Bandit gave the entire staff books on grammar, spelling and punctuation. Whatta mess that caused. Every grammar book handles the topics differently. We couldn’t get it right before, and now we argue about the varied grammatical codes and still get it wrong. That’s not the case in the world of metal work. You either get it right the first time or keep hammering and welding until it’s correct. They’re only various levels of correctness, no rules. As a kid, with three brothers and no parents into bikes or hot rods, Josh Ewing drug a 220 Volt extension cord through his bedroom window, into his Tacoma, Washington, kitchen, pushed the electric stove out of the way and plugged in his stick welder. “I fired it up,” Josh said, “and it dimmed all the lights in my folks’ house.”

He started his craft after buying his first car at 16 years of age, a ’68 Impala. “I had no money to fix it,” Josh said, “so I did it myself.” He started with welding, then bodywork and mechanics. For three years he learned at his first job building hot rods in Auburn, Washington. “Then I spent another year and a half working from Wicked Fabrication,” Josh said. “I have no clue why or how I got into bikes and hot rods. My folks weren’t into it and neither were my brothers.”

During his time in the car shops he built bikes on the side and that end of his craft grew until he was forced to make a decision and opened his own shop in Sumner, Washington just 10 minutes east of Tacoma. His dad was an electrician for the Naval Shipyard and he’s the same age as Bandit, born in ’48. Josh is now 28, married and his first child is on its way. His shop stays busy with predominately metal fabrication. A customer, Marty Mitchell, hauled in this partially dismantled 1946 45 flathead and they started to rework the twisted chassis which led to a complete remake of the front chassis half, then Josh made the tank, the oil bag, the fender, forward controls, fender struts, license plate and taillight mount chain guard and center rear sprocket web. He cleaned and smoothed the stock springer front end and made the caliper mounts.

In addition to a variety of sheet metal working tools Ewing Kustoms house machine shop capabilities with a lathe and milling machine. He enjoys working on early rides but also deals with later bikes with big engines and billet wheels. “We’re predominately a metal fab shop,” Josh explained. They outsource paint, but make some of their seats, except when stitching is required.

We’ll watch as the Ewing shops grows and Josh develops new products, maybe a line of gas tanks and license plates brackets that might be sold through CCI. He’s obviously a talented builder and we hope to feature more of his bikes in the near future. That is, if the old Bandit will allow me to hammer out a story without picking it to death.

On to Page 2...