AMBITION REALIZED

CUSTOM CAR BUILDER STANLEY CHAVIK IS LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM

- LYN WOODWARD 

When I mentioned to Stanley Chavik that we'd be taking pictures of him while he worked, he replied wryly in his thick Eastern European inflection, "Good, because I'm busy." Stanley's Thor-esque stature, his thick wavy hair, gnarled beard, and flames of ink shooting up his arms make him look like an extra from Sons of Anarchy. But his gap-toothed grin and smiling eyes reveal his true character. This is a man content.

 A 1950 DeSoto Diplomat Deluxe convertible coupe with a front spike, a toothy front fender, and wheel-hub weaponry lethal enough to make Ben Hur blanch hardly seems like the car to inspire a career. But the pale yellow rarity used in the Italian B-movie I predatori di Atlantide was the first hot rod Stanley ever saw. It was love.

For over a decade, Stanley fed his hot rod dreams ogling sheet metal while surfing websites showcasing the work of hot rod gods Barris, Isky, Winfield, and Edelbrock. Stanley devoured Ron Covell videos on YouTube. In 2003, after years of Internet fantasizing, the then Stanislav opened Hot-Rod Chavik, a welding and fabrication shop in the industrial town of Zlín, Czechia, only a stone's throw from the Slovakia border.

Stanley's build ethos was simple then and remains as such, "I build everything myself. But Czech regulations and restrictions choked Stanley's creativity when it came to building, so his sites were set on coming to America. Instinctively, Stanley knew he'd need a calling card.