Profile

Mike Keller bought his first car at the age of 12. A '66 Mustang coupe for $800.00 earned in the shop at $2.00 per hour helping his Dad. His family had a large farm and custom harvesting operation and they were very meticulous about the maintenance and repair of the equipment. He was brought up in this environment where attention to details were the difference between a successful venture and failure. He got permission from his Dad to use a stall in the old garage to fix up the car a little. A few days later his Dad walked in to the garage and was shocked to find the old Mustang completely torn apart. He said "Who in the heck is going to put this back together?" Well, Mike put in a new interior, painted the engine compartment, rebuilt the suspension and brakes, and with the help of his Dad and his Uncle Dale rebuilt the old 289, and had it ready for his 14th birthday.

Through the love of old cars Mike met his future wife Vanessa. Her family was also into old cars and she was driving a '68 Mustang coupe. Some things are just meant to be. So they started dating and the dates always centered around cruising in or working on one of the two Mustangs. They later married in 1992.

Mike continued to work on old cars through out high school and in college. While at college he made extra money by helping to restore cars that included a Twister Special Mustang, a '68 Shelby GT 500, a '66 Mustang convertible, a '65 Mustang fastback, and others. He also continued to work on restoring his own cars, a '71 Torino Cobra 429cj and a '68 Torino GT convertible. Mike went to work for his Dad on the farm after college, but always continued to restore cars in the evenings and every weekend for customers. In 2002 Mike decided to rent shop space and follow his passion of restoring old cars and building hot rods. In 2009 Mike and Vanessa purchased a 10,000 sq ft facility to expand their restoration and street rod business.