Velocity TV’s Bitchin’ Rides is one of the most-watched car renovation shows around. Few can match the technical and artistic skills that David Kindig and his team showcase at their custom auto shop. Everyone on the show is so incredibly talented that it’s hard to pick a favorite one.
That being said, one guy that stood out was Manuel Bellazetin—not only was his paintwork out of this world but his sense of humor was also something that fans quickly took to.
But, we only see him a couple of times on season 1 after which the bad-ass painter completely disappears from our screens. So what happened to Manuel from Kindig-It?
Where is Kindig It Based?
Before dishing on Manuel Bellazetin’s whereabouts, let’s do a quick recap of the show where we first met him. So, Kindig It is a custom auto shop based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is named after its owner, David Kindig.
As fans can attest, the team at Kindig It has mastered the art of renovating and remodeling hot rods and classics from scratch resulting is beautiful and functional masterpieces.
David ‘Dave’ Kindig started his shop in 1999 and gradually built a reputation and a solid customer base, which also includes celebrities.
By the time Velocity Channel executives got wind of him, he wasn’t hurting for work but the opportunity that came with the Bitchin’ Rides show, which aired in 2014, would catapult him to international fame.
Today, the hit TV show airs in more than 30 countries. “It is a little hard to hide, I guess, with the goatee,” he said of his newfound stardom.
Besides being TV famous, the guys at Kindig-It Design have earned numerous awards including the Grand National Roadster Show’s Al Slonaker Award, the Utah AutoRama’s Utah’s Finest, the Boise Roadster Show’s Master Builder Award among others.
Is Bitchin’ Rides Real?
With so many inauthentic car reno shows out there, one can’t help but wonder whether the spectacular work we see the Kindig-It team do is the real deal.
Well, Dave says that the show is genuine. Unlike other shows that make it look like it takes just a couple of days to renovate a car into a classic masterpiece, the Kindig-It team actually takes up to a year or more, sometimes, to complete a project.
“Velocity Channel doesn’t pay me (to renovate the cars), the customers do. They just film what we do, he said.”
