Rural Missouri - May 2023 - 22
RESTORED &
ELECTRIFIED
New Bloomfield auto shop is blazing its own trail
by Paul Newton | pnewton@ruralmissouri.coop
T
he car builders' eyes are locked on the battery
inside the red 1988 Lotus Esprit. Inside Tyler
Willy's rural auto shop, he and two employees
carefully remove the battery from the in-progress
custom-built car. There's a reason it takes three of them to
safely remove it. It's not just used to power the headlights
and radio - this former Tesla battery has been repurposed
and will power the entire vehicle.
Since 2021, Tyler has owned and operated GKR Motor
Cars in New Bloomfield. He specializes in designing and
building custom one-off cars for his clients from around
the country. He offers any number of custom options for
his customers' vehicles. However, one option in particular
sets GKR apart: electric vehicle (EV) conversion.
Most vehicles Tyler restores feature internal combustion
engines. " We're still early adopters in this segment, " Tyler
says. " At the big trade shows, EVs probably make up less
than 5% of the vendors. It's still new and the aftermarket
isn't really there yet. But it's slowly coming around. "
Tyler grew up in rural Missouri working on trucks and
22 RURAL MISSOURI | MAY 2023
tractors. While most of the work was maintenance, that
mechanical background became the backbone of his restorations.
" My first custom build - if you want to call it
that - was a 1942 John Deere H tractor I built from the
ground up, " the Callaway Electric Cooperative member
says. " I turned it into a brand new tractor for a high school
project and then flipped it. "
" The Fast and the Furious " movie debuted about the
time Tyler earned his driver's license and got him to switch
from tractors to cars. " I got a '90s Monte Carlo for my first
car and it wasn't a great car to modify, but I did everything
I could to it, " Tyler says. " From then on I've always been
buying and selling cars and working on them. "
He worked at Veterans United for more than a dozen
years before leaving in 2021 to open GKR. " I loved working
there and learned a ton about leadership watching
the company grow, " he says. " I've always wanted to start
a shop and constantly watch the guys from Gas Monkey
Garage or read Hot Rod magazine. I was in my mid-30s, so
I figured I better start getting serious about this. "
Alex Melman of Phoenix was one of Tyler's early customers.
He had a 1977 Ford Bronco that he drove but
Rural Missouri - May 2023
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - May 2023
Contents
Rural Missouri - May 2023 - Cover1
Rural Missouri - May 2023 - Cover2
Rural Missouri - May 2023 - Contents
Rural Missouri - May 2023 - 4
Rural Missouri - May 2023 - 5
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Rural Missouri - May 2023 - Cover3
Rural Missouri - May 2023 - Cover4
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