Fargo - Jon Husebye’s career path has put him back in the driver’s seat.
And under the dash.
And in the backseat.
Husebye operates Street Rod Innovations, a custom fabrication and upholstery shop at 1701 1st Ave. N., Fargo.
Through partnerships with businesses like the Hot Rod Shop of Fargo, Husebye provides custom interiors, often starting with drawings and designs that Husebye then carries through to a completed project.
He draws on 12 years of experience doing similar work for Site on Sound in Fargo, a custom sound-installation company he left a few years ago to set up an engine repair business called Jon’s Recreation Repair.
In 2012, Husebye rekindled his connection with Site on Sound when that company invited him to help with a year-long project customizing a Chevy pickup truck for RealTruck.com, a Jamestown, N.D., based e-commerce company specializing in aftermarket pickup truck accessories.
Now a show truck, the pickup is used for things like presentations at technical colleges to show students the kinds of things possible when it comes to vehicle customization.
The project helped steer Husebye back to custom fabrication and he ended up dropping Jon’s Recreation Repair to focus on Street Rod Innovations.
In addition to working on hot rods, Street Rod Innovations also does work for SnoBear USA, which makes track-driven recreational vehicles designed to traverse the far reaches of the Great White North.
The company sends Husebye its SnoBear cabs and he spruces up the interiors.
“It’s a fiberglass shell impregnated with foam, so it’s buoyant,” Huseby said, describing the shells.
“If they break through the ice, it will float,” Husebye said, referring to the vehicles that carry ice fishermen to their favorite fishing spots in places like northern Canada.
Husebye is an angler himself and his pastime inspired a new sideline he is developing with business partner Jamie Bakken that will sell custom gear racks for all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles.
The company, which will be called Greenbackracks.com, will focus on racks to hold things like auger extensions for drilling holes in ice.
It will also sell other ice fishing accessories.
Husebye said people who ice fish in the far north quickly wear out auger extensions because of the depth of ice they must drill through.
“The ice is, like, seven feet thick up there. And it’s cold, 30-40 below zero,” Husebye said.
While vehicle interiors are his focus these days, Husebye still tinkers with and rides motorized toys.
“I still play with snowmobiles, the old stuff,” Husebye said.
The phone number for Street Rod Innovations is (701) 318-0709.
