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FEATURE INTERVIEWS:

Rides By Engel – Jason Engel:

This week I have the pleasure to talk to long time friend of the show, Jason Engel. At SEMA 2023 I learned that Jason had entered the consulting business and was also he representative to vet licensure requirements for Shelby!

What was he consulting in, specifically? Well….consulting in the entire process of owning, operating, producing, marketing, and leading a production car business where the production car is unique to the business itself. In addition, it might be a car that needs to be licensed by an OEM or other “Hollywood” style entities. Examples include companies like Classic Recreations (which he founded), Revology, Velocity Restorations, Anything Scout, etc. In a nutshell, Jason was taking on clients to teaching them the business of PROFITABLY running such a venture. For this, I needed a full length interview…and this is out!

, Revoloty, I first met Jason way back in Episode 12 in the first year of The Muscle Car Place and I have been able to watch him go through many changes and experiences since then. Over the years he has obtained multiple licenses to build star car recreations and has lived through the ups and downs of the processes needed to obtain these permissions and ultimately run successful vehicle production businesses. He is now teaching others how to effectively and efficiently run a low volume production line and I wanted to know more about it.

Jason started out in the low rider truck scene putting together full blown custom vehicles with trick suspension, extensive body work, and trend setting wheels. This was way back when he was just eighteen and just getting started. He attributes the ability to do this to his schools Vo-Tech program that introduced him to Jerry Starling and Gene Winfield who really got him excited to build his own creations.

Many mentors were able to open doors and introduce him to influential people in the industry so he could learn and grown in building custom vehicles. This mentorship provided Jason a huge step up in not only learning how to work on and build cars effectively but it also showed him the backstage of running a world class automotive company. The Vo-Tech program was such a foundational part of Jason’s life that he now gives back and mentors young automotive enthusiasts so he can pass on what he has learned.

When I first met Jason, he was building up his business, Classic Recreations, that built versions of a famous and popular Mustang that everyone would recognize. He points out that the first thing he learned was that he needed to license the vehicle first. In the case of the Mustang that meant getting a Ford license and making sure he had the paperwork in place to produce that vehicle. But that was not the only recognizable name on the car. Jason worked with Carroll Shelby and was fully licensed to use the Shelby name on his creations also so they were truly Shelby vehicles. In Episode 149 we talked about building the Shelby GT500 continuation vehicles and working with Shelby to bring them up to Shelby standards.

Over the last twenty years Jason has built up multiple successful businesses, and some unsuccessful businesses. Building cars and brands is what he knows and how to make money doing it. He has experienced first hand what works and what doesn’t based on his history doing so and that there is a formula to creating cars and producing them not everyone knows about. Only hand small handful of people in the world has Jason’s experiences in creating and running these businesses so he has started a consulting business to help people be successful and avoid the pitfalls he has lived through.

Jason has learned how to become efficient at building and to make money sooner and stay closer to budget at the same time. He would like to help you be successful in your automotive business and bypass the downfalls by knowing before doing. You can find out more or contact Jason at his website RidesbyEngel.com.

Thanks Jason!

-Rob Kibbe

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