Ten Questions with Lee Bumgardner of Zoomers Automotive

Zoomers Automotive of Denver, ColoRODo, has been building some of the area’s best rods and Kustoms for many years.  We recently asked Lee Bumgardner, the owner of Zoomers some pertinent questions about his business, and took of a tour of his shop. Zoomers has some interesting projects going on that’ll most likely hit the circuit next summer.

Rod Authority: How long have you been in business?

Lee Bumgardner: “Zoomers has been doing business in Denver, Colorado, for over 25 years… but we seem to be not well known around the country, despite the cars we’ve built. Our motto is from the generic to the intense. We’ve built some cars for well-known people in this hobby. Our big home run was winning the Goodguy’s Truck of the Year competition in 2007 with “Koolant,” a ‘59 Chevy pickup.”

RA: How did you get into the hot rod/restoration/automotive business?

LB: “Believe it or not, it’s merely a hobby that got in the way of work!  I’d spent 15 years at a Chevy dealership here in Denver and did some big projects at night at home. In some of that time,  I worked at Masterpiece for three years, wiring their builds, and that’s something I really enjoy. It got to the point that I had more than I could handle at home and started Zoomers in a 1500 square foot shop. We’ve grown every year since.”

An overall shot of the shop and one of the rods being worked on.

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The shop has a definite southwest flavor to it, from the ranch style layout to the arches over the walk.

RA: How many employees do you currently have?

LB: “We currently employ four full-time guys.  Kelly, my right-hand man, has been with me 19 years. I should mention that we now enjoy a 6,500 square-foot building and it’s too small. You can never have enough room… and in a few years, we’re going to have a mortgage burning party. Maybe then we’ll consider adding more square footage.”

RA: Do you “do it all,” or does Zoomers specialize in one thing in particular, and do you do body and paint?

LB: “We specialize in restomods and fuel injection. Although, we do everything except body and paint. I hate having bondo dust all over the shop so we farm that out. We’ll do all the metal fab and the prep work, and when it comes time for body and paint, we’ll supervise that.

By “supervise” I mean we’ll be there when it’s worked on. We’ll specify how it’s done, how much primer to use, and the exact color we want. Upholstery is the same… we tell the upholsterer what kind of thread to use, what kind of stitch we want, and where. We don’t leave anything up to the bodyman, painter, or upholsterer.

Our subcontractors work for us on our projects, and only we know what we want it to look like when it’s finished. We’ve sourced a couple of places around town for that but we’ve been working with our regular subcontractors for so long, they are attuned to our likes even though we don’t leave anything to chance with our projects.”

Fuel injection is no problem at Zoomers.

RA: Where did the name “Zoomers” come from? Who came up with it, and why?

LB: “Funny you should ask that. Remember that old saying “The older I get the faster I was?” It also applies to how things used to get done (and may still apply in some instances), you know- “who’s zoomin’ who?” Who’s kidding who?  I figured it was a good name to use, and Zoomers Automotive knows what we’re doing, we don’t need to “zoom” anyone about what we can do, or what we can produce.”

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The shop also specializes in restomods.

RA: How many cars, let’s say “complete cars,” have you built ground up from bare frame?

LB: “In the neighborhood of 125 over the past years. As I said, Zoomers “does it all.” If someone else can’t figure it out, they come to Zoomers and we’ll fix it. Having said that, I can safely say we’ve probably “touched” over 500 cars in a year’s time. We’re like the “last chance garage,” when others can’t figure it out, they’ll call me.

Being the “last chance garage” may mean we’ll do something small to a customer’s car. “Touching” a car might also mean figuring out why a car is overheating and installing a new radiator to prevent that problem, or doing an exhaust system. Installing an A/C unit and wiring it. The list of problem-solving in our projects is virtually endless.

It also means that wiring a car so it will run correctly. Wiring is my enjoyment and with all the computer stuff in cars these days, a lot of rods are being built with LS engines and Hemis… that means new harnesses. It also means some guys simply can’t figure that out. That’s where we come in-they’ll bring a car to me and I’ll get it running.”

A Chevy truck getting a new suspension and a Chevelle being worked on.

RA: You’re doing a lot of metal fabrication on the ’47 Chevy sitting here. Is this your personal car?

LB: “I’ve always wanted a hot rod. The ’47 is my personal hot rod project and I am building it to take it to pre-1948 events. Sadly, those are few and far between now. There’s only a couple left that I know of: the Frog Follies in Evansville, Indiana and the Pigeon Forge rod run in Tennessee.

Problem is, owning a business and trying to take enough time off to get to those events is tough. I’m building this car in a WWII fashion-it’s something I think a hot rodder back in 1947 would build… reminiscent of how he’d build it with aluminum pieces, rivets and engine-turned metal everywhere.

The cockpit has an instrument cluster that sort of looks like something out of a propeller-driven fighter plane and the shift handle is a real pilot’s stick. The car even has a tail hook like a Navy plane. My friend Darrell Mayabb has created an illustration for me and the car’s name will be “Hangar Queen.”

Would you believe I still own my high school car-a ’67 Chevelle? I also like ’62 Chevys, and I’ve had a few of those, but different models.”

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Cars built by Zoomers Automotive have been featured in more than two dozen magazines plus several cover stories.

RA: Can you tell us how many of the cars you’ve built have made it into major magazines as feature cars?

LB: “About two dozen of our builds have had full features. Five of our builds have made the covers of magazines. Our customers usually do not care about the awards, that’s just icing on the cake. We want happy customers, and if a feature is done, then that can make them happy as well.”

A couple of Ford projects in Zoomers shop

RA: Are hot rods still your main focus, or have 50s and 60s cars become bigger than hot rods?

LB: “Used to be the early cars were our bread and butter, but as you’ve noticed on our shop tour today, we have only two rods in the shop. The other projects are fifties cars and one 70s-the Chevelle. Oh, and the 7/8th size Corvette Gran Sport, that one is in for some suspension tuning. As you already know, fifties cars are hot and the sixties stuff is coming on… of course, musclecars are always popular.”

A Mopar coupe with a late Hemi in it, and the Corvette Grand Sport.

RA: Where do you see yourself, and Zoomers, in the future?

LB: “I see Zoomers being around another 10 years, or so. I’m still a fairly young guy; retirement is a ways off and I like what I’m doing-building cars. When I retire, I’d like to start a course on mechanical. Perhaps a basic course to begin with. I mean some of the kids coming out of  the tech schools these days don’t understand mechanical. Yes, they can do body and paint, they can fabricate, but they just don’t know the mechanical aspect of how things work together. When I was young, I’d take things apart to learn how they worked. I believe the kids coming out of the tech schools simply don’t know that.”

Note: Should you like to chat with Zoomers about your next project, give Lee a call at 303-289-4480 or check into their website: www.Zoomers-automotive.com

About the author

Roger Jetter

Roger’s interests in cars started at 14 with a ’40 Ford pick-up until he bought his first ’57 Chevy at age 16. That car is featured in the first two books he’s written about the 1960’s and growing up in the Midwest. He’s authored several more books as well and has built several cars over the years that have received major coverage in magazines and won plenty of awards. His current build is a 1948 Cadillac Sedanet, although his current 'driver' is a '55 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.
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