OUR STORY
Passion Built on the Pursuit of Perfection
At Cassar Performance & Design, our story isn’t just about cars — it’s about legacy. It’s about a fire that was passed down through generations, burning in the hands of craftsmen who lived by their tools, took pride in their work, and believed that greatness came not from shortcuts, but from commitment to detail, heart, and grit.
This story begins long before our first build. It starts in garages lit by bare bulbs, where fathers and sons turned wrenches late into the night. It starts with four generations of tradesmen — blacksmiths, mechanics, welders, and fabricators — who built with conviction and lived by a code: do it right, or don’t do it at all.
Our founder, Kevin Cassar, inherited that code. Raised on Midwestern values with a deep reverence for faith, family, and the American Dream, Kevin didn’t just fall in love with cars — he fell in love with what they represent: freedom, power, rebellion, art, and the roar of individuality. He spent his life studying them, wrenching on them, designing them, and understanding the soul of what makes a machine legendary.
Cassar Performance & Design was born from this lineage and forged with a mission:
To merge old-school muscle with modern precision.
To turn raw steel into rolling legacy.
To build machines that honor the past, dominate the present, and inspire the future.
But this was never meant to be just another custom shop.
This is a standard. A movement. A declaration that American craftsmanship is alive and thriving.
Every line we sketch. Every weld we lay. Every build we deliver — it’s all part of something greater:
A promise to our clients that their dreams will be built with soul.
A commitment to uphold the legacy of those who came before us.
And a belief that perfection isn’t a destination — it’s a pursuit worth living for.
We don’t just build cars.
We build symbols.
We build legacies.
We build machines that make history — and then rewrite it.
Our Founders Story
Where Passion, Purpose, and Legacy Drive Every Build
At Cassar Performance & Design, our story isn’t just about cars — it’s about carrying forward a legacy, igniting a passion, and building something that will stand the test of time.
Our founder, Kevin Cassar, was born with a love for horsepower in his blood and a spirit built for craftsmanship. Growing up between the sun-soaked roads of Arizona and the soul-filled heartlands of Michigan, Kevin was immersed in a world where American Muscle wasn’t just admired — it was a way of life. Legendary stories of the Ford Mustang, the growl of a V8 on a crisp morning, and the timeless spirit of classic performance vehicles became woven into the fabric of who he was.
But Cassar Performance & Design was never just about turning wrenches. It was about honoring a legacy that came before him — generations of hardworking, blue-collar tradesmen, patriots, and innovators. Men like Kevin’s grandfather, who spent 35 years working for Ford Motor Company, and uncles who lived and breathed the automotive trades, teaching the values of pride in workmanship, attention to detail, and the quiet power of doing things right the first time.
From a young age, Kevin absorbed every ounce of this world — hands greasy from rebuilding engines, late nights studying chassis engineering, and endless hours sketching designs for the cars he dreamed of bringing to life. With a spirit of self-reliance instilled in him by family mentors, Kevin taught himself the delicate balance between art and engineering, between tradition and innovation. Every lesson learned, every car built, was a step toward something greater.
There were moments along the way that forever sealed his destiny.
The first time Kevin laid eyes on a 2003 Ford Mustang SVT Terminator Cobra, it was like lightning striking his soul. The menacing whine of the Eaton supercharger, the brutal torque, the aggressive stance — it wasn’t just a car; it was a declaration. From that day forward, Kevin knew that high-performance American muscle wasn’t just a passion — it was his purpose.
Not long after, another sound grabbed hold of his heart: the deep, thunderous, rhythmic chop of a big-cammed Chevrolet LS V8. That unmistakable lope, the raw mechanical heartbeat of American engineering at its finest, captured Kevin’s imagination and never let go. It was a sound that spoke of power, rebellion, and the eternal pursuit of perfection — and it became a signature influence in the builds he would come to create.
In 2021, Kevin established Cassar Performance & Design — a bold new chapter built on decades of family heritage. CPD was born from a relentless pursuit of excellence, a devotion to American craftsmanship, and a dream far bigger than the walls of any one garage. It carried forward the spirit of Cassar Brothers Garage, a symbol of the family’s generational roots in the automotive trades, and transformed it into a modern vision for performance, restoration, and innovation.
Today, Cassar Performance & Design stands as a living testament to that dream. Kevin leads a hand-picked team of builders, designers, engineers, and enthusiasts who share the same DNA: an unwavering commitment to precision, creativity, and honoring the soul of American performance vehicles.
But for Kevin, CPD isn’t just a company — it’s a calling. It’s about building something real in a world that’s too often disposable. It’s about forging relationships with fellow enthusiasts, restoring dreams, and designing future classics. It's about proving that American muscle, innovation, and pride aren't relics of the past — they are the foundation of the future.
At Cassar Performance & Design, every car we touch carries more than just horsepower — it carries heart, heritage, and a spirit that refuses to be forgotten.
This is more than our founder’s story.
It’s our promise.
To build, to design, and to drive — with passion, with precision, and with pride.
Welcome to Cassar Performance & Design.
Welcome to the legacy.
Built By Passion. Forged through relentless drive.
At Cassar Performance & Design, the foundation of our craftsmanship is more than just technical expertise — it’s the result of an unwavering passion, a lifetime of study, and a relentless drive to master the art and science of automotive excellence.
For Kevin Cassar, that passion could never be contained within the pages of a textbook or the walls of a classroom. Instead, it burned brighter with every project, every late night spent in the garage, and every dream sketched by hand under the dim glow of a workbench lamp.
Refusing to settle for surface-level knowledge, Kevin made a decision early on:
If he was going to create cars that truly honored the spirit of American performance — he would have to teach himself everything it took to do it right.
Through countless hours of research, trial, error, and triumph, Kevin became a self-taught automotive engineer and designer. He dove headfirst into disciplines few take the time to master — learning mechanical engineering principles, suspension geometry, chassis dynamics, aerodynamics, CAD modeling, welding, fabrication, drivetrain tuning, and high-performance system integration.
He didn't just study how vehicles were built — he studied why they were built the way they were.
He dissected the DNA of American Muscle, Pro-Touring builds, modern OEM engineering, and cutting-edge performance technology to craft a personal philosophy:
Form must serve function, but both should ignite the soul.
That commitment to true mastery and excellence became the DNA of Cassar Performance & Design.
Today, every client, every enthusiast, and every customer who walks through our doors benefits from Kevin’s relentless pursuit of knowledge and craftsmanship.
When you trust CPD with your vehicle, you’re not just getting a bolt-on build.
You’re getting the culmination of decades of study, hands-on experience, and an engineer’s precision married to an artist’s vision.
Whether it’s creating a fully custom chassis, blueprinting a high-horsepower driveline package, executing a complete design rendering, or integrating modern technology into a classic platform — every detail matters at CPD. We believe our clients deserve the best because they share the same passion that brought us here in the first place.
We live and breathe it.
We never cut corners.
We treat your dream like it's our own.
At Cassar Performance & Design, you’re not just hiring a shop.
You’re partnering with a company built on a lifetime of learning, a devotion to perfection, and a fire that never goes out. Because here, passion isn't just a feeling — it's the engine that drives everything we do.