It’s not hard to imagine that this classic car devotion started back when they were just teenagers.
“The high school parking lot was full of them, so obviously we all wanted to join that racket of having them,” Daryl Francoeur of 360 Fabrication told This is BC.
“It’s kind of all I know to be honest with you,” his brother and co-owner Rick Francoeur added.
Decades later they have built one of the biggest hotrod shops in the country.
“Variety is kind of the key to our success,” said Daryl.
But it was actually some years later in life before they came together. While fixing up their own cars in the driveway the brothers decided it was time to build something new.
“We just basically came to the conclusion that, why are we working day and night,” said Daryl.
“I said it’s now or never, let’s go for it,” added Rick.
360 Fabrication was born.
It’s been 18 years in operation, with the brothers winning over a thousand different awards for their creations.
“Customers are always texting or emailing us from wherever to say, ‘hey I just won best in show, or best in paint or they won something’,” Rick said.
They even got a prized 1970 Chevelle in the popular Forza video game.
“It was fun driving it sideways for real and driving it sideways in the video game for sure,” said Rick.
All makes and models from all over North America keep rolling through the door.
“I wish we had more space,” said Daryl.
It’s been a long road of success for a couple of car-crazed kids from Port Alberni.
“The motivation was always there to get there, we just didn’t know the path yet,” said Rick. “I think we’re past what our dreams were at this point. We just have to pinch ourselves every once in a while.”
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
