Zane Cullen has been a car aficionado since his early days as a teenager wrenching away in a local body shop in California. With a keen eye and attention to detail, Zane has spent most of his life building custom cars and hot rods while perfecting his craft. His first success came in the form of a VW bug that won national ISCA honors, which was the first of many awards to come. Within the last 20 years, Zane and crew entered 25 cars that were produced by him into competition in the Grand National Roadster Show.
16 years ago Zane opened the doors to his car building business Creative Concepts. Starting off in a small space in rural California with just one other employee, Zane worked hard to establish his reputation as a premier builder in the custom/street rodder scene. Since those early days, Creative Concepts underwent a name change to Cotati Speed Shop and moved to a 12,000 square foot facility in Santa Rosa. Zane’s business has grown to 10 employees, including his wife Stephanie who maintains the administrative aspects of the business. It includes a body shop, two paint booths, full metal fabrication area and retail space. They specialize in hot rods, customs, restorations, and provide all types of repair and maintenance on specialty automobiles.Most recently, Zane was given the distinct honor of building the 2010 AMSOIL Street Rodder Road Tour vehicle. The custom built ’27 Roadster is leading the way for a series of tours across the US this summer, and turns heads no matter where it goes. In addition to having his latest project make headlines, Zane keeps busy with the ability to produce up to 12 projects at any given time. He is the recipient of many awards, including:
2003 Al Slonaker Award
2006 Al Slonaker Award
2003 GNRS Builder of the Year Award
Two-time winner of the Dick Bertolucci Award at the Sacramento Autorama
2004 Goodguys “Trendsetter of the Year” awarded at the SEMA show.
2005 Builder of the Year at the prestigious Fresno Autorama
2005 Builder of the Year at the prestigious Fresno Autorama
Zane’s personal philosophy and work ethic are summed up in the old drag racing adage: Never Lift! While maintaining their successful business, he and wife Stephanie still manage to find time for school and sporting events that their son and daughter are involved in. AMSOIL is pleased to be associated with such a talented builder and businessman, and we look forward to keeping up with his future endeavors.
Captions: Rare photos inside the Cotati Speed Shop, taken December 24, 2009. Many of the builds are from important private collectors. Photo on left is the AMSOIL Street Rodder Road Tour '27 Roadster in its early stages.
