Thomas Dickerson wasn’t raised in the automotive industry, though he always had an interest in building, whether it was with Lego bricks or his grandfather’s Lionel trains. It wasn’t long before he discovered his passion for automobiles.
“I grew up watching a lot of car shows on TV, and so I was like, maybe building cars would be kind of my fit,” Dickerson said.
After entering the automotive industry at 18, receiving a degree in automotive restoration from Athens Tech and getting his first rebuild, a 1967 Ford Shelby GTO, under his belt, the build that put him on the national map as one of the top young automotive craftsmen in the nation is more personal — his grandfather’s 1967 Chevrolet C-10 truck.
“It was kind of really, kind of neat to see it come back to life,” said Joe Ed Dickerson, Thomas’ father.
Thomas, 26, fully refurbished the truck, modifying almost every component, including installing a push-button start, GPS and a 650-horsepower engine for this year’s Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Battle of the Builders competition in Las Vegas last month.
His custom work on the vehicle earned him the title of Top Young Gun and a top four finalist of the entire competition. The “Young Gun” bracket is designated for emerging automotive craftsmen and specialists, ages 29 and under.
Joe Ed attributes his son’s late entrance and rapid success in the field to a natural talent for building and customizing vehicles, as well as the mentorship he received at the automotive refinishing department at Athens Tech and the Athens automotive builder community as a whole.
“Athens Tech, I mean, literally, just cannot say enough about the people there,” Joe Ed said. “I mean, they literally have changed his life.”
One professor in particular, Greg Thomas, took Thomas under his wing, teaching him the “correct way” to restore cars and giving him individualized instruction and hands-on training to help him become a successful young craftsman.
“Thomas was very passionate about the car building craft from the start, and I tried to give him the best guidance I could for him to achieve his goals,” Greg Thomas said. “It has been very rewarding, as an instructor, to see the success that Thomas has achieved with his talent, hard work and focus.”
As Thomas Dickerson, an Athens native, increasingly receives accolades and attention in the automotive industry, he plans to open his own shop, Thomas Performance Engineering, in Lexington early next year with the support of his parents, who are continually impressed by his abilities.
“He's kind of floored us,” Joe Ed said. “I mean, he’s really a craftsman, you know? And he really loves what he’s doing. And he can see these things, you know? He can look at a vehicle, and then he can just have a vision for what it could be.”
His shop will primarily offer full builds of classic vehicles prior to the 1990s. His aim is to modernize and customize classic vehicles by including the luxuries of a new car with the timeless style of the old.
Thomas’ 1967 Chevrolet will be displayed in his shop, allowing potential clientele the opportunity to check out his work. With this, the truck will have come full circle, returning to the county in which his grandfather first purchased it.
“He bought it here in Oglethorpe at Cook Chevrolet in downtown Crawford, and so the fact that we were able to build it, and build it here in Lexington, it’s pretty cool thinking about it now,” Thomas said.