California’s Kindred Motorworks Resurrects Best of Automotive’s Past

The old car hobby is full of joys — yet rife with struggle. While a lot of vintage car aficionados revel in the joys of the fight to keep the cars alive, there exists another group who want the joy without the pain. These are the people for whom Kindred Motorworks was founded.

Kindred’s founder and CEO, Rob Howard, founded the shop in 2019 after four frustrating years of restoring a beloved Chevy Bel Air he’d rescued from the desert. After four years of struggling to find the correct parts vendors, searching for obscure bits of information, and using YouTube tutorials to do the work, he decided there had to be a better way.

Thus, Kindred Motorworks was born in a small shop in San Rafael, California. More than two decades later, this “shop” is now a massive facility housed in a former naval facility on Mare Island, just the other side of the bay from San Rafael.

It “restores and modernizes classic vehicles at scale-creating the most advanced, reliable, and beautiful restorations on the planet,” according to the company. “Each build is engineered for performance, comfort, and ease of use, allowing you to simply enjoy the ride.”

Those builds appear to be focusing on a few specific models, which Headlight.News recounts below.

More Than Just a Homage

Ford launched the Bronco in 1966. The first-generation U-series Bronco ran from 1966 to 1977. Offered in three variants, the U13 roadster used a doorless open body, the U14 half-cab was a pickup sport utility and the U15 was a full roof five seat wagon.

The base engine was a 2.8-liter straight 6, which was good for 105 horsepower. This was enlarged to 3.3-liters for 1973 to deliver 120 hp. The original upgrade engine was a 200-hp 4.7-liter V8, which was supplanted by a 205-hp 4.9-liter V8 in 1969.

 

Kindred Motorworks Bronco Heritage

Kindred’s engineering brief, while respecting as much of the original Bronco’s layout as possible, chose to go with the 5.0-liter Coyote V8 found in today’s Mustang GT. Generating 460 hp, the engine is mated to the Mustang’s 10-speed automatic transmission and feeds all four wheels through an Atlas 2 transfer case.

“The idea here is to turn vintage cars into dependable daily drivers,” said Greg Clark, Kindred’s chief commercial officer. “The Kindred Bronco Heritage makes the experience of owning a vintage automobile as seamless as you would have with a new car.”

The Coyote V8’s characteristic exhaust note adds a newfound element of excitement to the Bronco. That it pulls strongly almost goes without saying. Judicious applications of throttle are advised in around town situations. Given a stretch of open road, the Bronco Heritage springs forward eagerly, happily singing its V8 baritone in response to your right foot.

Steering, which employs the original Bronco’s worm and roller system, is a bit light, with a fair amount of play off center. The design also retains the original Bronco’s suspension layout. As a result, handling could be buttoned down a bit more for my tastes. Of course, given the 96-inch wheelbase and that much power underfoot, this is a vehicle you should drive with your head more so than your heart.

Kindred EV Bronco

However, the Bronco Heritage is just one aspect of Kindred’s business model. With an eye toward the future, the company also offers an electrified version of the venerable Ford SUV.

The Kindred EV Bronco uses a dual motor all-wheel-drive (AWD) powertrain with a total system output of 402 hp and 492 lb-ft of torque. While there have been a large number of DIY EV swaps of this nature over the years, this one is far more sophisticated.

“We spent thousands of hours integrating our EV drivetrain into the Bronco, addressing each system and every detail in the process,” said Seth Friesen, Kindred’s director of research & development. “Everything from weight distribution to the tuning of our suspension and dual motor drivetrain has been developed for this particular model — unlike a standard EV swap that is usually more of a one-size-fits-all approach.”

The EV Bronco uses rack and pinion steering, as well as an all-independent suspension system. This makes its handling more like that of a contemporary SUV. As a result, the electric Kindred Bronco is more immediately responsive to the helm. It also rides better and exhibits greater stability than its combustion-powered sibling. The powertrain is nearly silent in operation and — in typical EV fashion — serves up all of its torque at throttle tip-in.

While I didn’t have an opportunity to do timed zero to 60 runs, the word exhilarating absolutely applies to its performance potential. This, plus the Kindred EV Bronco’s road manners make it my choice, particularly since it feels just as fast as the combustion powered version.

The Grayback Platform

The Bronco EV employs Kindred’s Grayback electric vehicle platform, which is named for the U.S.S. Grayback submarine the US Navy built in what is now Kindred’s 100,000 square-foot facility at the decommissioned Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California.

A modular system perfected over a five-year period, Grayback is specifically designed to support a wide range of current and future Kindred EV models. In fact, the next application of the platform will power the company’s soon to be launched 23-window VW Type 1 Bus, which was originally produced from 1949 to 1967.

Kindred EV VW Bus

When new, the most powerful version of the T1 VW used a rear mounted, 1.5-liter horizontally opposed 4-cylinder internal combustion engine producing 53 hp and 78 lb-ft of torque.

 

While that may have been adequate when the T1 was originally offered, it could hardly be considered adequate by today’s standards. Kindred’s EV interpretation of the iconic T1 VW gets a 294-hp direct drive motor and a 74-kWh battery pack.

Independent rear suspension and a double-wishbone front suspension system with coil over shocks are teamed with four-wheel disc brakes to round out the mechanical changes. These upgrades make the Kindred EV VW Bus go and stop like a modern automobile.

It also has the capability of traveling up to 200 miles on a full charge. The reimagined interior treatment features a detachable table, built-in storage cabinets and a rearview camera. The EV Bus also features a state-of-the-art sound system, wrap-around seating and a swivel chair for the front passenger.

The Best of What Was — Artfully Blended With What Is

All of Kindred’s interior treatments exhibit outstanding fit and finish. While the basic designs are evocative of the originals from which they are derived, the passenger compartments are updated with hand-stitched leather elements and matching heated Recaro seats.

You’ll also find Bluetooth connectivity, power windows and fully integrated A/C — all executed with a look that closely resembles the original models they inhabit.

“It takes approximately 1500 hours to complete one of these handcrafted vehicles,” said Kindred founder Howard. “We build each one by hand, using the intelligent workflow process we call Kindred Blueprint.”

A fully integrated ecosystem of specialized tools designed to capture every dimension of vehicle development, Blueprint is the foundation of Kindred’s production model.

Howard says, “We track everything from first concept sketches to final production instructions, so nothing is lost, everything is optimized and every team member has precisely what they need — exactly when they need it.” This gives Kindred the ability to repeatedly deliver hand-crafted limited production vehicles that consistently reflect efficiency, quality and longevity.

Headaches Gone — Fun Prevails

In so doing, Kindred Motorworks has eliminated the annoyances of owning vintage cars while preserving the characteristics that make them enjoyable. In other words, Kindred gives you the ability to own classic automobiles, without the headaches of keeping them running, which makes them even more fun.

Pricing starts at $225k for the Bronco EV and $199k for the gasoline-powered model. The Kindred EV VW Bus starts at $249k. And yes, those numbers do seem steep at first glance. However, when you examine the way Kindred’s offerings are finished and the work that goes into each one of them, along with the way they go and the fact they are offered through new car dealerships — with bumper-to-bumper warranties — the pricing does make sense.