Leo Zugner
Well-Known Member
- Leo Zugner Well-Known Member
Hello Everyone,
My love of cars started with watching my dad build his two Street Rods. I was an infant when he built his 1924 Dodge T-Bucket, and I was about 12 when he built his 1934 Ford 5-window. Some of favorite memories were when my whole family would go to Streetrod Nationals in York, Pennsylvania. I remember thinking how cool it would be to have a super lightweight roadster with a little 4 cylinder. I was always far more interested in quick and nimble than power and speed. Fast forward to 2006 and I enroll in college for the second time at The Art Institue in Orange County with the hope of becoming a car designer. I ended up getting a degree in Industrial Design to be a product designer but with the love of cars as strong as ever. Living in LA gave access to some of the best car culture in the world. As often as possible my best friend and I would go to all of the dealerships, Super Car Sunday, Cars and Coffee, etc. We constantly talked about our dream cars, our ideal set ups... I loved the Lotus', the BAC Monos, the Ariel Atoms. I was eventually able to get a job that might fall into the "dream job" category for a lot of car guys. I became a designer for the Hot Wheels Advanced Play team. I didn't design for the main Hot Wheels vehicles team but I did get to do a few planes, and boats and things. I also worked on play sets for the Hot Wheels line. Eventually my family and I ended up in Spain where I was a designer for a toy vehicle line at a small toy company. Covid put a quick end to that. We then found ourselves in Bozeman, Montana. Then I found the Goblin. And here we are...
I got my '05 Cobalt SS 2 years ago. It's got quite a few miles on it but I'm hoping it holds strong for a little while longer. I used that as a daily while I built my personal project and was able to take it off the road when my wife got her Mini. Now that my personal project is finished and sold, I paid the Goblin balance and wait patiently for it to arrive.
Plans for the Goblin:
My folks will be coming out in the spring so that's when my dad and my daughter and I will start pulling apart the Cobalt. It's super cold and snowy in Montana right now so I'm biding my time.
When the frame arrives I plan on cutting the brake light brackets off to make room for the custom forged carbon lights I will eventually do.
I'll then take it to a local powder coat place and get a nice satin black for the frame. I'm thinking the smaller parts will get rattle caned so that they will be easier to repair when the eventual chips happen.
My goal for the theme of the car is sort of a late 60's Ferrari F1, resto-mod, sort of deal. I've already for my vintage bronze wheels.
I'm really excited to make custom bits here and there. I plan on making a forged carbon shift knob to go on the DF shifter kit I ordered. I also want to make a carbon dash and carbon front brake scoops. Maybe scoops for the rear depending on how they line up with the intake.
Beyond that, I'm just excited to get this project started! I know there will be hickups along the way, but with the help of my dad and the good folks on this forum, hopefully too many headaches can be avoided. Wish me luck.
Leo
My love of cars started with watching my dad build his two Street Rods. I was an infant when he built his 1924 Dodge T-Bucket, and I was about 12 when he built his 1934 Ford 5-window. Some of favorite memories were when my whole family would go to Streetrod Nationals in York, Pennsylvania. I remember thinking how cool it would be to have a super lightweight roadster with a little 4 cylinder. I was always far more interested in quick and nimble than power and speed. Fast forward to 2006 and I enroll in college for the second time at The Art Institue in Orange County with the hope of becoming a car designer. I ended up getting a degree in Industrial Design to be a product designer but with the love of cars as strong as ever. Living in LA gave access to some of the best car culture in the world. As often as possible my best friend and I would go to all of the dealerships, Super Car Sunday, Cars and Coffee, etc. We constantly talked about our dream cars, our ideal set ups... I loved the Lotus', the BAC Monos, the Ariel Atoms. I was eventually able to get a job that might fall into the "dream job" category for a lot of car guys. I became a designer for the Hot Wheels Advanced Play team. I didn't design for the main Hot Wheels vehicles team but I did get to do a few planes, and boats and things. I also worked on play sets for the Hot Wheels line. Eventually my family and I ended up in Spain where I was a designer for a toy vehicle line at a small toy company. Covid put a quick end to that. We then found ourselves in Bozeman, Montana. Then I found the Goblin. And here we are...
I got my '05 Cobalt SS 2 years ago. It's got quite a few miles on it but I'm hoping it holds strong for a little while longer. I used that as a daily while I built my personal project and was able to take it off the road when my wife got her Mini. Now that my personal project is finished and sold, I paid the Goblin balance and wait patiently for it to arrive.
Plans for the Goblin:
My folks will be coming out in the spring so that's when my dad and my daughter and I will start pulling apart the Cobalt. It's super cold and snowy in Montana right now so I'm biding my time.
When the frame arrives I plan on cutting the brake light brackets off to make room for the custom forged carbon lights I will eventually do.
I'll then take it to a local powder coat place and get a nice satin black for the frame. I'm thinking the smaller parts will get rattle caned so that they will be easier to repair when the eventual chips happen.
My goal for the theme of the car is sort of a late 60's Ferrari F1, resto-mod, sort of deal. I've already for my vintage bronze wheels.
I'm really excited to make custom bits here and there. I plan on making a forged carbon shift knob to go on the DF shifter kit I ordered. I also want to make a carbon dash and carbon front brake scoops. Maybe scoops for the rear depending on how they line up with the intake.
Beyond that, I'm just excited to get this project started! I know there will be hickups along the way, but with the help of my dad and the good folks on this forum, hopefully too many headaches can be avoided. Wish me luck.
Leo
