Entering his garage is like taking a trip back in time.

Dusty car chassis from an era long forgotten are lined up inside the Henderson Motors garage at the Sin Ming industrial estate.

Aged anywhere from 35 to 75 years, some are buried under plastic sheets while others double up as storage bins filled with spare parts and plastic buckets.

To add to the nostalgia, a faded poster of Miss America in a '40s bathing suit hangs on the wall.

This is where Mr Harry Tan, 55, lovingly brings vintage cars out of their rusty misery with a makeover few people can provide.

These days, he shops for vintage chassis online from the UK and often buys them for more than $20,000 each. Another $3,500 is spent on shipping and insurance.

Mr Tan has sold most of the 60-plus cars he has restored over the last 35 years, earning up to $10,000 for each car.

Sold when price is right

'I keep the ones which are in better condition and only sell if the price is right,' he said.

That includes the 10 in his semi-detached home in Tamarind Road, as well as a red Mini Cooper and a Volkswagen Beetle outside his garage.

But it's no assembly-line here. Some cars have to wait for years in his garage for their turn to be restored.

For example, a vintage UK Austin 7 chassis, for which he paid an import duty of $800, has been sitting in his garage for 26 years.

On the other hand, a 1967 Rolls-Royce, bought a year ago for a few thousand dollars, was restored within six months at a cost of $15,000. It is now parked at Mr Tan's home.

Mr Tan said: 'They're like toys. When a new one arrives, I'm eager to play with it. And some have been overlooked.

'If it's been sitting there for too long, my interest dies off. I leave it there until the time and mood is right.'

He mostly works on his own cars on rainy days, when he is confined to his workshop. Customers' old and modern cars are for other days.

And he tries to keep costs to a minimum - about $10,000 to $20,000 - for each restoration.

Mr Tan is well-known among vintage car circles like the Heritage Car Club (Singapore) and the Malaysia-Singapore Vintage Car Registrar (MSVCR).

He learnt his skills from his car mechanic father when he was 9, and opened Henderson Motors when he was 22.

Today, he is one of the few remaining mechanics here who can restore vintage cars.

There is another workshop in Singapore, according to Heritage Car Club president Dr Jaliya Pinnagoda, 45.

Goldmine of spare parts

But he got Mr Tan to work on 10 of his vintage and classic cars, including an Alfa Romeo Spider. He also recently had his 1933 MG-L1 Magna's engine rebuilt.

Dr Pinnagoda said: 'If Harry retires, I would take all my cars with me and leave this country. Seriously, I wouldn't know what to do. He can diagnose faults very fast and knows what he is talking about.

Mr Tan also has a 'gold mine' of spare parts that cannot be found online.

'For six months, I was looking for rare sets of MG-L1 pistons and rings on the Internet. Then Harry rummaged through his storeroom and called to say he has them in his garage,' said Dr Pinnagoda.

Mr Patrick Tan, 60, the ex-president of the MSVCR, said: 'Harry will never retire. He'll be restoring cars for the next five years, and another five, and another five.

Known to vintage car fans

'Whenever I visit England or Australia, vintage-car lovers still ask about Harry's workshop.

'He's been in the market for so long and people remember him for his service.'

Mr Tan intends to hand over the task to a younger mechanic since he says he can't afford to pay his two sons, aged 29 and 19.

He joked: 'Bigger firms offer more attractive renumeration packages and can afford to send them overseas. Their old man can only give them old cars.'

Car restoration jobs have dwindled in the last 10 years.

Now, he considers himself lucky if he gets 10 or more cars for restoration within a six-month period.

After all, there are only 320 vintage and classic cars left in Singapore, according to Land Transport Authority spokesman Naleeza Ebrahim.

Pointing to a work-in-progress Jaguar Mark II chassis, Mr Tan said: 'This is the last of Mark IIs which plied Singapore roads. After I complete its restoration, there will be no more of such (models) to restore.'