+30 Frankenstein MotorSports
An Award-Winning Gulf Coast Favorite
Frankenstein MotorSports is car enthusiast heaven for sure. Owner Frank Knight is an automobile impresario, a car connoisseur, a speed junkie. He and his team can build, rebuild, soup up, modify, restore whatever car comes through the garage doors. “We work on everything from 1920 to 2020 full restorations, performance upgrades, electrical work, tuning, fuels, and so on,” says owner Frank Knight. “We are an APR dealer specializing in Porsche, Audi, and VW tuning, and we are a Bosch tuning center for European exotics utilizing an all-wheel-drive dynamometer. We tune domestic cars to achieve the best possible performance; we install turbo kits, superchargers, nitrous oxide kits, and anything to get maximum performance.”
Frank Knight explains that the name Frankenstein MotorSports is not just a play on his first name. “The name comes from our process – we use many different cars to build one unique car, just as Dr. Victor von Frankenstein did to create his monster. The difference is that our monsters do their damage to the competition, not to the nearby village!” Knight has a long history in the car game, going back to his teen years. “I bought my first car from my sister when I was fifteen. It was a 1970 Mustang, and there was nothing wrong with it, but I promptly took it apart and rebuilt it. Junkyard runs, used parts, engine modifications, bartering, all on a high schooler’s budget. I drove it everywhere and eventually got into an accident, and I rebuilt it again. It ended up in a junkyard, but it fueled my passion for cars that delivered more speed and better performance.” When asked if he had a personal favorite car, Knight was quick to reply. “I built a 1994 Mazda RX7 during the heyday of The Fast and the Furious franchise. It was a very sexy car, but its time has passed. I would love to build another one, though. They still have great curb appeal, and they perform like no other car, challenging the very best of what the European market has to offer today.”
Knight spent more than 20 years in the military and became an Army aviator and a test pilot, but cars were never far from his mind and heart. He owned Valhalla Racing in Pensacola for a time but sold it when he was recalled to active duty. When he came home for good, Knight found his way back to cars by a roundabout path. “I met a guy at church who was a painter at Lawless Hot Rods. They needed help, and one thing led to another. I began to work with them in my spare time – I had a full-time civilian job by now – and through a series of unlikely events, I ended up taking on ownership of the business,” he explains. “We will always honor the Lawless Hot Rods heritage and legacy, but we were able to retool and move the business from a restoration shop to a full-blown performance supercenter.” At present, Frankenstein MotorSports employs twelve people and has over thirty cars on the lot in various stages of work, with more on the waiting list. “I can’t take credit for our success,” says Knight. “That is all due to the amazing staff we have assembled. They are the best and the brightest at what they do. They have the same passion I do, and it reflects in the cars we turn out. One neat thing is that we encourage car owners to be a part of the process, to take an active role in the rebuilds, and many of them become part of our shop family just like the full-time employees.”
Frankenstein MotorSports maintains a presence well beyond the confines of the shop. They participate in and sponsor car shows around the area and do as many as they can. “It becomes a challenge to balance a hectic work schedule with the show circuit,” says Knight. “We recently attended a show at the Lillian Methodist Church – it’s always a big event, and even with all the issues this year has presented, it was a huge success. We rolled in deep, with nine cars entered, and seven of those took first place trophies. I wish I could take full credit, but again, it’s my crew that makes it happen.”
FRANKENSTEIN MOTORSPORTS
451 SOUTH OLD CORRY FIELD ROAD
PENSACOLA, FL 32507
850-332-6069
frankensteinmotorsports.com
