Kane natives invited to show 1951 restored Porsche at Amelia Island Concours

KANE - Kane Area High School graduate of 2000 Jesse Nolan will be showing a 1951 Porsche 356 at this year’s Amelia Island Concours, a car show in Florida that draws some of the most impressive vehicles from across the globe.

Jesse, who started his business, called, ‘Across the Pond Restoration’ in Willoughby, Ohio, with his brother, Levi in 2015, said he and Levi always wanted to start a business renovating cars.

After graduation life lead them both in different directions with Jesse going off to the Navy for nine years and Levi became a doctor of pharmacy.

But the idea of their own car restoration business was always still in mind.

Upon returning from the Navy having served as metal worker, Jesse then went to night school in Cleveland for automotive restoration. During the day, he worked at a local Porsche shop.

Several years later, he quit his job at the Porsche shop in pursuit of his own business and eventually Levi quit his job as well. Unfortunately, as with all new businesses that started before the COVID-19 pandemic, the brothers had to delay the success of their business.

“We started off with a couple of jobs and the shop started to get up and running and doing really well and then COVID happened and we went right back to the start,” Jesse said.

Eventually, ‘Across the Pond Restoration’ bounced back from the pandemic and the invitation to Amelia Island Concours to show the restored 1951 Porsche soon came. The show will be held in March this year.

“We may never get invited to a show of that caliber ever again. It’s just such a feather in our cap that is not likely to happen again. So we were just over the moon about the opportunity,” Jesse said. “Even to be invited is a win.”

But no matter wherever they travel, Jesse said he mentions his roots in the Kane community.

“I’m such a big fan of Kane. Anywhere I go, I always make sure

I wear a Kane hat or #Kane in our social media posts,” he said. “It’s just so nice in the last couple of years to see Kane blossom in the way it has. Any type of connection to Kane, we always try to do anything we can to keep that connection.”

Jesse said he still credits Kane resident, Allan Carson, for his success in the car restoration business as Jesse worked for Carson’s landscaping business while Jesse was

in high school.

“He was one of the most detail-oriented, particular people you’ve ever met. And I always say that I had such a nice runway that he paved for me that it really set me on a path for a job that needs that attention to detail,” Jesse said.

Jesse added that back in high school, Carson gave him an old 1986 Chevy Truck that Jesse had to sell when he went into the Navy.

“I always regretted it, because I loved that truck and I appreciated so much Allan’s mentorship that it symbolized,” Jesse said.

Surprisingly, about 20 years later, Jesse said through many telephone calls over a period of two years, he was able to track down the truck (which was still in Kane), bought it and recently restored it too.

“It was a nice way of pay homage to Allan’s mentorship,” Jesse said.

Photo submitted Kane natives Jesse and Levi Nolan restored this 1951 Porsche and will show it in March at this year’s prestigious Amelia Island Concours car show.

Photo submitted The 1986 Chevy Truck that Jesse Nolan received from his former employer, Kane resident, Allan Carson, and then later restored when Jesse found it 20 years later still in Kane.