By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
A new series on auto restoration called “Gear Dogs” on the Discovery Channel features one of Hays’ very own.
Lance Moland, a graduate of Hays High School, is a mechanic for car fanatic Nate Boyer and his shop Kultured Custom Restorations. Moland has been with the Gardner, Kansas, company since 2012.
This is the second series that has come out of the Kultured Custom shop. “Chop, Cut, Rebuild” aired on the MAVTV in 2016.
The latest series is based on a new venture from Moland’s boss, Boyer, which he has dubbed the “The Doghouse.” It is a community garage where professionals or “dogs” like Moland are teamed with hobbyists, who can rent space or cut the shop in a portion of the proceeds from a flip.
The shop provides the space, equipment and the know-how to help the hobbyists reach their restoration goals.
Moland said Boyer, who he called the bearded wonder, saw the business opportunity in what are being called condo garages when someone asked him for space to finish a restoration project. Similar businesses are popping up around the country.
“It is kind of country club for car enthusiasts,” Moland said. … “There are guys who just don’t have the space or quite the right tools to finish their project so it is just sitting in their garage. Why not give them a spot they can come in and rent or if they want to flip their vehicle, Nate can partner up on that.”
Moland, 32, does a little bit of everything around the shop. He strips the cars down, does metal and body work, repairs chaissis, and makes mechanical repairs.
“I can take a car from an old project to brand new condition, customized, restored or whatever start to finish,” he said.
He said he really loves his job.
“There is entirely too much stress in building cars from the ground up—customizing things, especially chaissis and safety stuff and suspension stuff,” he said. “There is so much stress that if you don’t love it, there are is no point in doing it.
“You see a lot of that coming through on the show. It seems like we joke around a lot, we joke and we laugh, but you have to. You have to have a hell of a sense of humor to put up with all of it.”
He started working as a small engine mechanic during high school at True Value in Hays. He did the auto technical program in high school and then graduated from v0-tech in 2005. He also worked for Mike Keller at Big Creek Restoration, which he said was the hardest job he had to leave. He moved to the Lawrence area, where his wife was hired to teach.
Since he started working for Boyer, he has worked on some unusual vehicles. Surprisingly the shop has worked on a number of British cars, including Triumphs and MGs. Victoria British, a major supplier of British restoration parts in the U.S. is located in Lenexa.
The first episode, which aired on Monday, featured a ’67 Plymouth Belvedere. The shop hopped it up and lifted the front end up with a straight axle. Moland said he had a lot of fun on that project and it was one of the favorite projects the shop built for the season.
This season you will also see a restoration of a 1980 Jeep Honcho, a model that viewers may recognize as the vehicle that gets thrown into the ditch in the movie “Twister.” A ’48 Chevy bread van will be transformed in one of the later episodes of season into a hot rod. Viewers can also tune in to an episode featuring a 1956 Chevy Nomad.
It has taken about two years from the time the production company did the sizzle, which is basically what the production company shows to the network, until the show was ready to air. The show premiered on Discovery Hays Eagle Channel 65, HD 665 Monday with shows continuing weekly at 9 p.m. Mondays.
The episodes that are airing now where shot in the spring of this year.
Shooting a TV series does add work to the shop. The mechanics still have to keep the work flowing at Kultured Custom and keep customers happy while working with TV crews.
Moland has put in some long hours to finish projects on time for the series, which can be challenging while trying to balance a family life.
Moland met his wife, Eryn Norton, in Hays. They have one small child with another on the way. The couple was in Hays over the holiday weekend visiting relatives.
Moland said he was a little hesitant about filming Gear Dogs at first.
“We saw the light,” he said. “It is a good opportunity for publicity and to have people see what we are doing and have some fun with it.”