This 1953 Chevrolet Utility Truck was restored in homage to Perry Lewis’ dad, the late Luther Lewis. The logo on the side of the truck is the same one his father used at his paint business, Countryside Paint Company. A picture of Luther, known as Uncle Luther is painted on the back.

Take a walk inside Perry Lewis’ shop in Madison and you might find yourself in reverse, going wide open down memory lane.

A green and white Sinclair gas pump, circa 1949, and two 1957 pumps greet guests as they enter. The pumps stand before a replica storefront of Cossey’s Sinclair Service Station. In its heyday, the original store had a home under a different name on the Square in downtown Athens.

An attendant doesn’t burst from the door offering a refuel and an oil check but, parked outside, are such vintage vehicles as a 1978 El Camino Super Sport, a 1977 Oldsmobile Toronado XS, 1955 Ford Victoria, a 1953 Chevrolet Utility Truck, 1947 Dodge D24, 1960 Mercury Comet, 1950 Chevrolet Deluxe and a 1997 Plymouth Prowler.

“I’m a paint contractor by trade,” said Lewis, who owns Fine Tone Painting and has been in the business for 27 years. “Actually, I just collect all this stuff.”

Lewis, who has worked on antique cars since age 18, has a passion for the past. He has been collecting for more than 25 years.

“Some of the cars I’ve restored; some I keep; some I sell and trade,” he said.

When it comes to his collection, just about every piece has a history.

He bought the El Camino Super Sport, which still has the same factory four-speed, the day his son, Jeremy, was born. He gave it to him when he turned 16.

Like most teenagers, his son introduced the car to a bit of wear and tear.

“He tore it up,” Lewis said. “I restored it after he had it. I’m waiting until something happens to me and he can have it back.”

Lewis has even hung onto a Toronado with a wrap-around black glass. His mom, the late Jean Lewis, bought it new. Only 2,200 of them were manufactured.

Victoria speaks to him

The 1953 Chevrolet Utility Truck parked in back was restored as a way to pay homage to his dad, the late Luther Lewis.

“When my dad was alive, he was a paint contractor,” Lewis said. “His company was Countryside Paint Company.”

The truck bears the same logo his dad used when he owned the business.

“His nickname was Uncle Luther, so I painted Uncle Luther on the back.”

The oak drawers, which still open, contain all the antique tools and everything to make paint in the ‘20s.

“I wish my dad was alive when I finished it,” Lewis said. “He sure would have got a kick out that truck.”

The utility truck has been parked in front of U.G. White Hardware store for the past two years during the Cars on the Square event.

“My favorite has to be the black and white one there,” he said, pointing to a 1955 Ford Victoria.

Lewis, who was born in Alabama but raised in Illinois, would stay with his aunt in Huntsville during the summer. He recalled the first time he saw the ’55 Ford at age 14.

“Every day at 4 p.m., a guy would come running through with a car like this,” he said. “One day, I got on the bicycle and followed him.”

Lewis said he spent the afternoon talking to the owner about the car. The man allowed him to sit in it and he asked him if he would ever sell it. He told him he would not. As Lewis got older, he would come down for visits and got to know the man. Still, he was told the car would never be sold.

“The last time, he said, ‘Come on over, I’m going to sell you that car. I know you’ll take care of it. I can still remember you pedaling behind me on that bike and I want you to have my car.’”

Lewis bought the car, which the man had owned for 28 years.

Lewis had it 14 before he had to sell it after he divorced.

“I always loved it and it was always my favorite car,” he said. 

After he got on his feet, Lewis started to look for one again. Seven years later, he found one.

“That car came out of Arizona,” he said. “I put it back exactly like the one I bought.”

Last week, the Victoria took to the road, with everything but the custom-made grill Lewis is waiting on.

More than a car shop

A number of people have toured his shop — from local car connoisseurs to car-club members. People who have heard about it have come from as far away as Minnesota, Florida, West Virginia and Texas.

Classic cars are not the only items Lewis collects.

He also has a complete diner, known as Fatboy’s Diner, straight out of the 1950s. Girl mannequins in poodle skirts serve up orders from the bar top, a 1946 refrigerator and a 10-cent popcorn machine. A neon sign hangs in Fatboy’s with the faces of Lewis, his long-time friend and fellow collector Randy Sargent, and his employee for more than 14 years the late J.D. “Toot” Hodge.

His favorite façade in the shop is the country store, which is set up in the back corner.

“A lot of people can remember seeing a set up just like this when they were younger,” he said.

The country store, set in the ‘20s and ‘30s, includes items such as a 1923 5-gallon, gravity-flow FRY gas pump; old quart jars for oil; scales and signage. His collection extends into the restroom of the country store. Old soaps, toilet paper and other toiletries can be found inside.

Back near the entrance to the shop, is the Cossey’s Sinclair Service Station storefront.

“That is the service station that was on the south side of the courthouse in Athens,” Lewis said. “A friend of mine built that. He duplicated it the same height, same width, same windows and same doors as the old service station. The only thing different is the glass blocks where there used to be bricks.”

Lewis isn’t sure if the storefront was a Sinclair Tire and Battery. When he was growing up in Illinois, Sinclair was one of the biggest advertising petroleum places around, he said. Back then, attendants gave you stamps, and when you filled your stamp book, you could win banks, whistles and marbles for the kids, said Lewis, who has some in his collection. They also had toys — Dino the dinosaur soaps and trucks — the service-station attendants would give to kids who were riding in the back seat.

He uses the back of his shop for restoration projects. An iconic 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing is being restored by Joel Graydon at the location.

“You won’t see a car like that around here,” Lewis said.

Lewis said he started collecting after painting a gas pump for Bob Nicholas when the Harley-Davidson shop was on Pratt Avenue.

“I would paint tanks and fenders as a side job,” he said.

When Nicholas came over one day with a gas pump and wanted to know if Lewis would paint it, he gave it a shot. After he completed the project, he went back to the bike shop a couple of weeks later and Nicholas had it put together.

“I had always restored old cars, and I knew where some pumps were, so I started restoring them,” Lewis said. “It went from that to a sign, to a coke machine, to another gas pump. It just kept progressing over the years, and I ended up with this collection.”

Lewis said 20 years ago he could get out on Saturdays and ride the back roads and find stuff, talk to people and pick it up.

“I have met a lot of people, and a couple of friends of mine have done the same thing,” he said. “You get hooked on it.

”I didn’t know at the time it would be worth something,” he said, noting he and his wife of 17 years, Billie, will use it for retirement.

His collection also includes a lot of odd stuff people don’t notice, including a ladies brake pedal, a kids pedal boat, a 1923 car air-conditioner, a child’s coin-operated train ride, and much more.

The television show “American Pickers,” under the name Antique Archeology, called Lewis while the pickers were in Birmingham and asked about his gas pumps. “I thought they wanted me to come to Birmingham,” Lewis said. “I wasn’t able to do it at the time. I just misunderstood them.”

Instead, they visited his friend and fellow collector Jacoby Rice.

The shop made it into the limelight a couple of times.

Two commercials were filmed at the location, including one for Redstone Federal Credit Union’s 60th anniversary and one for a local law firm.

 “I meet a lot of good people doing this,” he said. “I really enjoy it. That’s part of the fun of collecting.”

For more information about the collection, call Lewis at 256-759-1389.