One stop,
custom shop.
We're Kohl Customs — a restoration and custom build workshop on State Highway 1 at Kuku, a few minutes south of Levin. We've been doing this since 2006.
Everything in one building.
The name isn't a slogan we came up with for a website. It's how the shop is set up.
Body and paint, rust repair and sheet-metal fabrication, chassis work, full mechanical, auto electrical, custom upholstery, Cerakote and certification all happen under this roof. A car doesn't get sent down the road to a trimmer and then to a sparky and then back to us with three sets of opinions attached to it.
That matters most on the jobs nobody enjoys. When the wiring, the panel work and the trim all have to agree with each other — and they always do on an old car — having them in the same building is the difference between a build that comes together and one that drags.
Since day one
Same trade, same part of the country. Nearly twenty years of restorations, custom builds and the panel and paint work that goes with them.
From 31 Google reviews
Left by people who've actually had work done here. We'd rather point you at those than write our own testimonials.
Featured in the magazine
NZV8 has featured our work for classic car restoration and custom body and paint.
No surprises halfway through.
- 01You tell us about the car What it is, what you want out of it, where it is, and photos — especially of anything you're already worried about.
- 02We come back with a straight answer Including whether it's a job for this shop. If a shell isn't worth what you'd have to spend on it, we'd rather say so up front.
- 03The car comes to Kuku Driven, trailered or transported. We're not mobile — the tools, the booth and the fabrication gear are all here.
- 04It gets built Assessed properly first, then worked through in order — metal, mechanical, wiring, paint, trim — with certification planned in rather than bolted on at the end.
- 05You get a finished car Certified, complied where it needs to be, and done — not a project that still needs a weekend of sorting.
Levin is where we are.
Not where we stop.
We're an hour north of Wellington on State Highway 1, which makes us straightforward to get to from the whole lower North Island — Levin, Ōtaki, the Kāpiti Coast, Palmerston North, Whanganui and Wellington itself.
Beyond that, cars come to us from further afield, including the top of the country. If yours isn't drivable or you're nowhere near us, tell us where it is when you enquire and we'll help arrange transport in and back out again.
What we don't do is come to you. The booth, the fabrication gear and the trim shop are all here, and that's the only way the work gets done to the standard we want to put our name on.
Drop in.
If you're local or passing through on SH1, you're welcome to come and look at what's on the floor. Give us a ring first so somebody's free to talk to you properly rather than shouting over a grinder.
Got a car worth doing?
Send it through with a few photos and we'll give you an honest read on it.