Cody Turnbull restores cars for a living, but one of his most-used tools in his shop might surprise you: a sewing machine.
“I think people are kind of hesitant to get behind the sewing machine and try it just because, [they say, ‘I don’t want to] run a sewing machine all day, I'd rather go get my hands dirty,’” says Cody. “But it's pretty quiet in here, it's clean, I have my own business, I make my own hours, I pick and choose what I work on.”
Cody runs the one-man operation, Turnbull’s Trim Shop, out of the garage next to his home in Weston, where he renovates vehicle interiors.
He first learned how to sew in his high school home economics class. After he graduated high school in 2010, he went on to study automotive restoration at McPherson College, where he earned his bachelor's degree. But he’s been fixing up cars since he can remember.
Both Cody’s grandfather and father are also into renovating vehicles, and Cody started out fixing up cars alongside his older brother, Jason, from a young age. Jason restored a 1962 Ford unibody pickup truck when he first got his driver’s license, so Cody, who is 3 years younger, felt the need to find a car to restore in time for his 16th birthday as well.
“Shortly after we got his truck on the road, we found this in a junkyard, and you wouldn't even recognize it,” says Cody about his first car. “Looking back on it, we would have found a nicer car to use, but we had that one, and we had six other parts cars. So out of all those six, we threw this one together.”
Because cars didn’t have names during that era, Cody simply labels it a 1951 Ford custom car, a “chop top” result that he still drives around today.
Restoring old vehicles isn’t the only hobby the Turnbull men do together. They are also heavily involved in the Platte County Steam & Gas Show, which showcases steam-powered and antique gas-powered vehicles every year in August.
“We kind of joke around — the steam engine show is like a family reunion for us, because we've got the majority of the steam engines,” says Cody.
The Turnbulls are a sight to see at the steam engine show, taking turns giving their kids rides in their steam engine vehicles, steering around giant piles of lumber that powers the engines.
It’s not a hobby that many can say they have, but Cody loves it not for the historical restoration aspect but appreciates the vehicles from an engineering standpoint.
“There's just something about the raw mechanics of seeing all of it move,” says Cody. “Once you understand and see how it all works, and how all of the plumbing works, and [how] all the levers work, and all the actuators work, and it's like, ‘Okay, this how all this works.’ I can fix this if I need to. It's all pretty straightforward, and once you understand it, it makes it a lot more enjoyable.”
Enjoying vehicles is something Cody is already passing along to his children. A dad of three kids ages five and younger, his oldest two are already riding dirtbikes. You can also find the Turnbulls and their extended family at the downtown Weston Moonshiners Car Club Cruise Nights, an event they run. The cruise nights occur on the fourth Saturday of every month, a low-key affair that draws car enthusiasts to just show up and park in the historic downtown.
While Cody certainly has the ability to work on a car mechanically, he says he loves his job restoring interiors.
“As far as the trades go, this is pretty hard to beat,” says Cody. “If I had to do it all over again, I would do upholstery over any other trade.”
Turnbull Trim Shop, is on Facebook or on Instagram @turnbullstrimshop. Or find Cody at the Platte County Steam & Gas Show on August 7-10 at the Platte County Fairgrounds.