Walker Showcases Borderline Mustang in Las Vegas
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By Emily Bontrager
There are many car enthusiasts out there that have a love for automobiles. Brent Walker is one of those people. He has always liked working with his hands and fixing things.
Brent, 66, is from Memphis, Missouri. For 40 years, Brent ran a successful business in the area called Walker Motors Collision Repair, until he sold it and retired.
“I have been repairing collision damaged cars for my whole adult life,” Brent said.
“In my career, the part I liked the most was making our customers’ cars whole again. As far as the show cars, and I have had two or three, the joy is building them.”
While at a car show with one of his friends, Larry Kelso, Brent met Tim McCarthy who is the CEO and founder of Hushmat and Zycoat. The two men started talking about a show car Brent wanted to build when he retired.
“He wanted to know if I could have it finished in time to have it in Vegas at his booth at SEMA in Central Hall for the 2023 SEMA Show,” Brent said.
Brent decided to start building the show car so he could display it at the SEMA Show.
“I have built so many nice cars and worked on so many nice cars for customers over the years, that I wanted to build a show car for myself after I retired. But I never expected to get invited to go to SEMA,” Brent said.
The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show is held at the Las Vegas Convention Center and is one of the largest conventions of its kind in the world.
“People come from all over the world and they set up booths. These are manufacturers that are looking for people to distribute their products,” Brent explained.
This year’s SEMA Show was held on October 31 through November 3.
For 22 months and over 4,100 hours of work, Brent finished his build on his Borderline Mustang to be showcased at this year’s SEMA Show.
Brent built the Mustang in his garage and customized the car with his favorite Mustang parts, spanning from 2005 to 2023.
“The car has a 2010 front clip, a 2008 rear clip, and a 2020 roof. The driveline is a 2014 Shelby GT500, 700 plus horsepower,” Brent explained.
“I cut the sides off the car and widened it two inches on each side, all in steel. The firewall and the transmission tunnel dash are all moved back four inches and the car has a full roll cage.”
In total, Brent’s Mustang has over 200 modifications!
“It is billed as the most highly modified S197 Mustang in the world,” Brent said.
Going to the SEMA Show was a once in a lifetime experience for Brent and he is excited that he had the opportunity to experience the convention.
During the convention, a contest was held for the Battle of the Builders, which Brent entered. With his Mustang, Brent made the first cut, and he is proud of making it that far since some of the best automobiles are featured at the convention. The Mustang was also recognized by Autoweek as a top 10 Mustang during the convention.
“Autoweek Magazine chose it as one of the top 10, I will use their words, ‘Most magnificent Mustangs at SEMA,’” Brent said.
This will not be the only show that Brent’s Mustang will be displayed at. He plans to take the Borderline Mustang to more shows in the future. In late March of next year, Brent is taking the car to Ponies in the Smokies, which is held in Sevierville, Tennessee.
Without a great support system and sponsors, Brent’s dream car would have been hard to finish on his own. He first would like to thank his wife Charlotte for her support along the way.
“Without her support it wouldn’t have been fun, and it wouldn’t have been possible,” Brent said.
Brent would also like to thank Rick and Becky Walker at R’s 2 Upholstery in Seymour, Iowa who did the interior of the car. He also would like to thank his friends Larry Kelso, Rick Webber, Howard Harvey, and Shane Henson for helping build the car.
As someone who has worked on cars for many years and has now built his own modified Mustang, Brent has some advice for car enthusiasts who want to build their own dream vehicle in the future.
“Don’t be afraid. Build your own dream, not somebody else’s. Use your own vision,” Brent said.
