We all have a project out in the shop, whether it’s a dream rebuild or just something that needs to be fixed. But for Westen Champlin—and the half million plus subscribers to his YouTube channel—the difference in his shop is the open invite to look under the hood of his projects. It’s the feeling of laughing and swearing right alongside him and his buddies, while they put in the long hours and late nights to get big swaps and rebuilds done.
Raised a farm kid in Winfield, Kansas, he learned to back a trailer at eight years old and was taking apart four wheelers by age twelve. Wrenches and gears came easy to him, whether putting a Power Stroke back together while still driving on a farm permit, or just keeping a $181 firewood truck running.
“When I was young I would take stuff apart and I was hell on stuff—I’m not gonna lie—I took four-wheelers apart, I took all kinds of stuff apart,” Westen says. “The putting back together part, kind of took me a little longer to figure out. The taking apart, I had that down pat.”
Eventually, he discovered he had a talent for turning rebuilt vehicles into cash sales, training that sixth sense toward buying auction vehicles and making them go again. That led to filming his first Ford Cummins swap, some editing handiwork from his brother, and an unexpected rocket to YouTube fame.
Yet, even before the spotlight, he knew he wasn’t cut for an indoor nine-to-five. “I couldn’t be happy doing that—I would drive myself insane, I can’t sit inside. If it gets past 10 a.m. and I’m still inside, I feel bad about the day, I feel lazy.”
