Yukon business makes classic Mustangs
YUKON — There’s a chance you’ve heard a Yukon native strum a guitar and croon about when the thunder rolls and the lightning strikes.
But there’s another Yukon native making a name for himself building Shelby Mustangs with enough horsepower to recreate the sound of rolling thunder and enough speed to elicit images of a lightning strike.
Jason Engel co-owns Classic Recreations, an automobile shop in Yukon specializing in the production of 1965 to 1968 Shelby Mustangs, named for the famed auto racer and designer, Carroll Shelby.
“His legacy continues through our cars,” Jason Engel said. “Each car we build is in the Shelby world registry as an authenticated Shelby vehicle. These are not a clone or a knockoff, these are the real thing.”
These Mustangs are beasts. Using original Shelby Mustangs, Jason Engel and his team of 19 mechanics rebuild the cars from the shell — installing new technology along the way —
creating a product true to the original design. Steps include metal fabrication, replacing rusted panels, body shop work to repair damage, sanding and repainting the vehicle and a final, handmade assembly process.
“These are all built by hand,” Jason Engel said. “Nothing in here you see was done by robot. It was all done by hand, by a craftsman, right here in this room.”
His final steps are to test drive each individual vehicle to ensure everything looks and sounds correct. It’s no country music video when he drives down the Oklahoma back roads near the shop.
There is no pickup or background guitar, just the roar of 450 horsepower caged in a muscle car every time Jason Engel shifts gears. Drawing on 14 years of experience with the company, he listens and observes in order to determine if any additional adjustments are needed before turning over to the client.
Father-son business
Jason Engel co-owns the business with his father, Tony Engel. The pair work well together, Jason Engel said, with his more business-minded father working on some of the organization side of business operations, allowing for Jason to handle overseeing the 19-member crew and the quality of the cars.
The Mustangs made at
Classic Recreations sell from $149,000 to more than $249,000, depending on the order.
Each vehicle is custom-made and requires 2,500 to 3,000 man hours to complete, and the company is able to produce 26 to 30 completed Mustangs a year. Classic Recreations clients have purchased vehicles worldwide.
The business also recently opened a restoration shop housed in a new building on its property at 330 Birch Ave. in Yukon. This shop provides work for all types of vehicles.
“It’s another nice revenue stream we need here to offset some of the cost of overhead,” Tony Engel said.
Tony Engel is a retired used car dealer. During his career, his son would help out at the lot, which gave Jason Engel his love for automobiles.
“I grew a big place in my heart for muscle cars,” Jason Engel said. “I’ve always had a huge passion for Mustangs. When I was 17 years old, right here in Yukon, I purchased my first Mustang.”
He wasn’t able to afford a classic vehicle, so his dream became to build one of his own, combining the vintage design with the modern technology used in engines and brake systems and more.
When Jason Engel was 21 years old, he spent an entire year working with two other mechanics at his dad’s car lot to rebuild a Mustang. He took it to a car auction when it was completed, and that was effectively the start of Classic Recreations.
The production has grown over the years, with the company currently making use of 35,000 square feet of car-building space.
Each Mustang built at Classic Recreations is inscribed with the initials “CR” along with the model number on the vehicle. This is because each car is part of the Shelby Registry, and it shows where it is created. Knowing those initials are all over the world, and those cars are a product of Yukon is a point of pride for Jason Engel. He loves working in his hometown, and he loves building Mustangs.
“The 1967 to 1968 (Shelby model) is probably the most popular Mustang fastback in the world,” Jason Engel said. “The 1965 Shelby GT350 was the first Shelby Mustang ever made, so it’s a special place in my heart to build that car.”