House of Kolor

I made a run into Minneapolis the other day to visit Jon Kosmoski, the man who founded House of Kolor paint. I’ve talked about Jon before, how after he sold the company to Valspar he refused to even consider a conventional retirement. Preferring instead to convert what were the paint manufacturing buildings into a very nice personal shop.

Jon always seems to keep about three projects going at one time. How he manages this I’m not sure. You might say it’s easy because he’s retired, but he continues to do so many paint seminars each year that the word retired just doesn’t fit. At any rate, when I stopped by he was happy to show me two of his current projects, one with two wheels and one with four.

The two wheeler is a “softail” frame with an interesting gas tank, and all the pieces you need to build a very nice hot rod. The motor is a 121 inch V-twin from TP, there’s a six-speed transmission, two billet wheels, and a Cerriani fork assembly.

Big motor, fat rear tire, interesting sheet metal, just the ingredients needed to cook up a sexy pro street bike.

Jon’s other project, the one that is finished (in theory at least) is a much bigger project. At first glance it’s a ’33 or ’34 Ford Cabrio, but on further inspection, it’s much more than that. There aren’t very many ’34 Ford convertibles with a chopped top that tucks away under a hinged steel toneau cover.

The simplest way to explain the Ford is to explain that the body and frame were manufactured by American Speed Company. They call it the American Speed 33, but Jon put in a ’34 grille so he calls it a ’34 Ford. Needless to say the body is all steel, all new and features a host of features that Henry never dreamed of. Like curved side windows that go up and down at the press of a button, and an interior that’s been tweaked to give the driver and passenger more room than in a stock ’33 or ’34 Ford.

Crop tight to eliminate the yellow shit on the right side. Caption: Manufactured by American Speed Company and Assembled by Jon Kosmoski, this is one very special ’34 Ford. Note the chopped top and leaned-back windshield frame.

"It’s a nice package," explains Jon. "But it’s still a hell of a lot of work to assemble and paint. I built this car in seven months, in order to get it done in time for SEMA. I think that’s pretty good for me and just one helper. We had to fit everything, do all the wiring, installed the drivetrain, the air conditioning, and do the paint of course. The only thing I didn’t do is the interior, and some of the exhaust work.”

Jon showing off his very neat stainless exhaust system.

When I stopped by, Jon was fixing a few little issues that showed up after the car was assembled. Once that’s done, then it’s on to the motorcycle, and at least one more complete car project. And unlike some of us, Jon doesn’t just start projects, he always finishes them.

Even Edsel didn’t think up anything quite this trick for stowing the convertible top.