas of rust on the sills, wheel arches and on the front and rear,” Silvio Fuchs recalls. The car was dipped in an immersion bath for degreasing and phosphating. "In order to return the car to its original, perfect condition after repairing the bodywork, we relied on a two-coat finish using Permahyd® Hi-TEC Base Coat 480 and the fast drying Permasolid® HS Speed Clear Coat 8800. Now the convertible from 1975 looks just like new,” says Fuchs. The three brothers are heavily involved with the voluntary fire service, as shown on the calendar image.

The june image feature Kiss Autolack GmbH in the Austrian town of Münchhof where Reinhard Kiss and his team restored a Steyr 280 A tractor, while November features a stunning Gran Turismo Facel Vega Facel II restored Werner Kesseler and his team at Karosseriebau Kesseler.

Joachim Hinz, Spies Hecker Brand Manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says, "Despite how different the vehicles featured in the calendar are, they all have one thing in common: they demonstrate the attention to detail and the passion with which refinishers use Spies Hecker products around the world.” He added, "In 2018, Spies Hecker will once again showcase its customers’ masterpieces in a large format calendar.” Hinz is calling on bodyshops to submit their applications with images of the vehicle, and of the bodyshop, to: joachim.hinz@axaltacs.com.

All 12 calendar images from 2017 can be viewed on the following webpage: www.spieshecker.com/calendar2017. The calendar can be ordered from the Spies Hecker web shop, www.spiesheckerwebshop.co.uk, in the literature/poster section. Colour Club Advance members will automatically receive their free calendar as part of their colour programme update.