About
A self-educated man who learned his trade at Quality Metalcraft Inc. (QMC), a Detroit low-volume stamping, engineering, and development company founded by his father, Michael worked his way up from the tool room to the boardroom and serves as company CEO. Not your typical “son takes over Dad’s company” story, Michael has anticipated the growing markets for low-volume, specialty, and niche vehicles and aftermarket parts, tripling the size of QMC during a period when many competitors have fallen by the wayside. In fact, Michael’s design partnership with Camilo Pardo began when QMC was called on to manufacture more than 40 key stampings for Camilo’s design of the Ford GT.
In addition to his duties at QMC, in 2006 Michael launched Streetcar USA, a new venture dedicated to acquiring, manufacturing, and marketing the most exciting and innovative concepts in the aftermarket and specialty vehicle industries, including the Montana-based Jeep aftermarket legends American Expedition Vehicles (AEV). As a licensed builder, Michael has even overseen all aspects of renovation and interior design for Streetcar’s new headquarters, which will occupy a 100 year-old former power plant that once propelled the streetcars up Detroit’s famed Woodward Avenue. His private residence is a former industrial building with all design elements overseen by Michael, including several custom fabricated fixtures in steel and concrete.
In 2009 Michael was a featured personality in the Bollywood film documentary The Maharajah Route, which recounts the crazy, opulent saga of 10 classic Ford Mustangs being driven across India
In 2008, Michael teamed with all-star designers Mark Allen and Ralph Gilles of Chrysler’s Mopar Underground to build the revolutionary urban-chic SR 392 Roadster. The SR 392 went on to win dozens of national awards, including the Boyd Coddington’s Pro’s Pick Award at the 2008 Good Guys Nationals, and was featured in huge photo spreads in both Hot Rod and Street Rodder magazines.
Michael maintains a boundless enthusiasm for “cool things” and is equally at home at a Miami modernism show or turning a wrench restoring a vintage car in his garage. Michael is a serious collector of mid-century Modern furniture, and both his suburban Detroit home and his northern Michigan beachfront cottage have been featured in glossy lifestyle magazines. A gourmet cook, passable frontman for a rock band, and co-owner of one of Detroit’s finest wine stores, Michael also maintains an ever-changing car collection, which for the moment includes a reinterpreted street-mod ’66 Lincoln, a vintage BMW 2002, and of course a Ford GT in Gulf blue and orange.
Areas Of Expertise
Automotive design, fabrication & manufacturing. Interior design. Music.