Fatman Fabrications Inc. was founded on August 1, 1985 by Brent VanDervort. Brent and an older brother restored a 1930 Model A pick up as a high school car and even took their Driver's Test in that car. Having built over 20 cars for himself and friends as a side job over the previous 17 years, building hot rod parts seemed a natural progression. A second trip to college after moving to Charlotte netted a Mechanical Engineering education that was added to an earlier Business Management degree. The combination of real world fabrication experience and formal education equipped Fatman's with the knowledge needed to design practical parts for real rodders.

As the business grew to over 40 employees, a 6 acre plot was purchased to give Fatman a home that would accept that expansion. We currently occupy 4 buildings totaling 22,000 square feet. The area is split up into Sales, warehouse, shipping, MII kit, frame stub, tubular product, complete chassis, and prototype/customer installation shops. Other associated business supply services necessary to the building of hot rods, creating a "Hot Rod Mall" where an owner can go door to door to complete his project.

The employees at the company see very little turnover and that pool of experience is a real asset to the company and our valued customers. The different production and installation areas are set up with a very experienced Team Leader at the head to ensure quality and continuity of training future leaders. In fact, an agreement was entered into by Brent and key employees so that the company will employee owned at Brent's eventual departure. This future planning assures the security of all parties, with quality assured by a motivated staff, and that Fatman products will receive Tech support far into the future.

Brent VanDervort

Our Founder and President is Brent VanDervort. He is responsible for product design and technical support. Executive management duties are also included, with Brent serving as the head of strategic management of the long term future of the company. You will see him in the booth at many major shows, often leading seminars regarding hot rod engineering. As you can see in the photo, WWII airplanes are another of Brent's interests. The barn at home holds his '34 Ford highboy sedan, '49 Chevy Fleetline, '68 Mustang ragtop, '56 Ford Vicky, and '30 Buick.

Darrell Kelly

Darrell Kelly has been in the auto parts business his entire life, fooling with hot rods all along. He handles sales and tech, being a real expert on Chevelles, like the '70 he just finished.

Kevin Craig

Kevin Craig, AKA "BB" is often the first voice you'll hear, other than the pretty Southern accented lady on the voice mail. He has come up thru the shop as a fabricator and knows our product line very well. He particularly handles sales data input and tries very hard to be sure you get the right parts the first time!

Vernon Nesbit

Vernon Nesbit runs the shipping department, and makes certain that all the parts for your kit are in place and properly packed. He is one of our most veteran team leaders, and drives his chopped '40 Chevy sedan whenever we let him get away.

Jeff Watts

Jeff Watts runs the team that builds our Mustang II kits, frame stubs, and specialty IFS like the Chevy PU bolt ins and the Affordable/Classic IFS. His 14 years experience is immensely valuable, as he was involved in the original prototyping and fixturing phases of these designs. His guys truly have it down to a science!

Jr. McCarver

Jr. McCarver assists Jeff Watts in running the large Crossmember group. He keeps the specialty IFS kits, Mustang II crossmembers, Coilovers, Shockwave and truck bolt in kits coming-done right-on time!

Randy Banks

Randy Banks is another long time team leader with tremendous fabrication experience. His group handles the Tubular products and Tig welding for the other areas. State of the art welding equipment and sharp fabricators build dropped spindles, tubular control arms, and our line of Strut IFS kits for the musclecars.

Mike Craig

Mike Craig, AKA "Bubba" is BB's big brother, who is over the Install/prototype shop, as well as the frame shop. He is often the go to guy on any tech questions, especially if Brent is on the road or just plain goofing off! His knowledge and patience are incredibly valuable! The latest home project was a '55 Chevy pickup, which is often parked at the shop on pretty days.

Tim Tullo

Bubbaa's right hand man is Tim Tullo. Tim joined us after a career in the auto parts trade, and coordinates the frame shop. He will be the guy who handles the actual order, production, and shipping of your new chassis. We keep the communication on a one to one level so that your chassis will be built just as you dreamt it would be!

Lisa Furr

Lisa Furr is the combination Office Manager/Full Charge Bookkeeper. She works behind the scenes keeping the money right so that all the flashy stuff can keep happening. Any rodder knows you have to have money to grease the skids and keep things going forward!