Job done right: A championship-winning sports car team-turned-restoration shop sets itself new goals

The word “restoration” is used a lot in the automotive world, but its meaning spans a wide range. “Concours restoration” and “mechanical restoration” can mean very different things to different folks. Add the complexity of one-off and ever-evolving racecars to the mix, and the waters muddy even further on just what “restoration” means.

The goals can vary as well. Simply getting the car back on a race track might be one; a meticulous museum piece could be another.

For co-owners Ken Davidson and TJ Ruijgh and the whole team at Alex Job Restorations, there’s only one goal in mind when taking on a project: delivering a brand-new racecar.

“It’s personal for me,” said Davidson. “I want to make sure that we represent Alex and his brand the way he would expect it to be.”

Davidson’s affinity for motorsports came at a young age watching his dad race drag boats, but he couldn’t seem to find his way in. Working at a Mitsubishi dealer in the late 1990s, he saw an ad for the Skip Barber Racing School seeking mechanics for its Barber Dodge Pro Series and decided to take the leap.

In 2002, he was paired with the up-and-coming A.J. Allmendinger. “We were both rookies,” notes Davidson, who nonetheless celebrated the series championship with the aggressive young Californian that year.

When CART filed for bankruptcy in 2004, the supporting Barber Dodge Pro Series went away and left Davidson pondering his future. By season’s end, there were many quality mechanics and technicians out of work and hoping to get picked up for ’05. That was top of mind when he first sat down with the already legendary sports car racer Alex Job.

Early restorations were AJR and Porsche-centric, but projects of all kinds emerge from the shop now. Photo by Alex Job Restorations

“I told Alex, ‘I’m looking for a home. I don’t want to be moving every year going state to state relocating.’ And he took that to heart, saying, ‘You’re going to make that commitment to me. I’ll make this commitment to you.’”

It’s a pledge that still holds, as Davidson carries on the work of a man he still considers a close friend, down in Tavares, Fla.

Davidson became lead mechanic on the No. 24 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR racing in the American Le Mans Series in 2005, and the following year became car chief on the Ruby Tuesday Daytona Prototype. Six years later, Davidson came off the road to tend Job’s vintage racing and restoration program, which filled half the shop and was growing.

Ruijgh entered the fray in this period as his father, Theo, was racing vintage Porsches. Limited on resources and knowledge, Theo noted AJR cars ran flawlessly in the HSR Classic 24 at Daytona. He decided to ask for help, and AJR ran his cars going forward.

AJR began focusing more on restorations than race prep, and in 2020 Theo bought the assets from Alex to form Alex Job Restorations to breathe new life into historic racecars.

“Initially, since we had all the parts, marketing materials and pictures, we set out to restore as many AJR cars as possible,” says TJ.

One of those notable cars was the No. 26 (Fabcar) Porsche 911 that Job built in his two-car garage in 1990. After his unibody 911 was destroyed in a crash at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Alex decided to build a tube chassis car with any parts he could use from the wreck. The result was a highly modified racer leading to P4 and P2 class finishes at Daytona and Sebring in ’91. The chassis would continue to evolve through to 1997, experiencing various successes including AJR’s first of 10 12 Hours of Sebring wins in 1995.

“When we got the car back, there was a little bit of hesitancy on how far to go with it,” recalls Davidson. “One day I took the whole car apart down to just the tubes. Alex came in and was like, ‘What did you do?!’ I told him this car deserves to be done right. It should be the pedestal car of the company because this is the car that really started it all.”

Thus began an extensive and very detailed restoration. “I lost track at over 1,800 rivets,” Davidson remarks. “All Alex had was a regular pop rivet gun in his home garage. I told him, ‘You had to have had a hell of a handshake going into Daytona ’91!’”

The hard work paid off when the team was awarded the Craftsman Phil Hill Restorers Award at The Amelia in 2022.

The AJR mission remains the same. Take the work ethic and attitude of the founder and build the best racecars possible.

Says Davidson with a chuckle, “Alex still has an office here. We see him once a week or every couple of weeks. He checks in and tells us what we’re doing wrong...”