Custom Car Nuts Show WyoTech Students Hot-Rodding Isn’t Just An ‘Old Man Hobby’

LARAMIE — WyoTech students Brendan Liethen and Xander Lail stood in front of a beautifully restored 1950s Ford Fairlane early Thursday, chatting excitedly about the car.

Members of the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association, behind the wheels of about 20 jaw-dropping restored works of rolling art, cruised up to the WyoTech campus from the Denver metro area that morning.

They gathered for a small car show exclusively for WyoTech students to inspire the students toward careers in hotrod and custom car building.

Liethen and Lail enthusiastically told Cowboy State Daily they were already leaning that direction with their career plans. And they were both inspired by their grandfathers.

Liethen said his grandfather was an aviation mechanic in the Marine Corps who transitioned to building hotrods upon returning to civilian life.

Lail said he’s helped some with his grandfather’s decades-long passion project — restoring a 1966 Chevrolet Impala to mint condition.

“It was all built and running, but then a tree fell on it,” he said. “We got it rebuilt, but now we have to get it running again.”

Inspiring the Next Generation

Goodguys is a nation-wide network of hot-rodders and custom car builders. It’s hosting a huge car show Friday-Sunday in Loveland, Colorado, and provided tickets for 100 WyoTech students, WyoTech Director of Industry Relations Cindy Barlow told Cowboy State Daily.

Thursday’s event at the WyoTech Campus was an opportunity for the entire student body to get a peek into the world of hotrods and custom builds, she said.

The rumble of finely tuned engines hailed the arrival of the hot-rod caravan as it arrived at the WyoTech campus, which boasts one of the nation’s premiere auto and diesel tech programs. As drivers lined their rigs up neatly in a parking lot that had been set aside for the event, crowds of students came flooding out of the surrounding shop buildings.

They crowded around the cars, eager to pepper the owners with questions. Unlike most car shows when spectators ooh and ahh at the restored cars, these students want to know how they got that way.

Goodguys marketing director Steven Bunker told Cowboy State Daily that he was pleased by the student’s enthusiastic response to the automotive eye candy his group brought to campus.

Goodguys hosts car shows and talks from industry experts at high schools and automotive colleges around the country, he said.

The old-school car culture of “kids just getting together and building things” has waned, he said. So, events like Thursday’s show at WyoTech are important to help draw new generations into hotrods and custom car builds.

It can be a lucrative and rewarding career, with a growing demand among discriminating customers for rolling masterpieces such as professionally restored 1970s “square body” pickups, Bunker said.

“Hot-rodding is seen as an ‘old man hobby,’ but we want to show the younger generation that there’s real opportunity in it,” he said.

‘Everybody Knows Some Specific Thing’

Windsor, Colorado, residents Susie and Dave Ratzlaff brought their 1969 Chevy Camero for the show.

Susie told Cowboy State Daily that because Dave was recovering from a foot injury, she drove the classic muscle car to Wyoming.

“It’s really a joy to drive,” she said as she stood beside the Camero with one of the couple’s granddaughters, who had tagged along.

Up in front of the car, Dave and WyoTech student David Solis visited, going over every detail of the Camaro’s 350-cubic-inch engine.

For decades the Chevy 350 was the company’s go-to power plant for a wide range of vehicles.

Solis said “this exact same engine” was what he and some fellow students are planning to drop into a 1972 Chevy c30 pickup to “make a drag-racing truck out of it.”

Just a few spots over, student Ethan Shervanick was admiring the interior of a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 that was practically in showroom condition.

Shervanick specializes in automotive upholstery.

After graduation, he wants to launch a career in custom builds. He’s vying for a job at a shop in Florida that specializes in restoring classic Ford Broncos and F-100 and F-150 pickups, as well as increasingly rare International Scouts.

For now, he’s using his upholstery skills to help a fellow student restore an old pickup.

Shared-skilled projects are one of his favorite parts of being at WyoTech, Shervanick said.

“Everybody knows one specific thing really well, so you can get together and all build something,” he said. “It’s a great community.”

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.