A rod-ical venture

Kris O’Donnell

Rodtech Hot Rod Products, a Costa Mesa firm that specializes in the

customization of automobiles and auto parts, opened its doors for

business at its present location six years ago, but its roots stretch

back to 1987, when Brown was building his 1934 Ford and couldn’t find

a gauge panel he liked.

His solution was to build his own.

“When I was 16, and my friends were washing dishes at restaurants,

I was changing oil, doing minor work on my neighbors cars and

building my own cars,” Brown said. “My dad and I built three sand

rails while I was still in high school.”

That work expanded into a business.

“Bill began building handcrafted custom dashboards and gauge

panels for fellow hot rodders. As demand grew, so did his business,”

said his father, Stan Brown. “Today, Bill has expanded his business

to include the design, fabrication and repair of complete street

rods.”

Bill Brown was a member of the Danny Ongais’ successful 1984 Indy

racing team as a mechanic.

A 1949 Chevy half-ton pickup that Stan Brown said took him and

Bill more than three years, off and on, to build is estimated to be

worth more than $50,000.

“What the truck is worth and what we could realistically sell it

for are two different things -- we could never get out of it what we

put into it. The paint and bodywork alone cost more than $12,000,”

Bill Brown said. “The only major problem with cars like this is that

specialty insurance is required, as the cars cannot be replaced.”

Pictures of the firm’s custom rods adorn the walls of their shop.

“All the cars I design require prototype design skills -- as each

is literally one of a kind and can take up to a year of full-time

work to create,” Brown said.