Jan 06, 2026
Truly scratch built cars are a rarity nowadays, regardless of what some high end builders want you to believe. Bespoke might be the trendy word, but there are differences in levels of design, fabrication, and build quality. And if you have a completely custom 1969 Camaro built, most shops, even the most high end, are going to start with a 1969 Camaro or with a reproduction body. That doesn’t mean they won’t massage each and every part, or that some parts might not be reproduced from scratch, but usually it is not the entire car. And before you start jumping up and down, throwing out your favorite car builder’s name to say that they are actually doing everything from scratch, I’m not talking about the exceptions, I’m talking about the majority.
So when you do see a builder starting from scratch it is pretty impressive. When you see cars being built from scratch, with no machine shop, no CNC machines, and no massive press, it is something to behold. When you find out that the guys building these cars have never actually seen a real one in person, it makes the whole thing even more interesting.
To be clear, there are lots of things happening in this video that I see happening in shops all over the country, and the world, but there is something different about the entirety of this project. Are these the most high end cars ever built? Nope. Are these ultra high dollar builds? Expensive, yes, but we know many builders who charge way more.
The fact that these craftsman are using mostly low tech tools, and are learning on the job, is impressive. And the cars are cool and so are the people. So check it out and let us know what you think.
Video Description:
The term handmade gets thrown around a lot these days. In a world of near total automation, it’s nice to slow things down and appreciate the craftsmanship that once went into high end car manufacturing. Nestled on the side streets of Bali, Indonesia, is a custom car builder called Tuksedo Studio, where they create a variety of cars, notably the Mercedes 300SL, Toyota 2000GT, Porsche 356 Speedster, and Aston Martin DB4. See how these masterpieces are crafted as Larry Chen gives you a behind the scenes look.
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