“A dream come true,” Mini Trucker at heart, Tyler Paul, says he gets to come to work every day and play with cars. Inspired by the paint and body work of the Mini truck scene from his childhood, Tyler was destined to learn the trade and start his own restoration shop called Refreshed Hot Rods based in Wetaskiwin Alberta. His shop has built many cool custom cars, some of which have been photographed by other magazines and some that will hopefully be featured in this magazine in the future.
I remember manning my booth at the local Red Deer Cruise Night when Tyler’s 1967 Dodge Coronet 500 rolled past me. I was awestruck, and I instantly and new I needed to have that car featured in the magazine. I quickly finished up with my current customer and darted through the parking lot to try to find him. A crowd had already circled him and the cars he had showed up with. Needing to get back to my booth I only had time to pass him a business card and take a quick look at the car. Luckily Tyler reached out shortly after and was very excited about the opportunity. You can see the whole interview I had with Tyler about him, his shop, and his car on our YouTube channel, Cruise Culture Magazine.
Tyler was lucky enough to work for a shop as a teenager that allowed him to experiment and learn on cars. If he wanted to try shaving the door handles on his truck, he was free to do so. He runs his shop in a similar fashion. He takes on apprentices who are eager to learn and lets them go at it. This car is a prime example of that. Passing on his knowledge and actually allowing his team to try things, and bring suggestions. This car has been an awesome experience for not just him but his whole team.
The car is a 1967 Dodge Coronet that Tyler found while searching Kijiji. An older gentlemen with good intentions lost interest in the project and put it up for sale. It was painted and had a “new” 12 year old crate 318 Magnum under the hood and a plush white interior. First thing after procuring the car, Tyler dumped the car in his garage at home and got to work getting the car running and on the road.
After all sorts of electrical and fuel delivery issues he got it to run and brought it to his shop in Wetaskiwin to really get going on the build. Tyler and his team set out to do suspension, and rims with a vision of not your classic muscle car, but that of an aggressive resto mod. The existing paint on the car was fine for the average home built hotrod, but not for the owner of a paint and body restoration shop.
Tyler took this opportunity to have his apprentices sand, mask, and paint the car in the matte charcoal you see on body. Before the car even left the booth, his wife said the roof needs to be black to set the car off, and she was right. The gloss black roof sent the car in the aggressive direction it needed.
Inspired by the finished paint, Tyler took two S10 valences and created the chin spoiler. He made a custom rear spoiler out of aluminum and then turned his attention to the hood. Tyler knew that the mailbox style hood, although cool, was not going to fit the vibe that this car was giving. Tucked away in the junk yard was this fiberglass Viper replica hood meant for a Chevy pickup. The doubt from the current owner about the fitment of the hood wasn’t going to stop Tyler from putting his skills to the test in transforming it into what you see now. He widened the center scoop, pushed the vents forward, and shaped the hood to fit the car and match the body lines.
Tyler also got to work on swapping out the interior for something less plush and more aggressive to suit the car better. He went with an GM Inferno Red on the seats, doors, and steering wheel. For performance, Tyler has added a Vortec supercharger from a Dakota RT and a blow through Fitech EFI set up. The car was put on a dyno shortly there after and hit 308HP, good numbers for a little 318 small block and just enough to have fun with out getting scary.
Tyler plans to add hidden headlights, side skirts and a subtle diffuser to the rear. He’s planning to build a custom cantilever coil over setup in the trunk, a manual 5 speed, maybe add some sound and then sell it.
Tyler would like to give a huge shout out his team at Refreshed Hot Rods, his apprentices for giving it there all, and his wife for putting up with all the late nights working in the garage to get it running.
Article and Photography: Brian Holzli
order your copy at https://cruisecultureapparel.com/products/cruise-culture-magazine-issue-5-april-2023-refreshed
or read it online at https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/2444411
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