Auto body shop makes hot rod and classic car building an art

Auto body shop makes hot rod and classic car building an art
Tallant's Hot Rod and Auto Body Shop build cars from scratch


“If you dream it, we can build it,” is the slogan on its Web site and on its business cards, and a look at some of its finished products backs it up.

“If you bring us a fender, we'll build the car you want around it,” said Dan Tallant, who followed his father, Dave, in the business he started in 1974.

“I had a motor bike I wanted to customize and paint for shows,” Dave Tallant said. “When I found out how much it was going to cost, I decided the only way to get it done was to do it myself. Even the paint job was more than I could afford, so I did that myself. I've been doing it ever since.”

In other words, he taught himself everything. And that's not just auto bodywork. It includes everything like aluminum and chassis fabrication, glasswork, electrical work, plasma cutting, pattern torch, fiberglass repair, urethane paint and primer and color matching.

Tallant and his son, Dan, take all that knowledge and build a car, be it classic or hot rod, and build it from the ground up according to what the customer wants.

“I was brought up around the business,” Dan said. “It's always been in my blood. There is nothing I'd rather do.”

The company helps sponsor the Cruise Night, a gathering of hot rods and classic cars in North Kansas City on the second Saturday of the month. The cars are a popular attraction, sometimes drawing as many as 400 from a 50-mile radius.

“The shows are scheduled to start at 5 p.m.,” Dan said. “But people start showing up much earlier to show their cars. Some Cruise Nights draw up to 700 participants.”

The Tallants also display their work on the street.

Dave drives a 1951 Chevrolet pickup to work; Dan drives a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air; and his wife, Susan, drives a 1967 Firebird. All three display the workmanship of the body shop.

The shop has also been written up in a number of trade journals. And those who pass by the shop can readily see the end product of the Tallants' work just looking in the parking lot.

“We keep about seven or eight cars here,” Dan said. “And we have another six or so in storage at another location.”

Kansas City Councilman Bill Skaggs had a car built by Tallant.

“Tallant built a 1947 Ford convertible for me more than 20 years ago,” Skaggs said. “He did the best work I've ever seen. They have taken this kind of work and made it an art.”

Requests for cars come from a variety of clientele.

“We have some who want to build a car like they drove in high school,” Dave Tallant said. “But they didn't have the money. Now they do.”

Dan said others have their cars built over a long period of time, or as they can afford it. Cars are built in a couple of months, or over a period of a year.

Right now, they are building a 2003 Cadillac Deville, with a 572-cubic-inch, 620 horsepower engine, and switching it from a front-wheel to a rear-wheel drive. That means modifying the computer to accommodate the changes.

“We had to sit down and really pick his brain to give him what he wants,” said Dave Tallant. “It's just part of what we do.”

The company also does regular auto bodywork, which makes up about half of the business. For more information, visit the Web site at www.tallantsauto.com.