20 Years of great cars, great stories, and great people!
What started as an idea to produce honest, straight-forward car enthusiast television grew into a world-class shop with an amazing and inspiring Team building important cars for owners who love them. Without the tireless dedication of our team – starting with family, friends, and automotive companies that believed in us – the V8 Speed and Resto Shop would never exist as we know it today. Check out the timeline to see the humble beginnings and how we’ve grown over the past 20 years! Thank you for your support!
V8 Speed and Resto Timeline
Kelle and Kevin Meet on Hot Rod Power Tour 1999
05/20/1999
Kevin Leaves Hot Rod Magazine TV, V8TV Concept Born
11/01/2003
V8TV Productions, Inc. First Incorporated
03/24/2004
First V8TV Episode Completed
03/23/2005
Kevin Oeste holds the first V8TV Television episode betacam SP tape in March of 2005
V8TV First Airs On Dish Network Satellite
04/07/2005
Our TV show debuts nationally on Dish Network satellite TV.
V8TV Airs 10th Episode
08/17/2005
Building The V8TV Farm Shop
10/01/2005
V8TV’s First Car: The Royal Purple “Royal Sport” Camaro Begins
12/13/2005
V8TV Airs 20th Television Episode
12/28/2005
V8TV Publishes First Daily Video Weblog – Building Royal Sport Camaro for 2006 SEMA Show
10/03/2006
The Royal Sport Camaro Unveiled At SEMA 2006
10/31/2006
After a record thrash, our first car debuts at the 2006 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
V8TV Expands to DirecTV Satellite
01/20/2007
The Men’s Channel becomes Men’s Outdoors and Recreation and adds DirecTV Distribution
1969 Chevelle “SS496” Build Begins
03/01/2007
V8TV YouTube Channel Launched
09/28/2007
1969 Chevelle SS496 Debuts at SEMA Show
11/06/2007
The 1969 Chevelle SS496 at the 2007 SEMA Show in Las Vegas.
“Splitter” Pontiac Firebird Featured on Popular Hot Rodding Magazine Cover
10/08/2008
V8TV Channel Reaches 1 Million Plays on YouTube
06/23/2009
V8TV Produces Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge Invitational DVD OUSCI
11/05/2009
V8 Speed and Resto Shop Restored 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Scores Gold Spinner at Chevy Vettefest
02/01/2010
1969 Pontiac Firebird “Routy” Featured at 2010 SEMA Show
11/02/2010
V8TV Added To TUFF TV Network
05/01/2011
1969 Pontiac Firebird “Routy” Takes 2 Awards at 2011 Trans Am Nationals
07/09/2011
Owner Steve Prouty flanked by his trophies at the 2011 Trans Am Nationals!
Kevin Oeste Named Official Emcee of Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals
10/27/2011
RELOADED Camaro makes 2011 SEMA Show Debut
11/01/2011
Reloaded Camaro Scores 991 / 1000 at MCACN
11/19/2011
Routy Scores Gold At MCACN 2011
11/20/2011
1969 Pontiac Firebird Routy Featured on cover of High Performance Pontiac Magazine
02/01/2012
V8SR Builds 5.0 Coyote Powered 1955 Thunderbird
10/10/2012
1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass S71 Featured at SEMA Show
10/30/2012
1971 Oldsmobile “S71” Featured On Popular Hot Rodding Magazine Cover
01/17/2013
V8 Speed And Resto Builds All-New 1969 Camaro
01/30/2013
1968 Camaro RELOADED Featured in Hemmings Muscle Machines Magazine
06/01/2013
V8 Speed and Resto Shop Moves to Red Bud, IL
08/17/2013
We moved into the 817 S. Main Street, Red Bud, IL address “officially” on August 17, 2013.
2013 Hot Rod Drag Week Rolls Past V8 Speed and Resto Shop
09/11/2013
Muscle Car Of The Week Video Series Launched
09/13/2013
V8 Speed and Resto Shop Facebook Page Launched
10/15/2013
Lou’s Change 1969 Camaro in Hemmings Muscle Machines Magazine
12/01/2013
V8 Speed and Resto Shop Featured in Parts and People
02/05/2014
V8SR Adds Citrix Business Systems Management Backbone
02/12/2014
V8TV YouTube Channel Reaches 10 Million Video Plays
02/18/2014
V8 Speed & Resto Shop in Car Craft Pro-Builders Shootout at the 2014 Summer Nationals
05/15/2014
V8TV Channel Ranks 3rd on StreetFire.net Automotive Video Streaming Site
06/11/2014
Lou’s Change Wins Editor’s Choice Top Ten at Super Chevy Show
06/18/2014
Mr. Chevy and Reloaded Camaro Displayed at 2014 Street Machine Nationals
06/27/2014
V8 Speed and Resto Shop Displays “Mr. Chevy” at SEMA Show
10/27/2014
1968 Chevrolet Camaro Reloaded in December, 2014 Car Craft Magazine
11/01/2014
1969 Chevelle Featured in Hemmings Muscle Machines Magazine
01/02/2015
Mr. Chevy Gasser Featured in Hemmings Muscle Machines Magazine
This 1967 Chevrolet Camaro convertible is receiving a variety of repairs and upgrades at the V8 Speed and Resto shop. Plans call for a new fuel injected engine and automatic transmission, restored subframe and all new suspension, upgraded Dakota digital gauges, a complete under hood detail and paint treatment and more.
If you’ve tuned into a live audio stream of an SCTA race, you’ve probably heard the coverage and insights of Seldom Seen Slim, also known as Jon Wennerberg. But did you know he’s also a motorcycle record holder? Tune in to hear the stories from the salt on the Bonneville Up To Speed Podcast!
Bonneville Up To Speed Podcast
The Trackside View with "Seldom Seen Slim" a.k.a Jon Wennerberg on the Bonneville Up To Speed Podcast!
This time, Mike “Q-Ball” Clarke shares his experiences at the 2019 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) show in Chicago. Mike stepped up to host some of the premiere unveilings and to help produce Muscle Car Of The Week videos with the V8TV team. He also shares the hard work and amazing high score of the 1967 Pontiac GTO restored by the V8 Speed & Resto Shop team, which made it’s public debut at the MCACN show as well. It was a jam-packed weekend, making for a jam-packed episode of the V8 Radio Podcast! Oh yeah, there’s trivia, too!
This 1962 Buick Electra convertible originally appeared on one of the very first episodes of V8TV working on the engine and a disc brake conversion. Back in 1998, David Freiburger and Rob Kinnan of Car Craft and Hot Rod Magazines purchased this car for a Car Craft Magazine cheap and fun weekend cruiser project. They gave the original carburetor a tune, did a quickie bright yellow paint job on the car and drove it around for a bit before putting it up for sale. At that point, our friend Paul purchased the car from Freiburger and towed it from sunny Southern California to his home in the Midwest. Paul drove the car for a couple summers until the original Buick 401 Nailhead engine failed, and not having a lot of resources back then, Paul decided to install a small block Chevy V8 that he had on hand. About that time, Paul’s job changed, he started a family, and more important life events occurred. Today, nearly 20 years later, the car has arrived in the V8 Speed and Resto Shop where the V8 Team will complete his engine conversion and make the car a driver once again.
V8 Radio: Mike Survives the SEMA Show, MCACN After Hours Live! Preview, Trivia, and MORE!
Our esteemed Co-Host Mike "Q-Ball" Clarke has survived his first SEMA Show! We discuss all aspects of SEMA and his experiences at the show in this episode of V8 Radio. We also chat about a very special SEMA appearance by our friend Gene Winfield, a 91 year old kustomizer who just made it back from Finland with a brand new hip! Amazing. Then, we plug the upcoming Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals After Hours Live! stream from the 2018 MCACN show in Chicago on November 17… you going to watch? http://www.v8tvshow.com/mcacnlive Plus, Mike gets his own trivia question wrong… go figure.
Join us at the 2018 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, IL on November 17 and 18! Presented by MECUM Auction Company, Show Your Auto.com, and OPGI.
V8 Radio: SEMA Reveal V8TV Live Coverage Preview, What-If Cars, Trivia, and Much More!
On this episode of V8 Radio, Mike Clarke and Kevin Oeste chat about the upcoming LIVE V8TV coverage of the 2018 SEMA Reveal kicking off the SEMA Show in Las Vegas! It's going to be an exciting broadcast airing Monday night, October 29 at 5:00 PST and simul-streamed on Facebook Live and YouTube. Watch the stream on V8TVs pages, OPGI's Facebook page, Edge TV's page, the Optima Batteries page, or any number of other shared streams. They also chat about doing a frame-off restoration without painting the car like friend of the show Ryan Weaver and his 1970 Olds 442. Of course, there is trivia.. and even more trivia on this episode, previews of the MCACN After Hours Live! and PRI / V8TV stage events, some cool concept "what-if" cars, and much more!