CASPER — Steve Cutler was already preparing for retirement at age 14, though he may not have fully realized it at the time.
What he did understand is that his fascination with Mopar (Chrysler) muscle cars meant all those gauges off the B-body Dodge Charger, Plymouth Roadrunner and Dodge Coronet dashboards in the city’s car graveyards might one day be useful and valuable.
Other parts might come in handy as well.
He wasn’t wrong.
Today, the 59-year-old has no regrets that he convinced his dad to buy him a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T with its 440 cubic inch V-8 engine for $450 in 1981, two years before he could get his driver’s license.
He also enjoys a lifelong friendship with Casper muscle car aficionado and entrepreneur John Huff, who Cutler admired from afar as he drove around town in his hot Mopar wheels.
“As just a kid, my mom dropped me off there and I knocked on the door and John answered,” he recalled. “He said, ‘What do you want kid?’ And I told him I had just bought a 1968 Charger, R/T because I knew he was into the Mopars.
"And from that second on, we have been extremely good friends.”
Huff remembers the day and agrees that Cutler is a special talent and person.
“I had cars sitting all over. I was a muscle car hoarder back then,” Huff said. “He saw all my cars and wanted to be a car guy with me. I’ve known him ever since.
"He’s done a lot of work for me and helped me through some tight spots in life.”
A 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona with a wing and a nose that Steve Cutler owns sat at the opening of the Talladega Speedway in 1969. Cutler said it is a very rare car. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
A set of restored taillights for a 1968 Dodge Charger that Steve Cutler collected as a teen, are now up for sale. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Steve Cutler pulls out a tray of bolts that he has had replated. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Restored gauge faces are something Steve Cutler has worked hard at to perfect. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Drawers of Mopar parts from brackets to switches and electrical parts sit in drawers in Steve Cutler’s office. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
A bin of odometer parts sit in Steve Cutlers office until he needs one. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Retirement
Cutler recently retired from a 27-year career as an occupational therapist, many of those in the Natrona County school district working with special needs youngsters.
As he stands in a garage space that Huff owns and Cutler has helped organize, there are former bakery trays along a wall with car parts.
Cleanliness and order are important to Cutler.
There is an engine block and associated components on a special Aardvark 7000 R/T device that Cutler designed, and an office that Cutler uses filled with gauges and organized trays of original parts, many of which he has painstakingly disassembled, organized and for many of them cleaned.
They’re all classic, pre-digital gauges and gizmos.
Cutler’s path to being a car restoration expert evolved from his 14-year-old self.
His fascination as a teen grew from his dad’s interest in the machines.
His dad had bought a new 1967 Dodge Coronet R/T, then helped him get his Charger, which Cutler started working on.
“Not knowing how to do anything, I took it apart and worked on it, fixed things, and had somebody spray some paint on it,” he said. “That was my high school car.”
Also during those days, he started collecting Mopar parts, going to junkyards and bringing home a bucket of gauges or other parts and storing them for the future.
He remembers hanging around with Huff and other car guys and hearing people reminisce about the “cool” cars they once had and sold.
“So, that’s why I kept my ’68 Charger. The same thing with all these gauge clusters,” he said. “I’m thinking, ‘You know what? When I get older that it would be kind of neat to do some restoration work.’
"I didn’t know what restoration work was per se, but I like to tinker with things, take things apart and put them back together.”
Helping Mopar Lovers
Cutler’s vision as a teen has now become a solution for Mopar enthusiasts around the nation — and sometimes the world — who call asking for help, a dashboard restoration, or an entire car to be redone.
Cutler said he had a recent conversation with a 74-year-old man who has had his Mopar car in a body shop for seven years waiting for it to get restored.
He feels for the man, who shared that his wife is ill and may never be able to enjoy the car with him.
“I’m like, that is just wrong,” he said. “It should not take any more than two years if you have a good process and if you have the finances to build a complete car. And I really feel bad for the guy.
"My goal is to be drama free and have fun building people’s parts so they can get their cars back on the road.”
Cutler’s process involves taking a vehicle that is brought to him and completely disassembling it.
After years of experience, he takes a lot of photos to document things, but knows the minutia of Mopar machines down to every screw, bolt and the color it should be plated.
If possible, he saves what can be used and puts it into a process for restoration.
Cutler said he makes piles of parts for things that need to be sandblasted, cooked, cleaned, or sent to specialists, such as a wiper motor.
He has developed a collaboration with specialists and manufacturers, the automotive equivalent to the producer on a movie.
Cutler has a mechanic in Nebraska who deals with engine and transmission needs after Cutler preps everything.
Then there's a company he deals with to get all of the bolts, screws, brackets, and other things re-plated after he cleans and prepares them.
“It’s all about the process to get things done and back into my hands so I can start reassembling,” he said.
While he said he doesn’t like being a mechanic, Clark does like reassembly and putting back all the properly restored minutia — engine, transmission, dashboard, and everything else — into something that will rev to life once again.
For Cutler, the color of every bolt and fastener is important.
He knows the intricate components of a Charger’s headlight switch. He works on heater boxes, seat tracks, air conditioner boxes, and does a lot with his niche specialty of dashboard gauge clusters.
Cutler’s gauge cluster restoration work and dashboard restorations has made his name known over the years thanks to his insight collecting them from the Chargers, Coronets and other Mopar cars as a teen.
Steve Cutler plans to keep his restoration expertise as a hobby. But he gets lots of calls from around the nation and world asking for help and advice. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
A 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner restored by Steve Cutler. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Reference manuals for Mopar cars and other automotive references sit in Steve Cutler’s office library. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
A box of car lighter components that Steve Cutler has collected. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Labeled bins sit in Steve Cutler’s office so he can find a part he needs quickly. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
A restored engine sits on a special rolling rack designed by Steve Cutler to allow him to assemble parts on the engine more easily. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Gauge Cluster Work
His expertise comes from hands-on experience and an innate interest in mechanical things.
“It’s like you are bringing something back to life and making it work again,” he said. “I think that is part of the occupational therapy in me where I want to fix things, I understand movement, and I understand how things work.”
Cutler said he has become an expert judge at car shows because he also understands the threshold for what is acceptable in the restoration world.
For example, he now works with a company that through a special ink process provides him with the means to make sure gauge markings are perfect to the original and look brand new to the correct color and letter font.
He said some people try to use Chinese-made parts for their gauge cluster restoration efforts that fail over time. Cutler’s passion is to restore the original part.
He estimates he has restored hundreds of gauge clusters for people and done 15 or so full car restorations.
In addition to his 1968 Dodge Charger, Cutler has a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona with a wing and nose that is just one of two Daytonas in Wyoming.
“This is an extremely rare car,” he said. “This car was put on display at Talladega (NASCAR raceway) … when Talladega first opened their doors.”
He also has restored a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner with a six-pack engine and pistol grip four-speed shifter.
Cutler said he designed his home and garage with a custom space to display his cars.
Next Generation
While an occupational therapist in area schools, Cutler said he has tried to interest students in car restoration with limited success.
“I’ve had some special needs kids down here doing sand blasting, taking things apart and helping out, and it’s just a great environment for them,” he said. “Any young kid that comes in, I just try and encourage it.
“It’s about trying to pass on this information and passion of these older cars to the younger crowd to keep that motivation alive and people interested in keeping these old cars running.”
At car shows, Cutler said he lets youngsters sit in his cars, honk the horn and play with the shifter trying to “ignite a little bit of fire in there.”
Huff said Cutler’s work encouraging youngsters has helped students in the school district over the years.
“I actually have a kid who went through his class as a special needs kid, and he works for me to this day,” he said. "He’s a welder and grown up and got kids of his own. Steve is a good dude.”
As he enters retirement with a garage full of original Mopar car parts and people calling on the phone looking for help, Cutler said he wants to be able to keep his love of Mopar cars a hobby and not a job.
As he looks at trays of parts that he's collected, Cutler knows that when he and Huff leave this world, the parts will probably get sent to the junkyard.
He’s content now to encourage others on their resurrected Mopar missions.
The same that began for him when he was 14.
“I’ve just realized that perseverance and attentiveness, focus and passion — especially passion — keeps me going,” Cutler said. “There are just a bunch of junk parts that people send me, and I turn them into gold.
"They put them in their car, and it creates an atmosphere for Mopar people camaraderie.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
