Thanks guys! We have some more projects in the works that will be coming out soon! We have a 1962 Impala, 1963 Ford F100, a 1955 and 1956 F100, and a 1955 1st series Chevy 3100.
I have been involved with cars my whole life and my family has actually owned the Thunderbird for about 20 years. I really became involved with cars and trucks when I got my driver’s license in high school. I started off with small customizations in the driveway of my parents house and (my brother started off building hovercrafts, a robot, and a few mini choppers) it just evolve into what it is today. We learned to metal fab, weld, body work, build interiors, and use metal working tools on our own. The '55 Thunderbird was a numbers matching original car that was in need of a full restoration and after deciding not to sell the car, we decided to customize it. While I was in college and focused on graduating I built my F100 which was painted by a shop in West Texas. We also took the Thunderbird out to the same shop to have it completely built while I was finishing up college. Due to certain circumstances and the work done to the car, we decided to pull the Thunderbird from the shop it was in, tear it apart, cut out all of the work, and build it ourselves. Everything that was done at the previous shop was cut out and thrown away.
Basically 70-75% of the car was handmade and once we did get it into our own shop we were set on making it something special. We had always watched the TV show "Rides" and followed the ISCA and Goodguys circuit closely. Mine and my brother’s lifelong dream was to one day build a car that could run for the Ridler award, and we set out to do it with this car. It took a ton of time and close, precise building but we were able to get the car to a fabricated state and metal finished state. That is when we turned the car over to Greening Auto Company for their bodywork, paint, and machining skills. From there we and the Greenings worked closely with Steve Tracy (Advanced Plating) and Paul Atkins (Paul Atkins Interiors) to produce the end result.
We could not have ever built the car without the willingness and help from my Dad (the owner of the car), Jesse and Jeff, Steve, and Paul. Before the car debuted I decided that I had gone to school for something that I loved, but that the hot rodding and street rod industry was my true love and passion. I officially opened Torq’d Design Lab in Tyler, TX and we have been working on builds that are nearing completion ever since. At the time the Thunderbird was being built we were not able to complete the body, paint, and machining in house. However, we are currently expanding to be able to have basically all of our needs for completing cars and trucks, start to finish, in house. Jonathan, my younger brother, is still very active in helping me design and do renderings of all of our projects but he is currently finishing up his last year at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA studying Transportation Design.
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