In his many imaginative and unconventional creations, mechanic Mike Fobes dares to be different.
“I don’t build normal anymore. I like to do the wild,” admitted the 51-year-old Auburn man, a certified masters automotive service technician and instructor at Renton Technical College. “I’m always building something. It’s something I enjoy doing.
“I’ve always been good with my hands,” added Fobes, who likes to tinker and experiment in his spacious shop like a mad scientist. “I was lucky enough that my career was my hobby.”
True to character, Fobes’ latest fabrication is unlike any other. Salvaging affordable parts from many sources, he carefully hand-crafted a customized, rotary-powered motorcycle. Chrome-clad “Twisted Evil” glimmers inside Fobes’ shop, the radical chopper stretching nearly 10 feet long, from the narrow front tread to a pair of wide rear tires.
Sitting on solid aluminum billet wheels, the unorthodox bike features a gas tank tucked in the rear fender and a custom radiator occupying the tank’s customary spot. There is front independent suspension, a racing transmission and two shifters – one for high and low, the other for forward and reverse. A powerful Mazda RX7 rotary engine produces 175 horsepower.
A signature devil’s tail from twisted frame rail ends gives the motorcycle a somewhat menacing accent.
No kickstand is required.
Fobes can only grin at the anomaly.
“It’s ridiculous,” he said of his proud bike, which evolved over a three-year span, from concept to completion. “As I’m building it in my head, things changed throughout. As I’m imagining it, I looked for parts. I’m always looking for good deals to keep expenses down.”
Fobes plans to paint the bike black, polish and bring it to the masses for a little show and tell, including an exhibit at Los Angeles next year. The beast was built more for looks than high-speed performance, Fobes insisted.
The innovative chopper caught the eye of a Snap-on Tools representative who stopped by the college. He urged Fobes to enter the machine in the Snap-on Tech Toys 2012 national wall calendar. A persuaded Fobes just beat the contest’s deadline.
“Twisted Evil” won a spot, embracing the month of June.
Fobes, the maker of hotrods and a longtime classic car connoisseur, got the itch to buy a bike. But conventional motorcycles proved too expensive, so Fobes decided to customize one himself.
“And I thought, ‘There’s not a lot of rotary engine-powered (bikes),'” he said.
Fobes’ wife, Karen, suspected he was up to something, even when the crafty technician decided to take an evening “fab” class at the college shop to build the bike.
At first, “she had no idea I was making this thing,” Fobes said.
Eventually, she discovered the bike. It was no surprise.
Fobes has a history of fixing and making things. He turned wrenches professionally for 20 years before becoming a teacher. He is in the Automotive Hall of Fame in Midland, Mich., as a world-class technician certified in many testing categories.
Mustang marriage
His love affair with machines began when he bought, restored and maintained a 1967 Mustang, his first beloved trophy car that received national magazine attention.
He also got into dirt bikes, motorcycles and other things that simply roar.
Fobes turned his considerable mechanical skills to other characters, especially around Halloween. The family haunted house is legendary in Fobes’ rural southwest Auburn neighborhood.
Over the years, Fobes created curiosity for trick-or-treaters. Among his mechanical monsters were a 500-pound robot with red eyes and a Gatling gun; a talking head with glowing eyes; a snarling and leaping mechanical mastiff; and a fire-breathing dragon.
A Fobes’ favorite, Pete the Dragon, crouched on the roof and coughed up long flames.
“It’s not like I always was (different), it’s just I really enjoyed Halloween,” Fobes said. “For me, it was so fun because you’ve got to go out, cause a little trouble and scare some people.”
The spooky theme carried over into his hotrod making. He built a dual-casket-seated “Tomb for Two” street rod loosely based on the legendary DRAG-U-LA hotrod. The Ford-powered, fuel-injected hotrod, was a local car show hit and still occupies Fobes’ shop.
Fobes already is working on his next project – a twin V-12 street rod, reminiscent of the hearse-hull Boot Hill Express show rod of yesteryear.
Fobes acknowledges his work has some spooky spice, but that’s just a part of what makes his creations unique and appealing.
For someone gifted with his hands, being different is OK.
“Your parents told you when you were young, ‘Don’t be like everybody else,'” Fobes said. “Well … that’s me.”