![]() ![]() When you see it on TV, it looks like it happens overnight. It’s bringing it to the attention of a lot of people that never paid attention to this, and they’re getting into it. How has the emergence of shows dedicated to hot rodding affected the industry?Ī. The biggest challenge now is finding the pieces that don’t exist. But if it’s broken plastic, we’re having to design and build something new or try to fix that. Where the older cars, if it was sheet metal, you could just bend it and straighten it out. The biggest challenge is if there’s a part that came on a car that was made out of plastic and maybe that part is no longer in good shape but it’s not reproduced, we’re trying to find it. ![]() The ’50s are still popular, but it’s the ’60s and into the ’70s that are becoming more popular.Ī. It’s muscle cars, the late ’60s and ’70s vehicles where it used to be that what we were building was mostly in the ’30s. The biggest change that we get is that people are looking for newer cars. Have you seen a lot of change in what people are looking for when they come to you?Ī. If you do good design and keep it very tasteful, 20, 30 years from now it’s still a beautiful car. The last thing I want to do is build something that three years from now looks like you need to update it. We’re trying to create things that are timeless- looking. If you want something that has all modern technology and you’re looking for just the latest in electronics and social media, you can buy a brand-new car to do that. Our focus is trying to create every one of these vehicles to be a rolling piece of drivable art. I’m not putting screens in with navigation systems all that’s in your phone. They’re older cars that we’re putting modern technology into for the drivability of the car. Are you seeing people wanting to improve these cars even more or mainly older cars?Ī. Cars today have a wide array of features. And the people I work with, not only do we build a car but we build a friendship. When I do a car in the aftermarket, in the hot rod world, I can go to events today and see cars that I built with my father 30 years ago. My name is not attached to it and I’m not a part of the unveiling. When I do the work for the manufacturers, it’s just a job. I’ve been lucky enough to do both types of work. There are two completely different worlds: automotive design for the manufacturers and the aftermarket hot rodding and custom car industry. Is knowing what you wanted to do from such a young age what made you so successful?Ī. Right now he’s focusing on school and homework so he’s not currently working the shop but during the summer he usually comes in and helps. He doesn’t like cars but he also loves the movie industry. Do you have family you are hoping to pass the business on to one day?Ī. So at the age of three years old, I had Hot Wheels of the cars that my dad had built and I had plastic model kits that I could build like my dad, so today I consider my career to be just an extension of my father’s. The cars that he was building, AMT is the plastic model kit, so plastic model kits would become available to them after they had built the cars and then Hot Wheels was built the little diecast toys of them. He was building a lot of cars for television. As a kid he worked for a company called AMT which was in Phoenix. How long was your dad in the industry for?Ī. So at 7, I knew I wanted to go to Art Center. ![]() Alex told me about Art Center College of Design. When I saw Alex’s drawings, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. At 7, I started going to the shop and I would like to say that I was helping him but I think I destroyed more than I actually helped.Īt the age of 7, I also met another designer, Alex Tremulis who was the head of the Ford Thunderbird studio through the 60s. When he was done he would leave it on the table and I would draw it over and over again because I wanted to be as good as my dad. When he would do a drawing I would sit next to him and copy it. So when I was a kid I started sitting next to my father at the age of three and I would draw. My father started his own shop when he was 14 years old. Is your dad the person that sparked your interest in hot rodding?Ī. When I first started with my father, if we needed a motor or pieces to put something together, we went to the wrecking yards and got pieces off of old cars and made them work. Now you can order pretty much any part you need over the phone. What have been the biggest changes in the industry in the last 30 years?Ī. His answers have been edited for length and clarity. “The greatest thing for me is that when I’m at a show, and I don’t know that one of my customers is going to be there, and I walk around the corner and see one of the cars that we built just sitting there.”įoose sat down with the Register to discuss hot rodding and how television shows have changed the industry. ![]()
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