A TENACIOUS mechanic has converted a $400 rust bucket into America's best custom car. JF Launier, 39, spent 22,000 hours and $300,000 pimping out a 1964 Buick Riveria - even remortgaging his parents' house as well as his own to finance the project. But the risk paid off when the finished article - named Rivision - won the Ridler award for America’s most creative and innovative custom car back at the 2014 Detroit Autorama. Its value has also jumped with Mr Launier estimating it to be worth at least $1.65m in man-hours alone. Mr Launier runs JF Kustoms in Osoyoos, British Columbia, Canada.
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MotorTranscript
00:00The car was built over a course of six years. It took 22,000 man hours to build it. Just
00:06a lot of blood, sweat and tears.
00:09This fully customised Buick Riviera has been a labour of love for Canadian J.F. Nornier.
00:17He's been renovating vehicles since the age of 13. But in 2014, this Buick finally earned
00:23him the coveted Riddler Award for America's most creative and innovative custom car at
00:28the Detroit Autorama. The project began with a 1964 Riviera, bought from a junkyard for
00:37just $400.
00:38People always ask me why a 64 Riviera. Well, the long and the short of it is, when I was
00:4321 years old, I had a 64 Riviera. I sold it to start my first business and I thought to
00:48myself, I'm going to have another one of those cars one day. I didn't really know I was going
00:52to take it this far.
00:54What followed were countless modifications to the original Buick body.
00:59The 1971 Riviera roof, with its unique shape and sloped rear window, was fitted to the 1964
01:08chassis. The car was shortened by removing sheet metal from behind the doors and rear wheel
01:13openings. The front wheel openings were moved forward to make space for a 6.2 litre Chevrolet
01:19V8 engine, which provides 784 horsepower. JF estimates that he spent $300,000 on the project
01:28in total.
01:29The car was built over a course of 6 years. It took 22,000 man hours to build it. It was
01:35everything I could afford. It was my parents' house got remortgaged, my house got remortgaged.
01:40The math's pretty simple. It's 22,000 hours, 75 bucks an hour shop rate. You're looking
01:46at a million and a half just in hours.
01:49J.F. named the finished car Revision and in 2014, he proved that one man's trash is
01:56another man's treasure by winning the Riddler Award. But despite his success, JF warns that
02:03budding car customisers shouldn't take such projects lightly.
02:06It was ups and downs. It was always a battle to try to get enough money to buy parts, to
02:11find enough time in the week to balance family, business and project of this magnitude. I
02:18always felt like giving up. There wasn't a day where I didn't feel like it was too much.
02:21We had taken on too much and we had just gone too far with it. Be very prepared. Don't just
02:27build your first car and think it's going to win. This is our fourth attempt at it. You've
02:32got to be prepared. You've got to be prepared to give up everything for a long, long time.
02:36There's no doubt though that he's proud of turning a rust bucket into his most prized
02:41possession.
02:42J.F. There are people that love it. There are people that hate it. There's kind of nobody
02:46in the middle. This car is what I wanted in a race car. This car is what I wanted in a show
02:51car. And it's beyond that on all aspects. I have drag raced the car. I have road raced the
02:57car. I have won the biggest award in the world. Those three have never been put together.
03:02And I drive my kids to school in it and take the kids for ice cream.