The latest custom creation to spring from the Ringbrothers hot rod emporium is a '72 AMC Javelin AMX Jim and Mike Ring had drooled over since they were kids watching it drive around their small-town Wisconsin neighborhood. "We only got it a year ago, but it seems like it's been in our life forever," says Jim Ring, who bought it from a guy who purchased it new in 1972 and hung on to it all these years. "I was never an AMX guy. I always thought they were cool cars – who wouldn't? – but I never owned one. One day I was cooking fish at a Friday night fish fry at my church and the original owner was there and of course I asked him if he still had the car. He said, 'Yeah, in my basement. You want to buy it?' and that was it. We had to have it. He was aware of what we do and was excited to see it come back to life."

Dominator EFI system. "All the Holley EFI components turned this thing into a gentle giant," Jim says. "You'd never know the engine has almost 1,100 HP … until you put your foot in the gas and the tires practically explode. Holley EFI made the car drivable, predictable, and just a pleasure to drive." Unveiled at the 2017 SEMA Show, Defiant was completed in less than a year – it had to be to make the SEMA Show deadline. "It takes so much time and money to build something like this. We knew we were really biting off a lot with this project – more than once we wondered if it was too much, and at times it was pretty stressful. Most guys who attempt something like this take two or three years and spend two and a half or three million dollars. We didn't spend anything close to that, but I can tell you how many man-hours went into this project: 5,000."