Brand Architects: Rob Howard of Kindred Motorworks

Ever dreamed of cruising down the coast in a classic VW bus? Or tackling rugged terrain in a vintage Bronco? Rob Howard, founder of Kindred Motorworks, is making these dreams a reality - with a modern twist. Join us for our chat.

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From Supply Chain to Vintage Cars

Rob's journey to Kindred is a story of passion meeting opportunity. He started as an environmental engineer, then dove into the world of supply chain tech. His companies, Encenda and Grand Junction, caught the eye of retail giant Target.

But cars were always Rob's first love. He learned to wrench on them with his dad, fixing whatever broke in their driveway. This hands-on experience would prove invaluable.

"I'm just really lucky to have stumbled into a career that all added up to the spot where I could start Kindred, frankly," Rob reflects.

The Birth of Kindred

After selling to Target, Rob had a lightbulb moment. He'd been restoring cars in his garage for years, but it was always a complex process. Different vendors, endless parts ordering, and expensive mistakes.

Rob thought, "What if we could apply technology to this? Figure out the perfect way to do it, then repeat it every time?" That's how Kindred was born.

"I realized, like, if you apply technology to this and did it the exact same way, figure out the perfect way to do it, and then do it the same way every time, you end up with a much higher quality car, fully modernized," Rob explains.

Not Just Another Restoration Shop

Kindred isn't your average restoration garage. They're building a new kind of car company that modernizes vintage cars. How? By combining cutting-edge tech with old-school craftsmanship.

Their secret weapon? A system called Blueprint. Rob describes it: "We built what we call Blueprint, and it documents the workflow in each model to tear down a car and restore it. So for our Bronco, it's 5,000 steps to tear down the Bronco and build it back up the exact same time. Yeah, it's 1,070 parts."

This ensures consistent, high-quality results every time. "We have images of how to do it. So we took all the knowledge out of the head and put it into the system so we can do it over and over again. And that makes it so high quality that it feels like a new car," Rob adds.

Electric Dreams

Kindred doesn't just restore these classics - they reinvent them for the electric age. Take their VW bus. The original had a measly 46 horsepower. Kindred's version? A whopping 290 horsepower, plus modern amenities like disc brakes and Bluetooth.

It's not just about performance, though. Rob sees electric powertrains as a natural fit for these beloved vehicles. "These cars would have been ideal electric from the first day. There just wasn't a battery system available to make it electric," he points out.

Rob emphasizes the practical benefits: "They perform better. They have better torque. They are more reliable. They are lower maintenance, and they're equivalent on cost. So it's kind of a no-brainer."

More Than Just Cars

For Rob and the Kindred team, these aren't just vehicles - they're memory machines. Each car has its own story, and every buyer brings their own dreams and nostalgia.

"Cars are memory triggers for stories. They just are." Rob muses. "You see an old image of your old station wagon or the old bus or whatever it is. And when we talk to customers, they're constantly talking about, 'my dad had one of those' or 'I had one of those'."

One soon-to-be Bronco owner shared his excitement about finally being able to drive his dream car in the snow. Rob recounts, "The car we're about to deliver, the owner is telling me that he has a Bronco, but he's afraid to drive it in the snow, an old Bronco. So he can't enjoy it. And when he test drives ours, he knows that this is a machine that you can operate."

Looking Ahead

Kindred is just getting started. They're launching new models regularly, with each one opening up a new world of possibilities. And they're doing it all from a historic Navy base in the San Francisco Bay - a fitting home for a company breathing new life into automotive legends.

"It's a beautiful building here on Mare Island. It's a Navy base in San Francisco Bay," Rob describes. "Yeah, 40-foot ceilings. It's built for the war effort in 1941. It's a very inspiring and historic building on an island that's been abandoned for 30 years. But they're restoring the island and we restored the building and now we're restoring cars in the building. So it's a really good fit for the brand and the revitalization story of what we do."

So next time you see a pristine classic cruising by, take a closer look. It might just be a Kindred creation - a perfect blend of nostalgia and cutting-edge tech, ready for the open road. As Rob puts it, "We're just happy to be involved in bringing it back to an environment where you can do it again, and create these new stories."

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