Imagination Takes the Wheel: Kindig-it Design
Dave Kindig admits, “Problem for me is I have a very active imagination.” That’s what we’d call a good problem to have, and one that keeps the team busy at Kindig-it Design. “I really like to have more than 10 cars to build at any given time. There’s at least 25, 30 cars in here…
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A Relationship with Metal: Josh Freeman and Freeman Fabrication
Some people seem to light up when they talk about their passions. Josh Freeman is one of them. Watching and listening to Freeman in his Denton, Texas shop, Freeman Fabrication, you can’t miss the joy and contagious enthusiasm for metal fabrication. As Freeman explains, “The ‘less is more’ doesn’t work for me. I like to…
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Moving Metal in Style: John McGraw Jr. and Flashback Kustoms
John McGraw Jr. started down his career path early in life, to say the least. “My parents told me that I knew how to tighten and loosen bolts before I could talk,” he remembers. McGraw’s father raised him around the dirt cars he raced. “As far as metal shaping background goes, it leads back to…
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A Quest to Create: Pete Watkins and Dexterous Engineering
Look up the word “dexterous” in the dictionary, and you’ll see that it means nimble and skillful with the hands and the mind. It’s an apt description for Pete Watkins’s work—and a fitting name for his shop, Dexterous Engineering. From Watkins’s perspective, “metal is metal.” Which means he tackles all kinds of projects without allowing…
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Wheel Guy: Austin Paruch and Paruch Automotive Craftsmanship
“I never have any days where I’m worried about getting up or not going to work and enjoying what I do,” says fabricator, restorer, and coachbuilder Austin Paruch. “Life and work are one and the same. This is what I do. This is what I was intended to do, I believe.” At Paruch Automotive Craftsmanship,…
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Punk Rock Spirit: Bob Bleed and Midwest Fabrication
“I never once when I was a little kid thought, ‘I want to be a fabricator.’ I just wanted a hot rod,” explains Bob Bleed. “Everything about life is perspective. And my perspective on everything is through this car, through this windshield.” The car love goes way back for Bleed. He tinkered on his first…
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Respect Tradition, Challenge the Future: A Baileigh Biography of Hollywood Hot Rods
Troy Ladd leads the incredibly talented group of coach builders, fabricators, metal shapers and hot rod visionaries at Hollywood Hot Rods.
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Bobby Walden Puts Baileigh Metal Shaping Tools to the Test
In a 14-episode video series, the great Bobby Walden of Walden Speed Shop tested a shop full of shiny Baileigh machines against his arsenal of legacy tools. Walden was curious to try our equipment, since, as he said, “People ask me all the time… ‘What tools are better? The old tools, the Yoder? The new…
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Preserving WWII History, one part at a time
Vultures Row Aviation in Cameron Park, California specializes in the restoration and reproduction of World War II Warbirds. Many have been shot down or recovered from oceans and jungles. All being rebuilt or repaired with surgical precision, newly fabricated parts or hand shaped panels. President, metal shaper and visionary Chuck Wahl is a rare breed.…
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Baileigh Metal Shaping Classes Create a Global Network of Fabricators
Not too long ago, serious metal shaping classes were hard to find in the U.S. That began to change in 2012 when Baileigh first offered trainings led by top-notch metal shapers. We set a trend that rippled through the industry. As Baileigh Social Media Coordinator Shane Henderson says, “We kind of started a metal shaping…
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