Category: Shop Talk

Shop Talk: Gateway Bronco Restores the Luster
Seth Burgett’s infatuation with cars started long before he could drive. He remembers first being fascinated by vehicle mechanics as a kid, sitting on an engine piston in his neighbor’s woodshed in central Illinois. By the age of 10, he was installing trailer brakes on a pickup truck.
“It was wired in me from the very beginning,” he says. No surprise, then, he studied engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, with stints at Stanford and MIT and business school at Washington University in St. Louis. He worked for aerospace icon McDonnell Douglas, and later in the medical robotics field, inventing a system for performing heart surgery with a joystick. All the while, cars remained on his mind.
One of Gateway Bronco’s latest rides gets ready to roll home. (Photo Credit: Bryan Birks)
That passion finally became a career after a 5,000-mile road trip across the country in an old Ford Bronco with his then-17-year-old daughter. Burgett launched Gateway Bronco, which transforms vintage Broncos into custom vehicles with an emphasis on modern performance. As CEO and president, Burgett now leads a team of 40 employees who have restored around 200 vehicles over the past nine years.
Using the original frame of a Ford Bronco, Gateway essentially brings the vehicle down to its foundation and rebuilds everything, customizing for collectors and aficionados around the world. We visited with Burgett in the Gateway factory in Hamel, Illinois, a hamlet 32 miles northeast of St. Louis.
Waiting Broncos (Photo Credit: Bryan Birks)
Shop: Gateway Bronco Location: Hamel, Illinois Founded: 2016 Specialty: Custom restored vintage Ford Broncos
Q: When did you first realize that restoring Broncos could be a business?
A; I took a year sabbatical after selling my last company. I started collecting 1967 Shelbys and Broncos. The Bronco’s popularity was growing, and I had some data showing that it was going to become something collectible—a hot market. I had the means and was able to buy 15 original-paint vehicles. In 2016, our oldest daughter wanted to do a road trip from our home in Illinois to Walden Pond in one of my old Broncos with a camper trailer. She said, “Maybe when we get there, we can just turn around and go to California.” It was life-changing. Along that journey, I put up a Facebook page about the trip and 33,000 people started following us. We knew there was something there. I got back from the trip and rented this building with first right of refusal to buy it, and sold my first truck in January 2017.
Q: What attracted you to the Bronco, specifically, given all the other classic cars out there?
A: My parents were schoolteachers and didn’t have any money. They couldn’t afford a four-wheel-drive vehicle. We got a lot of snow back then. We would continually get stuck in these two-wheel drive cars, so I always wanted a four-wheel drive. My daughter wanted a vintage Bronco for her first car, but it’s not super-safe for a 17-year-old girl. It became a challenge to make it a safer vehicle that was easier to drive. It’s a unique vehicle that has a cult following, and our cross-country trip proved that.
Q: How does your build process work?
A: It’s like restoring a house. Instead of taking it down to the studs, we take it down to the foundation. We build everything brand new. If we start with the original chassis, we’ll take it down to the raw metal, we’ll powder-coat it, fix any of the problems on it and make it like new. Everything else on the vehicle is brand new. We’re specializing in creating fully custom vehicles, so customers can add things like jewel-laced fobs if they want. In one, we’re building a locker for a champagne bottle and glasses. Anything people want, we can do it.
Welder Johnny
Boneau, on break.(Photo Credit: Bryan Birks)
Q: What are some of the most important details in your builds?
A: The most important details are the safety components and getting the best drive. Our mission is to create the best drive and the safest vintage Bronco in the world. We were the world’s first to have anti-lock brakes in a restored Bronco, the first to have rack-and-pinion electric steering and electronic stability controls. Making it drive the way people expect to drive a vehicle is our number one priority—always.
Q: If you could hunt down any vintage Bronco in particular, which would it be?
A; The one I’d be looking for is the 1971 Stroppe. The Stroppe Bronco is the Baja Bronco built by Bill Stroppe. He won the Baja 500 and the Baja 1000 off-road races with it, and then created a street version for the public. It’s orange and blue and white and just has such a cool look. Very few were made.
Archival photos capture the heritage. (Photo Credit: Bryan Birks)
Light It Up
For a cool $465,000, customers can get into a LUXE-GT EV, Gateway’s top-of-the-line offering, which pairs high-end interior features with
rugged suspension and a powerful electric motor. Ford Broncos historically didn’t go zero to 60 in under six seconds. They do now.
Building Your Own
Using a 3D configurator, Gateway customers can fully design their own Broncos online—allowing them to customize everything from the fender flares to the roll cage, wheels and dashboard. Build projects typically take about 18 months, though customers can expedite the process for a fee.
This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.
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2025-06-04
Shop Talk: Benchmark Vehicles are Setting the Mark
The Central Eastside is Portland, Oregon’s burly quadrant, a century-plus-old industrial zone full of muscular brick warehouses, a working neighborhood to the core. Duck into one cavernous garage in particular and you’ll find outdoor rigs that match the mood. Imposing Mercedes Sprinter vans fill the space, their finishes matte and futuristic, their interiors on the way to becoming mobile modernist cabins. Benchmark Vehicles began applying a refined finish-carpentry aesthetic and serious gearhead smarts to travel vans in 2014, garnering a following for a style that mixes backwoods brawn with quiet luxury. The work has landed the company on the front page of The New York Times and in the garages of scores of avid outdoorsfolk.
Founder Leland Gilmore sees himself in Benchmark’s audience. Twenty years back, he relocated to Portland from the Bay Area largely for the cycling scene, and today he pilots his own rig up Mount Hood for adventure in all seasons. At a table he built himself, Gilmore shared the story behind these endeavors—and the vehicles his team designs and builds to get folks out there.
Shop: Benchmark Vehicles Location: Portland, Oregon Founded: 2014 Specialty: Sprinter Vans
Benchmark founder Leland Gilmore; steps in the process that take vans from blank walls to road readiness. (Photo Credit: Will Matsuda)
Q: Your background is in woodworking and cabinetry. Why vans?
A: I was doing furniture contracts for Nike and other clients around town. And, kind of on the side, always working on my old cars. I’ve been a car guy my whole life. In around 2014, I was looking to get into the van world, which was pretty unknown at the time. I felt there was a huge need for really beautiful interior design there—everything was sort of the same.
My philosophy was, people want to spend money on their toys. They want a vessel that gets them out into nature and a comfortable space that they can use as a base camp. And I combined my furniture and interior design skills with my automotive skills and decided, okay, I want to create a brand. And we did that basically first, before really having even a business plan.
One van turned into five, turned into 20, turned into … We’ve done more than 100.
Q: Obviously, plenty of folks love vans. Who are Benchmark’s people?
A: Our clients are into mountain biking and cycling in general, skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, triathlons. And those are all things I’ve been passionate about my entire life, so it was easy for me to connect with a group of people with similar interests—maybe they’re just in a different income bracket.
Q: What do they say they want?
A: Some folks come to us with 15 pages of notes—all the things they’ve seen from a hundred different builders. We’ll go through every single one of those. I’ll learn a lot from that person—their wishes and wants. And I try to guide and coach them in the direction of what functionally makes sense, financially makes sense, what works aesthetically and what’s pleasing to be in. Others might just say, I really liked that one.
Photo Credit: Will Matsuda
Q: Likewise, a lot of companies build out road-trip vans these days. What sets yours apart?
A: We have a look, from the outside to the interior. It’s a pretty simple assembly of goods and parts. Our exteriors are all very consistent and have a similar vibe. We don’t stray from certain parts and pieces. We stick with our core components. Our vans—they’re aggressive on the outside. There’s a lot of lighting. We prefer certain colors. The way we put together the exterior finishes and colors are just as important as the interior, and that creates a look that makes people think, “I want to rock that ride.” For interiors, it’s the finishes, the fit, how it all goes together. Lighting is huge—correct placement, the correct color temperature, all the things that set a mood inside the van.
Q: You’ve created a team here. What skill sets are you drawing on?
A: My team’s kind of all over the map from their backgrounds—builders, car enthusiasts, aftermarket junkies who want to put on all the coolest components. And our age range is from 20 to late 40s. We all learn different aspects of what we do from each other. It’s a small crew. We’re all here in the same building every day. We have our team meetings and talk about what we want to see in the next van or what worked in the previous van.
Q: To take a step back from the specifics of your builds, what kind of emotional response are you hoping to foster?
A: When you get in a really beautiful sports car, the second you touch the steering wheel or put your hand on the seat, you can feel the difference. That feeling is sensory—it shifts the chemical balance in your brain, like, okay, I don’t know why I like this, but I really like it. And a lot of times it’s hard to put into words. You get that feeling from being in one of our vans.
Photo Credit: Will Matsuda
Rock and Roll
1. Benchmark recently released a series of roofracks designed for the new (and much-coveted) INEOS Grenadier. In Gilmore’s eyes, the UK-designed, overlanding-oriented SUV is tapping a cultural niche similar to the Sprinter’s adventure-seeking audience. Several of the designs feature integrated light bars.
2. The full description of a Benchmark build is a spec-lover’s dream, detailing the company’s exacting material choices from insulation wool (Havelock) to custom floor-mat sets (Chilewich). A recent project’s kitchen setup rolled out with Le Creuset and YETI gear. Full specs and extensive image galleries for many projects can be scanned at benchmarkvehicles.com.
Photo Credit: Will Matsuda
A Van, A Plan …
Benchmark doesn’t technically sell vans—clients purchase them and hand them over for build out. But the company provides dealer connections and advice.
This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.
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2025-02-12
Shop Talk: Nomaicana Brings A Touch of Silver
Nate Kantor keeps his first Airstream parked outside the Nomadicana warehouse on the western outskirts of Salt Lake City. When days of installing air foam, polishing aluminum and carving cabinetry in the workshop grow long, Kantor sneaks off to this 1974-built beauty, which served as his full-time home when he was a photographer roaming the West. There, he finds inspiration.In particular, a seafoam green guest book, a keepsake from when he rented out his trailer at a different moment in life, reminds him that, even while his designs for one-of-a-kind travel trailers grow more varied and bold over time, his motivation for running his shop remains the same.
Photo Credit: Spenser Heaps
“So many people were able to enjoy this space and have life-changing experiences,” he says, “because it’s a real person’s space, with character and stories behind it.”That marriage of modern mobile living and nostalgia led Kantor to open Nomadicana in 2023. He now salvages and retrofits Airstream trailers with a small team united by the conviction that these silver, spaceship-esque spaces are a traveler’s most sustainable shot at a secure home on wheels. They can withstand alpine conditions, desert heat and the test of time. Best of all, in Kantor’s view, they have stories pre-baked into their shells, with room for plenty more.Q: What inspired your first build?A: I got into all this in 2018 with my partner at the time. Work had us moving back and forth. I think I’ve always romanticized van life for the self-reliance aspect behind it—the idea of being able to park anywhere and get electricity from the sun. But I more or less fell in love with the process because of my Dad. He was always fixing stuff and making it better than it was before. Anytime he’d see a vacuum by a dumpster in our neighborhood, he’d take it. It’d usually be a simple fix, and then he’d give it to someone else. He’s definitely an inspiration. He helped with our first build. We just like to understand something in order to appreciate it. I often take something apart to see how it works. I don’t think he intended to pass that skill down or teach it, it just happened.
Photo Credit: Spenser Heaps
Q: Why salvage vintage Airstreams instead of working with newer trailers?A: They’re made to last—kind of a rare thing in a disposable world. You can find vintage campers of different types, but a lot of them are built with wood and materials that are more likely to have rotted out or deteriorated over time. Airstreams are essentially built like something that could take people across the sky. They’re one of the few structures that holds up over time. The name brand and nostalgic factor also make them desirable. I really like the vintage look. The way things used to be made, it has a different softness to it. I just love learning about materials, trying to improve something that’s already really good and solving any design problems.Q: What’s your build philosophy? A: There’s a common architectural saying that form follows function. I think form is a function. These Airstreams are utilitarian spaces. I think the goal is to be able to live comfortably in nature in spite of any external conditions. I call it designing with decay in mind. We try to avoid things that are glued on, like edge banding on cabinets, because it takes one road trip through Nevada in the summer to delaminate all that. Even the patina of the aluminum has its own beauty to it. It’s a sign of age, but it doesn’t look bad, whereas most materials that builders use now have a lot of plastics that tend to yellow—they don’t age gracefully. My goal is for our work to last another 50 years or longer, and hopefully be enjoyed by a lot of people and passed down. I don’t want it to be just another disposable item.
Photo Credit: Spenser Heaps
Q: What are some standout projects so far? A: It’s been really fun to teach other people how I approach things and get their feedback. In a lot of ways, I see this as a design collective where we get to build really cool stuff. Our first client build took like six months, because everything was so intricate and custom and specific—we really went all out. That’s what got me to realize we needed to figure out ways to do this a little faster, but without sacrificing quality. We were able to do the next one in less than half that time. Now, we’re actually doing a project for a hotel in Colorado where they want eight trailers. Those won’t necessarily be traveling on the road, but will still get a lot of foot traffic. I get excited about that—about creating inspiring spaces for a lot of people to stay in.Learn more about this vintage travel trailer renovation company at nomadicana.co
Photo Credit: Spenser Heaps
Nomadic Notions
1. For a project dubbed “Anza,” the Nomadicana team channeled a Cali desert vibe via white oak, unlacquered brass, Marmoleum flooring, terracotta tile and a light, airy color palette. The 26-foot trailer is also wired for solar, with an expandable 1200wh Battle Born LiFePO4 Deep Cycle battery.2. When Nate Kantor talks of Airstreams being built “like something that could take people across the sky,” he’s referring to the brand’s vaunted “semi-monocoque” construction style. Semi what now? “Monocoque” construction is used in airplane design: frame and body are one, with aluminum skin riveted directly to structural ribs. Airstream’s technique is called “semi-monocoque” because those ribs are fastened to the flat trailer frame, rather than the full-circle ribs of jet construction.
Metal Band
Nomadicana strikes up a communal vibe, offering to help would-be owners find the right rig if needed. Rebuild estimates range from $50,000 to $175,000.
This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.
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2025-01-08