Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Wines and Jacob Hoke.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Jacob and I met in my junior year of high school and quickly became friends. I’ve been volunteering for a desert racing team for several years at this point. Jacob didn’t have a background in automotive and was interested in learning. We started building a few cars and Jacob caught the builder bug.
Fast forward 10 years. We moved around a lot. Jacob enlisted in the Marines, and we ultimately ended up in Salt Lake City. A friend referred us to some WW2 munitions buildings in Tooele that were available for lease and we jumped on that. It took us several years to gather all of the tools and equipment but we are finally in a place where we’re almost entirely self-sufficient.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We’ve both built cars in Southern California carports. Hauling our tools to and from our apartments to get things done. The buildings here in Utah have a night and day difference.
Even though we lack any HVAC equipment, we have been fortunate enough to have a roof over our heads and our builds. We have been very fortunate to inherit a lot of tools from a family which got us going. A lot of the larger equipment was bought off the Facebook marketplace or KSL or from friends of friends. Being scrappy isn’t necessarily the worst thing
Maintaining a regular 9-5 and balancing a healthy work/home life has also been a challenge. Developing our brand is our second priority while providing for our families always comes first.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
840 Customs focuses on quality, timeless car customization, and general building. We strive to develop unique vehicles that stray from the norm. We have had our hands on everything from old Beetles to late-model Fiats. We specialize in 3D modeling, metal fabrication, and mechanics. We’re in the middle of building a 1992 Buick Roadmaster Estate.
We’ve 3D scanned the entire underside and engine compartment of the car to produce some new products for the B-Body platform. Nobody is spending energy on the vehicles we focus on. Jacob is working on a 1992 Plymouth Laser RS, a DSM chassis. We’re setting the car up for autocross and road courses which requires the development of some unique hardware.
Overall, we like to support the communities that have been forgotten. We 3D print a lot of one-off components, fabricate chassis parts and try to produce the things people only wish existed.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking.
We have taken a lot of risk with 840 Customs. Investing our time and money to build a private shop has been challenging. We don’t take a lot of client work so finding a balance between investment and return has been risky, to say the least. I know our wives would like to see more income from the shop.
We’ve also based our entire brand on semi-obsolete cars so that’s not the easiest thing to work around. We’ve built a decent following online and are starting a YouTube channel featuring the work we do accomplish and we’re hopeful for the potential there.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Instagram.com/840customs
- Facebook: facebook.com/840customs
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@840customs
Image Credits
Jonathan Hockaday and Justin Saiki
