[SHOP TOUR] Bones Fab – Hot Rods and Muscle Cars

Photos by Andrew Chen

Southern California is home to some of the coolest hot rods and muscle cars mostly due to the year-round sunny weather, but also because there are talented fabricators like Jim Bassett and his team at Bones Fab.

I first learned about Bones Fab during this year’s Grand National Roadster Show when I came across Dave Crocker’s 1956 F-100 aka “The Crocker Curse”. They did an amazing job with the truck, adding an Air Ride suspension with Bilstein shocks, a 392 Ford Windsor engine and a ton of other upgrades. The paint was also done in-house; a custom root beer and copper mix.

Since my first exposure to Bones Fab was through a truck, it was only fitting that I took our Chevrolet Silverado press truck up to Camarillo, California to visit the crew and see where all the muscle car magic happens.

This full-service shop is housed in a 12,000 sq ft complex, and they can do everything from custom painting to chassis fabrication to dyno tuning. The only thing that’s not performed in-house is interior upholstery.

Jim and his team are currently working on a 1970 Barracuda that belongs to the owner of McLeod Racing. The car features an Art Morrison chassis and will soon have a 500 ci Vortech blown, all-aluminum Hemi backed by a Tremec TKO 5-speed with a McLeod dual disc clutch. The ‘Cuda is scheduled to debut at SEMA 2014.

On any given day, the parking lot in front of the shop feels like a car show, with various customer cars coming in for tune-ups or refreshers.

Keep up to date with Bones Fab’s projects on their website or Facebook page or just drop by to see the rotating car show.