Kat Monteiro

The View From My Offi ce

With Kat Monteiro

Happy October y’all. Hope this fi nds all of you healthy and safe.

It is fi nally star ng to feel like Fall here in Southern California and I welcome it. It has been a long hot summer. Weather has really been an issue for so many these last few months. Between the powerful hurricanes and all the fi res raging here in the western states. More extreme than ever it seems. Some people chalk it all up to this crazy year of 2020. Everything is out of the norm. And let us not forget all this elec on madness!

I heard that the Mopar Masters Guild has decided to forgo NADA in New Orleans - even if they s ll put on the show. (Which we all now know that NADA has gone virtual!) Even though I am disappointed, being New Orleans is my favorite place to visit, and I will miss being able to see everyone, I also believe it was the right decision.

We need to keep us all safe and healthy. You are all essen al workers, and your dealers count on you to keep everything up and running. And it’s not worth it to put your own health in jeopardy. I think the days of large crowds and par es will be put on hold for a while yet. It’s all a wait and see game now. In the mean me, we just need to keep washing our hands frequently, sani ze, social distance and wear those masks! And hope that 2021 brings us be er days. I can’t talk about this and not think about the many people who are not as fortunate as us and have no job to go to. My heart goes out to them and I hope that it all gets be er for them sooner rather than later. The same goes to all the many small businesses that have been closed, some to never open again. I feel like that poster of the cat hanging from the tree branch with the tle “Hang In There Baby”

Today I want to tell you a bit about one of our customers. His name is Shaun Dove and his company is EVOD Industries. Shaun is a customer of ours through his ownership of the Viper. His shop is really cool! If you ever are in need of some beau ful, custom, one-of-a-kind wheels for your car or truck this is the guy you want to talk to.

EVOD was created 14 years ago with the sole purpose of building unique one-of-a-kind wheels and parts for custom cars. Before that, their real job was manufacturing and distribu ng medical supplies, but they found themselves spending all their extra money and me on cars! They fi nally decided working with the cars is what they really wanted to do full me so they decided to make it into a business.

Shaun was raised around cars; his dad was a collector and a hobbyist. As soon as Shaun was making money, he was off to pursue the cars that he always wanted. Cars have been a passion ever since. He leans towards the classic muscle cars and street rods, though he has had a couple exo cs.

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Then there is his Viper collec on! He has had 5 Vipers and currently has a 1998 GTSR GT2 and a Gen V GTS. He admires the Viper as being the closest that a new car gets to the raw feel of a classic muscle car with minimal computers and a manual transmission!

Shaun not only created EVOD Industries but also runs their hot rod shop called EVOD Garage. Through EVOD Garage they mostly build cars for themselves, but they also do some work for friends and customers of EVOD Industries. They do everything from custom engine builds to complete car builds, minus heavy fab, paint and body work. They currently have 9 cars in their private collec on and are always adding as well as selling so it changes all the me.

So now let’s go back a couple years, I just got back recently from the SEMA show where they unveiled the new Hellephant engine. Shaun had purchased some parts from us, so when our Powertrain rep, Sherree Dye was in town I took her over to Shaun’s shop so we could thank him and to see if he had any need for some powertrain. We all got talking and the SEMA show came up and of course the topic turned toward the Hellephant! Now Chrysler has announced that they are only making 100 of these and I told Shaun that I could get him one. It was all pre y exci ng. So Shaun connected with our parts advisor Steven Ausencio and the sale was made. The wait was long, but in July we made the delivery! I don’t have any pictures of the build, but I hope to update you all a er it is done in a later ar cle. But I am told it is going into a 69 Roadrunner with a Roadster Shop chassis and a 6-speed transmission!

I really was excited about this Hellephant project and about Shaun’s shop and I wanted to share it with all of you. How great it is to be doing what you love and crea ng beau ful art while building cars.

I want to give a shout out to our dealer owner Jack Powell. If you all read my ar cle last issue Don published a li le paragraph of a note Jack had sent to Rick and I. I was so touched by his kind words. He is always so kind and suppor ve. It really means a lot to me to know that he reads my ar cles, and he always has from the very beginning. He would come up to me at work and let me know he enjoyed reading my ar cle that month. He was there from the very beginning, liking my posts on Facebook when I would post a picture of wherever I was having lunch in my parts truck when I was a driver and I would tle it The View From My Offi ce. That is how this all started. So thank you Jack for all your support over the years! It really means a lot.

Till next me, stay safe and stay healthy.