Carl's Rod Shop

06/07/2026

View Dakota Whitlow's complete obituary, share memories, and explore 11 tribute posts from the community.

06/03/2026

As some of you may have seen on national news, there was a tragic mass shooting Monday in Muscatine, IA, one of the victims was my business collegue, and true friend, Dakota Whitlow. Its taken some time for me to even try to wrap my head around this, outside of building cars, he was a close friend that I talked with almost everyday. Unfortunately with the loss of the most talented metal fabricator I've ever had the pleasure of knowing and working with, Carl's Rod Shop will NOT be taking in anymore projects for the foreseeable future. Dakota simply put, can't be replaced. The future was so bright for this young man. Rest In Peace buddy, I'm sure going to miss you, and I know Gracie is sure going to miss trying to take my phone to talk to "Kota" every time we talked in the evenings about our game plans for the next day! Love you Brother!

05/15/2026

We got Nick Lauber car all finished up on our end, he wanted a lot of custom metal work, and we gave it to him, flushed up and tucked the bumpers, custom fabbed new valance covers and quarter extensions, and shaved the drip rails. If I told you I wasn't worried about the drip rails, I'd be lying, it actually turned out way better than I figured it would in the beginning. Its now headed back to Wisconsin, and Nick's going to finish it out from here! Special thanks to Brison Willits (RIP) and Dakota Whitlow (DW Desings) on this build!

03/25/2026

Another 5 speed fix! Part 1

03/25/2026

5 speed fix. Part 2

03/25/2026

Our job is finished on the 5 speed correction.

02/12/2026

02/06/2026

A little more in depth on the RR

02/03/2026

An update on the 70 RR