Five Minutes with…Steve Cook of Steve Cook Creations
Steve Cook is the perfect example speaking softly while making a big impact. He’s been crafting award-winning vehicles out of his Oklahoma City-based shop, Steve Cook Creations, for more than 30 years, though you’ll never hear him bragging about it. He has a reserved demeanor and lets his builds do the talking.
Steve’s father was a drag racer, so he grew up around drag strips. Steve was more drawn to the elaborate paint jobs than the elapsed times, but he found a competitive outlet in motocross racing. That’s where he met his wife, Kim, who convinced him to help her rebuild her ’46 Ford coupe. They’ve been together ever since.
Steve says starting a hot rod shop was initially met with skepticism. “Here in Oklahoma, there was nobody doing what I was doing,” he says. “Everybody thought I was crazy, saying I was taking too long, was never going to make any money.” Three decades later, he has a Ridler Award, Goodguys Top 12 honors, and Pebble Beach accolades to prove them wrong. The “Bespoke” ’59 Impala his shop built for David Rush won the 2024 Al Slonaker Memorial Award and was recently named the Vintage Air Custom Rod of the Year.
We recently caught up with Steve to talk awards, industry changes, and attention to detail.
Goodguys: Your year began with winning the Slonaker Award and hasn’t slowed down. Do you still enjoy events?
Cook: Yeah, I really do. That’s kind of our extended family – the people we connect the most with and enjoy. It’s something Kim and I both look forward to.
GG: What are some of the biggest changes you’ve noticed in hot rodding over the past three decades?
Cook: A lot of it is TV and social media. That’s passed me by, and I don’t think that’s totally a bad thing. The technology part of things is different now, too. I started building cars out of salvage yards. I’d go get a rearend or an old engine, and then go get it machined. Now you buy crate engines. All that stuff has changed tremendously. The vendors have their finger on what you really need.
GG: Has winning awards like the Ridler, Slonaker, or Goodguys Top 12 honors changed how you do things?
Cook: It makes a lot of difference. Not so much in your pocketbook, but it makes you feel like you’re not crazy. You gain confidence – you trust the process. I’m very humble. It took me a long time to figure out customers were coming to me for a reason. I kinda use that to an advantage now. I can tell customers to let me do what I’m doing, because I feel like we know this car better than anybody. We’ve spent every day, 12-15 hours a day with that car.
Those kinds of awards put me on the map. We have people come in here from Australia; you know, they go to Bonneville and then stop by when they’re traveling the country. I don’t think they’d come find me if we’d never won those awards. They wouldn’t know who I was.
GG: What changes do you see coming in the next decade?
Cook: I think you guys at Goodguys are doing it. You’re trying to have fun. I think somewhere in the middle of things, I almost lost sight of that. If you’re not enjoying it, what good is it? This is supposed to be a hobby. From what I can see, that’s exactly what you guys are doing. We try to do that with our customers. Let’s figure out how to make this a positive thing.
Also, the builders are getting better and younger. And that’s exciting. There’s nothing that makes me feel better than to keep in contact with that next generation coming up. I just hired a 20-year-old, and I enjoy that. I think we’re all going to have to be a little open minded about things.
GG: Your wife Kim has played a big role in the shop’s success. What do you think you’d be doing if she hadn’t talked you into rebuilding her ’46 Ford way back when?
Cook: Kim says it would be something competitive. She’s probably right. And really, the competitiveness is just me against me. What can I do to improve?
I would definitely be doing something with cars. My dad passed away about a year and a half ago, and the best thing he gave me was the passion for cars. I got to go to drag strips all over the country and see Funny Cars and dragsters and beautiful paint jobs. I was around that a lot. I knew this was what I wanted to do.
GG: What’s your favorite part of the build process?
Cook: It’s all of it, because every step gets you closer to what you feel like you know it’s going to look like.
GG: Your builds are known for subtlety and detail. Is there such a thing as being too subtle?
Cook: No. You’re building upon each thing. When you change one thing, it’s going to make you look at every other thing differently. I think I enjoy it more when people walk up to our builds and don’t even realize anything’s been done. If somebody can point out everything we’ve done, then we didn’t do a very good job. I think it fits my personality. I don’t want to stick out, but I want to make a difference.
GG: You’ve kept your shop team small. Why?
Cook: Probably because that’s about all I can handle. I feel like when I had more people, I wasn’t putting out the car I wanted. You get too far removed from it. If I start managing people, I’m not working on cars, and I get frustrated.
GG: What’s the best piece of advice you can give a young builder or do-it-yourself hot rodder?
Cook: To do whatever you feel called to do. Do what you think is right. Self-doubt creeps in too quick. If you feel led to do something, you just gotta do it. Because that may be the next greatest thing. That’s what’s going to separate you down the road.
