What Is a Restomod? (And Why You'd Want One)

Why are restomods so popular? Wait, let's back that up. What even is a restomod? This isn't a stock engine and this definitely isn't a stock engine and in essence that's kind of what a restomod is and today we're going to try and define that for you. We're Fat Fender Garage. We've been doing restomods for over a decade and today we're at the Triple Crown of Rotting and we are surrounded by restomods. What better opportunity to kind of share some of what we know about how this platform works and try and answer that question for you. Let's get to it. So I say we start from the beginning. First, what is a restomod? The term restomod is actually a fusion of two words. It's restoration and modernization. You're basically fusing that together. You're both restoring your classic vehicle but you're also taking all of the things that are outdated technology and you're upgrading them accordingly. So it's that fine blend of you want to get your classic truck back on the road but you also want to do it in a way that you're taking advantage of all of the upgrades and technology that have happened over the last 60, 70, sometimes years. And these are a couple of pretty good examples. So this is a 77 K5 Blazer. I'm sitting here. I think they call biscuits. Pretty cool. This would be a great definition of a restomod. Upgraded engine, transmission, upgraded brakes, upgraded suspension, upgraded axle. The list can go on and on and on and on and on. And so the idea of a restomod or how it started was, man, I'm a real big fan of this classic. Might have memories with it. Might have been something that you learned how to drive in it. A lot of it has to do with nostalgia but nostalgia only goes so far. Safety, creature comforts. It's a two-part equation and that's kind of how a restomod became a thing. So you ask, what is a restomod? A restomod is restoring your classic vehicle but using modern components. Modern engine, modern transmission, modern everything. Which is different than a classical restoration where you're taking every nut and bolt on the vehicle and just restoring it brand new. In this case of a restomod, you're not keeping much. Honestly, in our case and in a case of most of the vehicles here, basically only the sheet metal is really going to stay original. So in a case like this, like in a square body blazer, engine's been upgraded. That's a Chevy LS. Transmission's been upgraded. Chassis has been upgraded. For a lot of guys, that's where restomod stops. So you ask, why is a restomod popular? It comes from a place of wanting to drive the vehicle safely, consistently, and wanting all the creature comforts out of it that you want out of your modern vehicle. Now, restomods have been a thing for a long time. People in the 90s were doing the C4 Corvette suspension upgrades. Like 80s, 90s Corvette suspension. They were putting kits on like that. And then by the time it hit the 90s, it was really becoming a thing that people were starting to put older LS motors, you know, your 4.6, your Crown Vic stuff onto things. And in the last decade, it has blown up. And you have all sorts of companies in this industry, like us, that are selling frames, drivetrains. They're selling interiors. And in our case, we're selling door handles and mirrors, everything in the book. And that's the question is, why would somebody want all of that? There's really only one way to answer it, which is, what are the things in your truck that you don't enjoy necessarily right now? So that's kind of what stemmed that question. So like this, this might be a little bit better of an example. This one's a 70 Chevy. It's a C20. It's a sick build, by the way. It's a Zicardi built. I'm so sorry if I butchered the name. Rob Green, you have a hell of a truck. This is going to be your LT4 motor. So it's a supercharged LS motor. And this guy's tricked out custom valve covers. He's done new inner fenders. It's slammed on airbags. Looks like he's got some sort of real nice billet serpentine kit on the front of it. A lot of that stuff is show cleanliness. You can tell he tucked his wiring, he hid stuff, made it look real pretty. That's a very intense level to go to of rest him on. And usually that's because you're trying to win awards at events and shows like this. So for example, 10 years ago, you'd have seen a lot of big block Chevys, small block, you name it, 351 Windsors, whatever the case. And now I swear I've seen like, I've seen like 50 LT4s or LT5s today. It's crazy. It's like, it's almost like the norm now, which is a fun thing to say. And that's what people are asking. That's the whole question right now. Why? Why is somebody going to all this effort and to make this thing? When you drive one, it makes complete sense, but I'll do the best I can to try and summarize it for you on camera. So in a case like this, AC. Trucks didn't come with factory AC. That was not a thing back in the 60s. Some of your really high trim packages back in the late 60s, probably you could have snuck AC in there, but otherwise it was really the 70s that AC was modernized to like offer it. If you live somewhere where it gets hot, it's probably not fun to drive your truck. That's an assumption, but I think that's a fair assumption. Radio. By the time you hit like the 60s, late 60s, early 70s, kind of started to incorporate some of those components, but they are far from where they are in today's standards. So unless you have your cassette collection handy, and unless you're cool with that scratchiness and blown door speakers, you want to account for audio. And the list goes on and on and on and on. You want to talk about steering column. You ever use the three on the tree? You're not going to want to use that. Let's say you want to teach your teenage daughter how to drive. And that's a memory that you want to share with her. You do not want to put her in a vehicle that is so far outdated that you're their safety concerns. So when it comes to like creature comforts, like interior and upholstery in general, you know, a lot of the seats were spring seats, spring seats, box seats. You're bouncing everywhere. If you've ever driven more than three hours in one sitting, it hurts badly. So going to foam, reupholstering, getting a new seat. So like, I would say typically it's handled on two different fronts. There's safety and there's like the bare bones. You got to have it make sure it's okay. And then there is now the, well, what else can I get out of the truck that I wasn't getting out of the truck? And there's a laundry list of examples for that kind of thing. Gauges, same thing. So you talk about the driving experience back in the day. So I have a 73 high boy and like you could fix that thing with some hand tools and some zip ties, but the statistical odds of it breaking down frequently were pretty high. So when it comes to paint and body, I think that's a big misconception about restomods is people. And it's because of shows like this. And when people really, really put a lot of time and attention, people will see these really bespoke vehicles and they kind of associate the word restomod to that vehicle. Painted, the body lines are perfect. And that's not necessarily true. And I think that you can separate those two. So for example, in our own shop and what we do in Pat Fender Garage, we have two different build series. You have your designer series, painted vehicles, sandblasted to bare metal, fully redone, brought all the way back to whatever level of glory that the customer's interested in. And then you have the revival series. And that's actually somewhat similar to what you look at behind us. You can take paint body out of the equation. That doesn't need to be the controlling factor. And there are options to handle that. So I guess that kind of does roundabout answer our question. What is a restomod and why are restomods so popular? Well, I'm going to leave that for you guys to answer, but hopefully we've educated you a little bit. And we've given you some insight as to why we think restomods are so popular. It is such a different industry that we are in now compared to where we were 10, 15 years ago. And I can't imagine where we will be in 10 years from this point. Anyways, if you have any questions, drop them in the comments below, drop a follow, make sure to subscribe to the channel, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, go to our website. We have lots of good stuff coming and we hope to see you there. Thanks.