At Power & Performance News we love whenever we get the chance to tour a shop and drool over the works in progress. Like you, we think unfinished cars and trucks that reveal their fabrication secrets are just as interesting as the finished product.

Recently, we had the opportunity to stop by the shops of Retro Designs in Concord, NC. Owner Daniel Valjevao and his handful of experienced fabricators and painters are quickly becoming one of the worst kept secrets in hot rodding. Although he does no advertising, Valjevao and Retro Designs are fast becoming known as major players thanks to the high quality work they are putting out.

Right now, the crown jewel is probably the ’32 Plymouth PB sedan that is currently racking up best of show awards wherever it goes, but we’re sure it won’t be long before they manage to top that masterpiece. When we stopped by Daniel gave us a quick tour and we fired off a few shots to share with you. Nothing was staged — this is exactly the way the shop looked when we walked in, and work recommenced as soon as we left.

We can’t wait to stop back by and see how these projects are coming along. If you want to stay in touch with Retro Designs you can hit up their Facebook page here.

Below are pics of the ’32 Plymouth that currently is the shop’s calling card. We certainly wouldn’t have been this generous, but the customer has been willing to put off driving the car every day and allowed Valjevao to take it on the show circuit where it has been racking up awards left and right. The car is packed with tons of great details, from the fantastic leather-wrapped seats, to the real wood interior, to the little 270 Hemi and the wood struts in the roof.

Here’s a Model A pickup that is being built as a rat rod. It was brought to Retro Designs so that they can fabricate a four-link rear suspension to locate the rear end.

This ’34 Ford, complete with a sweet flat head, is supposed to be finished in time for the LA Roadster Show. There’s a long way left to go, but Valjevao says it will be done, so we’ll make sure to keep an eye out for it.

And here we have a 1941 International Cab Over. At Retro Designs it’s simply called “the bread truck.” As you can tell, this truck is being significantly reworked. When the customer brought it to Retro Designs, it had a flat bed on it. Valjevao and his crew completely fabricated the new bed, including the authentic looking side stakes, tailgate and running boards. We especially like the wood bed floor.

There is so much more that we didn’t show you — including a Volvo P1800 of unknown year (at least to us), a 65 Mustang being done up like a GT500 and a 1971 Chevy K5 Blazer that was just beginning its transformation. Retro Designs is definitely a shop worth keeping an eye on because some beautiful cars and trucks are going to be rolling out it’s shop door in the next year.