RESTORING the Past

Devlin Rod And Customs

KIM GRONNIGER AARON PATTON

Tim Devlin’s fascination with cars began in childhood with Hot Wheels and intensified with go-karts and pop-culture exposure to Evel Knievel, The Dukes of Hazard and Smokey and the Bandit.

“My brother and I grew up in the country so instead of riding bikes up and down the street we rode threewheelers, four-wheelers and tractors,” Devlin said. “My bedroom walls had pictures of cars. My dad and uncle loved cars too, so there was always a car being talked about or being restored somewhere – not by them, but by someone who knew how to do the work for them.”

As an eighth grader in Augusta, Devlin said his first car was a 1986 Camaro that cost $6,400.

“I was spoiled,” he said, laughing. “I remember how excited I was as a teenager to get my license and experience that freedom to physically go see friends and get away from my parents.”

Devlin’s maternal grandfather was a mechanic, artist and car enthusiast too. Pervasive family influence reinforced by Hollywood car culture led Devlin to think about opening an automotive business someday, but he never expected the entrepreneurship opportunity to arise just a few years after earning a business degree from Kansas State University.

Following graduation, Devlin had moved to Colorado and taken a job as a financial analyst with a company that bought and managed mobile home parks.

“I was traveling every other week and learned after three or four years that this wasn’t going to be my thing,” he said.

Opportunity To Buy

While attending a technical school in Laramie, Wyoming, he returned to Kansas to complete an internship with Arcane Restorations.

“The owner, Rex Knepp, grilled me for three hours on a Saturday and said he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to hire me or sell his business to me,” Devlin said. “I was still in school and didn’t know whether I wanted to move back or was even ready to own a business.”

Devlin reviewed Knepp’s offer and returned to Wyoming to finish his program and get his instructor’s estimation of his readiness.

“My instructor was enthusiastic, but I got a lot of ‘no, bad idea’ comments from others,” he said. “My brother had just had his first child though and I decided that moving back to Kansas and spending more time with family would be a good idea, so I went for it.”