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FEATURE INTERVIEW

Tom Scarpello – Revology:

This week I spoke to Tom Scarpello, President and founder of Revology in his facility in Orlando Florida! Revology is seemingly doing the impossible; creating a profitable company that survives (and thrives) by bringing a single classic Mustang platform into a 21st Century as a capable daily-driver by modern standards. There are a few other companies doing things like Revology, but to my knowledge this is the only company striving to be good at the “boring” stuff like reducing wind noise, squeaks, rattles, and creating high end comfortable interiors from OEM stock materials. Their door gaps are specifically set for long term use – not just awesome looking floor appeal. They’re building the quality of cars far closer to a new Porsche than a Pro-Touring old Mustang. For all of this, I had to see it in person!

I have interviewed Tom once before several years ago (Episode 363) but this time it was live, face to face, and with a complete tour of the factory. I also got to test drive in a new Revology Mustang! It was an amazing visit with an eye opening interview with a lot of great insights to running a OEM style business. The goal of the interview was to understand where they had come since our previos interview, but also where they’re going in the future.

Tom grew up in the 80s era when the big three were battling the Japanese manufacturers for market share. He did his part and bought a Mustang, then joined the Ford workforce as it felt like it was what he should be doing. He started as a production line supervisor in a UAW plant but he still wanted to do more so he left Ford on an educational leave to learn more about marketing and sales. He eventually returned to Ford in the marketing division and worked in many great positions including Jaguar marketing and the Specialty Vehicle Team doing marketing research. He was even involved with the release of the all new 1998 F-150 aerodynamically oriented Ford truck which was a huge departure in the critical truck market and was a gamble on the manufacturers part. Tom says he learned a lot from Ford but did not feel like it was his place and wanted to go out on his own and build a company with the particular set of skills he learned at the OEMs.

Tom started Revology with the idea of building the classic cars that people are passionate about but utilizing the current technology to make the whole experience better while still retaining the cool factor of a muscle car. Tom will tell you that he is not building custom cars, he is reproducing new versions of classic cars with modern technology.

He has had some very influential people request one off vehicles and they have been turned down because that is not what Revology does. The business has an OEM mindset with an intense focus on production and making the product the best it can be.

Revology produces several versions from the 1965 thru 1968 era Mustang including convertibles and sports models. The late sixties were full of amazing vehicles from every manufacturer so I had to ask, why the Mustang? The response was simple yet surprising; if you can’t make this business run with the Mustang, it won’t be successful with anything else anyway. The market is huge for these cars and Tom has proven that demand is there for a vehicle that can be driven daily just like they were in the 1960’s but better. A new, reliable, comfortable, usable car with classic old school looks.

From a high level the Revology Mustang looks like a very nice resto-mod Mustang with great aftermarket suspension, a Ford Coyote crate engine, and a beautiful one off interior. It’s a car that could easily sit on the show floor in any SEMA booth, but not as a crazy one-off “unobtanium” type of build. It’s just a nice, solid looking car……at first. Upon further inspection the attention to details and build quality far exceed a show car “one off” vehicle based on just vintage and aftermarket parts. It’s a brand new car, built from the ground up to achieve the same end result, time and time again.

All of the bodies start from new Mustang panels, assembled into full state on their own proprietary jigs (which they have multiple of). Tom said that in the past they had tried to use off the shelf full replica bodies to build from but the variance from body-to-body was unacceptable in the grand scheme of things. They’d have to make their own to hit the tolerances they’d need to make a repeatable car. Unseen differences like urethane mounted glass, modern door hinges and latches, a stiffer chassis that removed the “Mustang” flex, and newer geometry suspension all drove the need for tighter fit and finish of the body and new mounting points for the parts. Even the weld quality had to be improved to meet the higher horsepower demands of the new drivetrains.

The classic Mustang looks are a guiding factor for how to style the car, but that is where it ends . All of the parts on a Revology car are designed with a modern production line in mind and a construction tolerance that was unobtainable in a 1960s factory. There are many changes that are unnoticeable until they are pointed out, with over 300 other improvements that have been implemented during ten years of production experience. Overall the new Revology Mustang has the comfortable feeling of a modern car that we all have gotten used to over the last twenty years and all of the creature comforts that we need with none of the fifty-six year old creaky, leaky, wobbly bits that we can do without. As Revology says, “We don’t build them like they used to”.

“It is about taking the classic muscle cars of the era and making them relevant again.” – Tom Scarpello

You can find out more about Revology at the website Revologycars.com or follow them on YouTube.com/@Revologycars or on Instagram.com/revologycars.

Thanks for the discussion, Tom! Special thanks to friend of the show (and now Revology employee) Tony Huntimer for setting it all up.

-Rob Kibbe

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