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Quality over quantity…

It’s weird, no matter what industry you’re in the cream will always rise to the top. Businesses with high integrity, honesty, that are committed to high quality products and services will always trump corner cutters and quick sloppy work. Enter in Slate Performance who is on a mission to become the premier custom and restoration shop in the Indianapolis area…and boy are they starting off hot. From their extremely high quality movie car builds to high end 4x4s and muscle cars to providing performance packages that you the garage builder can install, they are well on their way to not only being the best in Indiana but nationwide. Their resume includes a CEO who worked on a NASCAR team to movie cars contracted by Universal Studios to wide body classic Corvettes pumping out 1000+ horsepower the quality and performance being pumped out is unmatched.

From the first time you walk into the shop you will quickly see the thought and processes behind the madness that is around 15-20 cars and trucks being built at one time. From Dillions experience with NASCAR you can tell the shop from the lighting to the cleanliness has been professionally thought out to maximize space and keep everything organized. Dedicated areas for disassembling cars, a booth for body prep, a booth for final paint and a reassembly area keep all of the projects separated and clearly defined in the restoration or customization process.

It all started with their first Fast and Furious car, the iconic green Eclipse driven by the hero Paul Walker in the first movie. At this point, if you do not know what this car is or what it looks like, do us a favor and watch the movie! The Eclipse, along with the Supra and RX7 used in the movie influenced a generation and left a legacy on people around the world, inspiring car enthusiasts, gamers, and the younger generation to get into Japanese tuner cars.

The very first Eclipse was built in a pole barn in the middle of nowhere Indiana by Dillion and one other guy. No heat, no AC and no running water was a far cry from the immense and well lit shop that is now Slate Performance. The GS-T automatic car was traded for a 90s dirt bike and came with a blown motor. Ryan found a junkyard motor which turned out to be complete gold. The motor had a giant turbo bolted to the side, coil packs, upgraded injectors and after a new field pump was hooked up ran like a top.

Dillion then purchased an Eclipse at auction and by dumb luck came with the original Axis wheels that were used on the movie cars that are impossible to find. From there the guys knew they had to do a FnF tribute build and started collecting all of the screen accurate parts to build the iconic green car. When the car was complete it was posted up for sale and sold with in a week to Volo Car Museum but didn’t make a dime off the build. The car however was then sold to Planet Hollywood in Mexico where you can actually visit and see the boys very first build in the lobby of the resort!

The Planet Hollywood transaction is what kicked off the commercial success of Slate and put them on the map as the go to shop for anyone wanting screen accurate recreations of movie cars. With the high quality of the first build, Universal Studios then contracted Slate for another FnF Eclipse build as well as four other American Graffiti cars for their resorts and parks in China.

Dillion being the mechanic and Ryan being the sales guy started building on their success and realize this could be a legit business. Dillion and Ryan both got their start at an early age and each of their taste in cars couldn’t be any more separate. Both started flipping their cars at an early age with old cheap F-bodies and trucks, one of which was purchased for under $100! Dillion from there went to a technical school and ended up on Kyle Busch’s NASCAR racing team where he ran into some of the coolest race and restored cars. He worked at a dealership and invested in real estate which allowed capital to jump start his own performance shop. His taste is loud and fast and judging from some of the stories on the podcast the faster and more dangerous it is, the better the build for him.

Ryan is the businessman and sales guy in the group and handles a lot of the customer interface from day to day. If you contact them or walk in the shop you will more than likely be speaking with him! Like I mentioned earlier his last in cars couldn’t be any farther from Dillions. He has a love for all things Fiero and has owned six of them over the years! He also owns a Pontiac Aztec (with the tent!!) and is on the lookout for a low mileage Geo Metro! Last he is also into hypermiling which is driving a vehicle with techniques that maximize fuel efficiency.

The Slate Performance shop is now dedicated to high quality builds with some of the most skilled technicians in the area. As Dillion states, “the techs work right under me and have a few weeks to get up to speed and perform to the quality of work that is expected from this shop.” The builds range from 1000+ horsepower Corvette builds to classic Land Rover builds for NBA players that feature model diesel motor swaps. Slate is not bashful about turning projects down and like many you’ve heard on the podcast ensures that the buyer and the shop are a good fit. For the movie cars, hours and hours of research go into the screen accuracy of parts and paint. They scour the internet for original parts from the eras and stock them in their storefront shop. For builds like the CK 4x4 that is featured in their show room, they are using only the best parts from the likes of Roadster Shop.

The paint shop area is one of the most impressive. When I walked in there were 3-4 guys working in one booth just sanding and prepping a car cutting down on the turnover time for the builds. The area was self contained to ensure that sanding dust didn’t overwhelm the shop. There is a separate booth for just paint and an assembly area where they were hanging panels on a classic Bronco that was mirror smooth.

The boys were very avid on making sure that any car that comes out of their shop is a 100% driver. From wiring to in-house dyne tuning they want to “drive the cars to the drag strip, race all night, and drive it home.” Like many of the great shops they have had to fix other shops problems and find that it ends up being cheaper to pay the hourly rate to actually fix a problem rather than throwing all new parts at it.

Big thank you to Dillion and Ryan for taking the time to walk me through their shop as they are absolutely slammed with phone calls and inquiries. You will hear during the podcast the phone ringing constantly and if you hit them up on social media be patient they will get back to you! You can find Slate on insta @slateperformance or on Facebook Slate Performance Automotive or their website slateperformanceautomotive.com. Better yet, go visit the shop in Indianapolis, IN , Ryan will take the time to walk you through their shop and builds. Will you see me turn my GSX into a FnF build, I’m not 100% sure but best bet if I do it will be shipped straight to these guys!