Ivy Hartman: Welcome to SBTV.com's coverage of the 2008 SEMA Show here in Las Vegas. I am very honored to have with me Jason Engel of Classic Recreations. Jason, welcome to Small Business Television.
Jason Engel: Thank you.
Ivy Hartman: Absolute. Well, let's get started with what is Classic Recreations?
Jason Engel: We are a small business located in Yukon, Oklahoma. We build super cars, muscle cars, collector cars, we restore them as well. So in the middle of the bill, we do that process just as well as the completed car.
Ivy Hartman: That's fabulous, because I have old '68 and '65 models of the Cougar and Mustang, and I like it when they want to hot rod it up, but I am kind of like, are you more of a traditional kind of when you restore them, or what do you do?
Jason Engel: No, I do more of a restore model. I came to where you can drive the car. I'll take a car like that like I mentioned, fuel injection, coil-over suspension, make it look old, but drive like a new car.
Ivy Hartman: Even better. Well, you're pretty well-known in the film industry, let's talk about that, you had the Shelby Mustang or Eleanor Mustang Shell in the Gone in 60 Seconds.
Jason Engel: We're actually licensed by Gone in 60 Seconds that produced the film Gone in 60 Seconds, the first one and the remake. We're licensed to build both cars. Ms. Halicki was kind enough to give us the licensing to build these cars. What she has made our company, we feel really above what we used to. We've really grown quite a bit.
Ivy Hartman: Let's talk about that. The company has the Classic Recreations is a family-owned company?
Jason Engel: Yes. It's my wife and I, and my father and I were in business together for approximately 15 years.
Ivy Hartman: Wow!
Jason Engel: And my wife and I recently have purchased it together, and we're 50-50 owners together, we work together everyday.
Ivy Hartman: Any challenges with that? Now that you've carried you mentioned on TV, right?
Jason Engel: No, no, yeah.
Ivy Hartman: Okay, well, you really make a high dollar product.
Jason Engel: Yes madam.
Ivy Hartman: And were it a real economic crunch in America, so what are you doing as a business owner to overcome some of that?
Jason Engel: Well, when we build the product, we build our cars to the highest standards we can possibly think of. I am very, I mean every vehicle we build on the order, I still come out and drive the car, check it over before it's done. I have 18 employees, but I still with every car, I assure myself that, that's what I want on the street with our name on it.
It's a viable product, something they can put in their hands, and we consider them investments. I think in my opinion, these cars are investments that we build, and that people buy them because they can put their hands on them, they can feel them and drive them.
Ivy Hartman: What about going overseas?
Jason Engel: We have a tremendous amount of overseas business ranging from Kuwait, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, we've really been everywhere around the world, and we believe that the worldwide business that we're doing is offsetting some of the business in the United States that has decreased.
Ivy Hartman: Now, you're actually shipping or transporting full-blown automobiles which are very valuable and priceless, so are you mounted with any challenges as far as that goes, the transportation cost or taxes, just like that?
Jason Engel: Yes, cost have reason due to the cost of fuel, but we're still absorbing the cost. We ship any buyer internationally that purchases from us as free shipping, so we pay for the container loading, they'll show up at our shop, we check block, the car, tie it down in the container and it goes off to the port and shipped off around the world. It's really exciting.
Ivy Hartman: It makes me cry just thinking about having to say goodbye to one of those cars though I bet it's real emotion.
Jason Engel: Oh, yes. It's unbelievable. It is.
Ivy Hartman: Okay. Here at the SEMA Show, what are you doing here and what do you want to accomplish at SEMA?
Jason Engel: It has been an absolutely the most exciting event for me I have ever been to. I've met so many wonderful people. I've met a lot of vendors that are going to make my process even easier, and that was my accomplishment. We've had a tremendous amount of press on our vehicles, a lot of questions about our cars and it's Eleanor is a famous, famous, famous movie star car. So everybody knows it. It's been great.
Ivy Hartman: Yeah, it is. Now do you have a lot of calls then, you are able to remake this model for clients. So I mean talk about the most sought-after cars or if you have to recreate them, which one is the biggest one you're doing?
Jason Engel: Eleanor?
Ivy Hartman: Yeah.
Jason Engel: I mean you mentioned that we are going in 60 seconds, and mentioned Eleanor and it pretty much, it's one of these big - who knows exactly what it is. Their orders have come in on that car and like I said the international orders are just outrageous.
Ivy Hartman: Why is that?
Jason Engel: I think it's something it's an American muscle, it's an American movie and they really love indeed the fact of American muscle car, especially a movie car coming out of the country, so it's a status.
Ivy Hartman: Really it is. If we want more information about Classic Recreations, how can our viewers get that information?
Jason Engel: Our website is www.eleanormustang.com.
Ivy Hartman: Man! Jason, it's been fun to sit down with you.
Jason Engel: Thank you, thank you.
Ivy Hartman: Well, earlier Jason and I were talking about kind of the celebrities we got to kind of rub elbows with here at the SEMA Show 2008. I was saying that I got to meet Mike Ciochetti, but you really topped it, you've really got and spent some quality time with people.
Jason Engel: George Parris, Carroll Shelby, I mean it's been wonderful. It's unbelievable. It's absolute dream for me.
Ivy Hartman: Absolutely, you've mentioned as an entrepreneur you kind of grown up with some of those names.
Jason Engel: Yes, yes, we have. It's unbelievable. When you are talking about the car industry you see some of these icons and you are just -- you don't know what to say and it's really great, and especially when they give you a compliment. It's great.
Ivy Hartman: They know your work, so your reputation precedes you.
Jason Engel: It was unbelievable.
Ivy Hartman: Keep up the good work, and we want you to keep it locked in right here as we continue to bring you all things automotive right here from the SEMA Show 2008 in Las Vegas.
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