By 
HOW SMALL SHOPS BECOME BIG SHOPS
Photography by Josh Mishler
For every hot rod shop that has a show on TV, there are countless smaller shops that will never get mainstream TV exposure or clothing lines sold at Wal-Mart. But all across the country, it’s these smaller shops that turn out the majority of the street and super rods that you and I enjoy, and that we see at shows. And even though these little guys may not have big reputations yet, they churn out consistent and excellent work—and, that is precisely how some of these smaller shops will eventually become bigger shops with even more prestige.
Our business affords us the opportunity to meet with many of these builders and tour their shops, and one recent example of such a trip was our visit to Vintage Fabrication, in Independence, Missouri. Bill Schumacher has owned and operated the shop for 14 years, and his crew of four has been making more noise of late thanks to some very high-quality street rods…and more. You’ve probably already seen their work, either in our magazines or at various shows. Though this shop has hardly been a secret in the past, their work is grabbing more headlines and more attention than ever.
Vintage spends most of its time on models from the ’30s-’50s, but they also perform work on street machines and muscle cars. They perform a lot of metalwork, chop tops and so on, in part because Schumacher’s previous background was in bodywork. They also tell us that lately they’ve been performing more mod-motor Ford swaps, especially carbureted 5.4-liter engines. Other recent projects have included a ’57 Ford panel delivery, ’65 Falcon Ranchero and a supercharged 5.0-liter ’56 Thunderbird.
Vintage Fabrication has built cars for NFL players Neil Smith and Derrick Thomas, and they’re currently working on a car to compete for a future Ridler trophy. Clearly, these guys aren’t afraid of any of those bigger shops that bask in the spotlight, and they relish putting their handiwork up against that of the best builders in the country. During our visit, there was no shortage of projects in the shop. We saw many different rods under construction, and while not all are being built to Ridler standards, all are definitely winners. If you’ve been shopping around for a qualified shop to build your next project, check out Vintage Fabrication as an alternative solution for your next build. Based on what we’ve seen, these guys may well soon be one of those big-name shops, and they, like many others, will have earned it through their hard work, creativity and scads of talent.
