Industrial Hot Rods Inc. was a dream of Steve March. For 20+ years Steve spent his evenings and weekends building and fixing race cars on the floor of his family-owned auto shop, H&M Auto. After a back injury ended his racing career, Steve turned his attention to hot rods. A die-hard Ford guy, his first build was a 1968 Mustang coupe. One day while out buying parts for the Mustang, Steve stumbled upon a 1929 Ford Model A Tudor shell which he purchased and stored in his garage for several years while he finished the Mustang. Little did he know at the time, but that Model A shell would be the impetus for starting a hot rod company and would also turn out to be the signature car for Industrial Hot Rods Inc.

Steve started the build on the 1929 Ford Model A in February 2015 in the same manner that he followed with his race cars and the ’68 Mustang, on the floor of the family auto shop. He enlisted the help of his brother Mike and friend Chris Payne to assist with the build and also had help from his many connections in the auto industry. The overall design was influenced by Steve’s racing background and this set the car apart from any others like it. The build took almost 2-years to complete, but the wait was worth it – with the car winning best “Rat Rod” at 2017 Toronto Motorama and a cover appearance in Canadian Hot Rod Magazine (July 2018).

During the build, there was always banter in the shop about “how cool it would be to start a hot rod company”. But for March, the daily grind of running the family-owned auto shop didn’t leave much time to take on a new venture and the idea of starting a hot rod company was shelved. But that didn’t stop him from building and restoring more cars. Following the Model A Tudor, Steve bought and sold a number of other projects – 1934 5-window Chevy Coupe, 1929 Essex Hudson, 1929 Model A Coach and the current project a 1935 Ford pick-up.

Skip forward to the spring of 2018 and Steve March’s idea of starting a hot rod company resurfaced. Looking at ways to expand the family-owned auto shop and incorporate a hot rod company into the fold, Steve approached his brother-in-law, Blair Webster, a MAC Tools franchisee, to see if he would be interested in partnering in the family business so that he could spend more time in the garage working on cars, and ultimately pursuing his dream of building hot rods, with Blair taking over the office and administrative duties of the business. After a few rides in the ’29, the partnership was formed and the dream became reality - and Industrial Hot Rods Inc. opened for business as a full design, build and fabrication shop.