“20 Years of Forged by Fuller” Exhibit At The Savoy Automobile Museum

Read Full Article Here.

–

Bryan Fuller is a master builder, TV personality, car builder/designer, owner of Fuller Moto, and published author. Hemmings recently had the opportunity to attend the grand opening of the “Forged by Fuller” exhibit at the Savoy Automobile Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. The gallery showcases over 20 years of Bryan’s work.

As a custom car/motorcycle builder, your unique style that brings success can also bring defeat. It’s common for builders to stick to what makes them successful, profitable, and known-for. But there are some special builders who transcend that area of comfort.

Fuller’s builds are difficult to pin down to a specific genre. His builds range from clean, polished resto-mods to wild, aggressive monster machines. Despite the inability to define his work, one will always know a Fuller build upon sight.

“Bicycles were the beginning,” said Fuller. Then his dad bought a Mustang from a local drag racer, James Foster. After that came Bryan’s first car, a chopped-top Model A with a 327cci for only $6,500. It was a hobby, albeit a profitable one, painting friends’ cars for money, until college. He originally intended to become a chiropractor but became frustrated after his first year. “I went to WyoTech and never looked back,” he told us.

Twenty-five years into building cool stuff, he now has a portfolio of eccentric, detailed, and wild cars, motorcycles, and bicycles. His showcase is a look inside his high-energy mind of trying anything that sounds cool, from a two-ton Cadillac hearse, to a vintage Honda CB with hundreds of hours of hand-shaped metal, to an all-wheel-drive, big-block ’32 Ford roadster.

Fuller’s sheer willpower, hard work, talent, and relentlessness has produced a collection of custom machinery that rivals the best builders in the world, and it is now on display at the Savoy for many to enjoy.

THE EXHIBIT

The Savoy Automotive Museum is a beautiful collection that is a part of the Georgia Museums, Inc., which makes Cartersville the smallest US town housing two Smithsonian Affiliate museums. They have a gearhead sensibility, and have seen lightning-fast growth ever since opening in December of 2021.

“I originally approached them because I wanted some bikes at their art museum,” said Fuller. That conversation evolved into an exhibit, “Man, I’ve always wanted to have my collection in one place.”

“We’ve touched a lot of people, but they don’t know what we do because we do a lot of things,” said Fuller. “The goal is to have people see that we’re both into cars and motorcycles. A lot of people think ‘I’m just a car guy’ or ‘I’m just a bike guy’… It’s pretty cool to see something like this before you die,” laughed Fuller. “It normally happens when you’re old.”

The grand opening was a reunion of Fuller’s past, with attendees including Chip Foose, Chris Jacobs, and Courtney Hansen. Including Fuller, this was part of the original crew from the TV show Overhaulin’. Also in attendance was Sam Memmolo of Two Guys Garage‘s early years, World Champion motorcycle drag racer Rickey Gadson, and Corky Coker, to name a few.

SNAPSHOTS

We asked Fuller to give his snapshot reactions to each piece in his display. Here are his answers:

• Texas T: “Long and black.” This was his first custom motorcycle built around 2003.
• Rodan 836: “We cut that up in front of the original owner on Café Racer TV, you should have seen the look on his face, he wanted to vomit, but he liked it afterwards.”
• Daisy Duke: “Short shorts and hot pants.”
• Public Enemy: “Two days and two rolls of duct tape.”
• Kawasabi (aka Hell on Wheels): “My dad’s duffle bag… it was a memorial to my father, a two-seat drag bike. It makes no sense.”
• Formula Full: “Let’s go racing, I hope I get to get that thing out. I over polished this one.”
• Indian Sled: “This was the beginning of doing my best work on personal projects.”
• Shop Truck (aka Georgia Gold): “That’s the one I’m keeping for myself.”
• Ford Sedan Delivery: “We started with a near perfect original Sedan, it was so good the painter thanked me for letting him paint it.”
• Blown Express: “That Studebaker is so gorgeous. It’s a McCulloch-blown 289ci Studebaker with 400 horsepower.”
• Shogun: “Six years of love. It was three of us, I’d make the metal, and sharpie some stuff on there with Totem (an Atlanta-based graffiti artist), then ship it to California for (master engraver Tay) Herrera to do his magic.” Fuller has called this the most expensive CB550 ever, due to amount of man-hours involved.
• 2029: “The first custom motorcycle to use extensive 3D metal printing.”
• The Impaler: “I believe we managed to swap every single bolt on that car to ARP hardware.”
• Chief Ambassador: “I love the mix of polished nickel and bronze patina in one package. It’s a ’69 Moto Guzzi drivetrain with ‘42/’46 Indian parts. It’s a weird mix for how good it looks.”
• Blue Ray: “Our most beautiful project we’ve made.”
• Thundertaker: “The world’s biggest Morrison chassis, and a gigantic sunroof.”
• Motus Monster: “170 horses of terrifying speed.”
• Road Warrior: “One of the first modern sport baggers with Keith Black Magnesium saddle bag lids.” The team trimmed one-third of the real valve covers and then welded them back together to make the lids for the saddle bags.
• Red Beard’s Green Machine: “This one was done for celebrity chef Kevin “Red Beard” Gillespie, he’s a great dude.”
• FMW N8 R7516: “The paint was inspired by Breitling jets. It was built for one of my good buddies in LA.”
• The Bavarian Knight: “One of my favorite bikes. The gas cap is latched like a Grolsch Beer bottle cap, and the seat was made from an old leather jacket.”
• Misty Green: “That Norton was badass. I love the fairing on that bike.” The fairing was hand modeled aluminum and the windscreen cut from a Ducati.
• Double Down: “That is one nasty beast. AWD transfer case from Denali, five-speed, a quick change up front, and a transfer case to clear the big block… It’s so tight in there.”
• Ducati Pro-Street Tracker: “Our first introduction top-level racing.” Fuller Moto built the frames for the Ducati flat track racing team, and asked for permission to reuse the frame gig to make a street tracker.
• Black Flash: “The latest and greatest motorcycle I’ve built, with a 3D printed windscreen, intake stacks, and the fairing tail is made from aluminum.”
• Scout 8K: “That’s the car everybody wants to drive, that’s the best daily, easiest to live with out of all of them.”