About Us Page – Gizmos Hot Rod Shop

Welcome to Gizmos

Gizmos is a Minnesota-based full-service custom car and hot rod shop. Whether it’s creating your ground-up, one-off custom dream machine, tweaking your classic ride or making your hot rod hotter, you can be assured of one thing: When Gizmos builds your car it will be fast. And beautiful.

Since 2003 the Gizmos crew has been setting the bar ever higher in the local and national custom car and hot rod scene. Multiple Wally Awards, an NHRA Championship, Best in Show, Best in Category and numerous other outstanding awards are testament to the care and quality that go into every Gizmos car.

Gizmos – A Perfect Storm of Talent and Machinery

Located in Cedar, Minnesota, just north of downtown Minneapolis, the Gizmos shop appears modest on the outside. And that’s just how owner Greg Friedrich likes it. It’s when you step through the front doors of Gizmos you realize you’re not in just any hot rod shop.

The gleaming gold-hued polished concrete floors are spotless. Their tools of the trade; English wheel, Planishing hammer, Pullmax, sheet metal breaks, mills, lathes, welders – even their Okuma multi-axis CNC machine and Eckold shrinker/stretcher – are all spotless, well-oiled and maintained daily. The precision tools required of precision custom cars.

No doubt you’d expect a group of greasy grizzled motor-heads manning those machines, creating the magic Gizmos is known for. You’ll be surprised then, to find instead; a theatre major, an English major, and a chef. Their common attribute? Creativity – and a love of cars.

According to Friedrich – who’s been around cars since he was old enough to walk – it’s easier for him to teach – and his crew to learn – the technical skills he demands, than it is for a seasoned veteran to unlearn a career of potentially bad habits.

What’s not so simple to teach is the creativity, the eye for the fine line, the ability to grasp and visualize the finished product. Creative outside-the-box thinking combined with fabrication, engineering, and mechanical skills beyond compare, have created a perfect storm of talent at Gizmos; talent that can master any custom car challenge brought before them.

Custom Car – Bolt-on Parts? Not at Gizmos

What would you rather have?

• A set of bolt-on headers ordered from a catalog?
• Headers custom designed and hand-built to fit your car perfectly?

If you’re looking for custom perfection, look no further than Gizmos.

Thinking you might try your hand at the quarter-mile – see how fast your new machine can go – but still want a daily driver? Choose Gizmos, they’re masters at creating double-duty chassis and suspension setups.

Metal fabrication, Tig welding, complete wiring and plumbing, turbo system engineering, carbon fiber, fiberglass; the Gizmos masters handle it all.

Privacy is Paramount at Gizmos

You may spend thousands of dollars and years of planning to create your one-of-a-kind custom car – so showing it off to the world should be a reward reserved for you and you alone. And the Gizmos crew understands that. While you might be expecting an eyeful of custom car candy with a visit to the Gizmos inner sanctum, all other cars, save yours, will be covered to maintain their privacy.

Your Investment is Safe With Gizmos

Gizmos protects more than your privacy, they protect your investment as well. Insuring one-of-a-kind custom cars doesn’t come cheap – especially when you have a garage full of them. But Gizmos wouldn’t think of doing it any other way. Certainly, the Gizmos shop itself is protected against loss from fire, natural disaster and break-ins – the latter by a 24/7-security system and a state-of-the-art surveillance system – but so too are the contents. Your custom car investment is always protected when it’s in the Gizmos shop.

There is Only One Gizmos

Gizmos has developed a nation-wide reputation for combining beauty and speed, function and form, perfection and style. And if that doesn’t trip your trigger, they’ve never lost sight of their client’s desire for ass-kicking, fire-breathing, tire-burning hot rods.

If you want a custom car that’ll leave the competition quaking in your dust – and look good doing it – Gizmos is your shop.

Call them today for a no-obligation pre-build consultation.