Jim

Jim has been working for KevinsOffRoad.com since 2003 as our lead welder and parts manufacturer. Jim has been welding and building auto parts for over 40 years. He has loved working with vehicles since he was young. As a teenager, Jim loved to build and race cars. In the photo below, Jim is shown driving a race car that he built when he was 17. He graduated from High School in 1974 and as a 17-year-old he went around working for various shops and garages. At age 18, he stopped working on cars, (other than his own) and began metalworking.  He attended Hobart welding school and then, in 1983, he enlisted in the AirForce. He spent 20 years in the service as an F-16 Avionics Technician. Jim retired from the AirForce in 2003 and met Kevin that same year when he began to build parts for KevinsOffRoad.com Jim told us a story about the early days of working for KOR. He said that after Kevin hired him, he worked in the fab shop for about 2 weeks and one day Kevin came to him and said, "I need to make a trip to Chicago. Here are the keys to the shop."  Jim was shocked at the level of trust Kevin was placing in him after just a short amount of time on the job. He spent the next week keeping himself very busy building Track Bar Conversion Kits (still a top seller on KOR's website) and made sure to lock-up the shop every night.  It turns out Kevin's trust was well-placed and Jim has been an integral part of the KOR team ever since. Jim continues to make quality parts for KOR and he also stays busy delivering parts to powdercoating and then to the warehouse, for delivery to our customers all over the world. He really enjoys working with Kevin on concepts for new parts and helping fill special orders or adapt a part to work better based on customer feedback. For example, when he and Kevin made the original Tire Carrier for XJs, they made it flat, but based on customer feedback, they changed the design so that it peaks up a few degrees and customers find that the new design works better. When he's not working, Jim enjoys golfing.  His best score ever was 10 over par, which he scored in 1982 while stationed in Florida.   He is also a big race fan and still enjoys going to see all kinds of races including Nascar, Indy cars, short track and the NHRA Drag Races.