To better understand how FIKSE has acquired its new vigor, let’s meet Brant Gladstone, the CEO. His answers to my questions will be in italics throughout the remainder of the article, starting on the page. If you also want to see some of the FIKSE-equipped professional road-race cars and hotrods (as well as get a sneak peak into my next new project!), click on the next page!
7 comments
Wow! What a great story and throw back. I remember that black e36 so well and often site it as being the perfect turbo setup at the time for the M3.
Can’t thank you enough for your feedback. With stories like this one tends to wonder if it’s too much for the general audience. I knew for the some of the younger crowd it was going to be, but it meant enough to me that–in hopes of it being for a few others who understand–that I wanted to relive it all, and try to sincerely portray in these pages what I was feeling. And the start of the just-announced GTR R33 project will be very nostalgic for me as well. That should be up any day (already completed the first 3 parts). I’ve really enjoyed these past few weeks of writing, also having not done so in a few years. Thanks Andre!
I like it when wheels serve a purpose other than looking cool.
Heartwarming to read about the history of FIKSE as I´m also employed in the automotive aftermarket.
awesome, thank you Twist! If you wish, feel free to share with us what you do, too.
Man that is SUCH a throwback! I remember having all those EE and CC magazines. Maybe still have some at my parents house. The first time I saw Fikse wheels was on an FD RX7 built by a renown RX7 tunner, maybe Pettit? They were polished FM5s on a yellow car…gorgeous! I ended up being between Fikses or Kinesis wheels for my ride back them but ended up going with Kinesis K10s.
Had a bit of a run in with AA back in the day too. I applied for an internship there in college but ended up down the road a ways at Mosler Engineering building the molds/parts for the first MT900s.
This article definitively brought back a whole lot of memories!
haha, yes! I remember Kinesis, too. It was the Kinesis/Fikse/HRE/Forgeline battle, it seemed. So get this, AA had a customer that needed to get rid of his K20s. Had them for sale, and no one bought them. In his impatience, he asked AA to find someone to straight-up trade them for E36 M3 contour ***stockers***, because he wanted to go back to stock. They called me and I jumped in that car so fast lol. So that’s how I ended up with my Kinesis K20s (on my first Estoril blue M3). They were impeccable, too. Yes, that’ll never happen again. And yes the Moslers (Raptor was it?). That was hot stuff. There’s one I see here in KC a couple times a year.
I love the way, at a glance, it looks like smaller diameter wheels with meaty af tires!