Giving Young Gearheads the Green Light to a Better Future

Santa Barbara native Kevin Haeberle has been a self-described “gearhead” ever since his dad taught him how to work on cars while back in grade school.  

“I got hit with the passion and it just kept growing,” Haeberle says. After honing his skills in shop class at the local high school, he received accreditation as a fabricator and body/paint technician at Wyoming Technical Institute. Then, after graduating top of his class, he was selected to be one of eight people chosen each year to attend the BMW STEP program, where he built prototypes and movie cars and eventually went on to work building specialty cars for Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin. He even restored and painted famed racecar driver Carroll Shelby’s personal Cobra, the Super Snake, among multiple other historically significant vehicles throughout his career. 

But school-aged gearheads, like Haeberle, simply don’t have the opportunities he had. In the late 2000s, Santa Barbara high schools cut auto shop and many vocational training programs from the curriculum.

“Kids are pushed to go to college and go get a degree,” Haeberle says. “It’s created a void for people who want to work in the trades, get their hands dirty, and work hard at actually making or fixing things. And now there’s a real shortage of technicians in the workforce.”

Wanting to pass on his knowledge and his passion, Haeberle turned a casual conversation with another car enthusiast at his church into the catalyst for creating The Community Hot Rod Project. The nonprofit’s free programs teach youth, and the young at heart, automotive vocational skills and how to build, restore, and fabricate classic cars and more in a positive, supportive environment. 

Launched in 2021 with five friends in Haeberle’s living room, The Community Hot Rod now boasts almost 100 all-volunteer members – including mechanics, business owners, aerospace engineers, law enforcement, and church members. 

“One of our mottos is, put down your phone and grab a tool. There’s nothing like getting your hands dirty and working next to others in getting a job done,” says Haeberle. “It’s not just how to work on cars – we’re teaching life-building skills.”